This module is about our relations with nature, animals and places. It centres on the theme of connection and disconnection. For most of human history, we have lived our daily lives in close proximity to the land, however, within the next few years, for the first time, there will be more people living in urban than rural areas worldwide. When we lose nature and green places, we forget the animals and birds that once were there. We eat anonymised foods that have no place-based stories, and put the fat of the land on ourselves. At the same time, we are consuming the world to death. The modern lifestyles (and economies) put up as the most desirable in the world are precisely those that would need six to eight earths to provision if all the world's population adopted them. Can we make it across this century?
Life made this planet as it is now, shaping and changing the conditions to make them more favourable to life. Individual organisms do the same thing by constructing their niches in ways to improve their likelihood of survival. As humans, we did the same over a few hundred thousand generations as highly successful hunter-gatherers. Today, we find ourselves in the remarkable position of being the first to change our environment to make it less favourable to life. We are making our own world inhospitable, and so risk losing what it means to be human. Gaia will become Grendel, unless sustainability is taken seriously, as if the world matters.
The aim of this module is to analyse and explore these environmental factors and relationships, and relate them to the potential for developing sustainable patterns of living for the future.
Learning Outcomes
To pass this module students will need to be able to:
1. describe and discuss the key components of sustainability and the challenges of moving from current practices to more sustainable ones;
2. describe the interactions between humans and animals, and the many conflicts and contradictions for ecological management;
3. evaluate the impacts on natural resources from unsustainable practices;
4. explore issues of waste management strategy including problems and solutions;
5. understand and evaluate how green places affect physical and mental health;
6. describe and analyse the benefits of sustainable practices in food production, in agricultural development and the pressures preventing them;
7. show an integrated understanding of the cross-disciplinary (environmental, social, economic and policy) features of sustainability thinking and practice;
8. use and practice the key skills of information retrieval, written communication and critical analysis.
Life made this planet as it is now, shaping and changing the conditions to make them more favourable to life. Individual organisms do the same thing by constructing their niches in ways to improve their likelihood of survival. As humans, we did the same over a few hundred thousand generations as highly successful hunter-gatherers. Today, we find ourselves in the remarkable position of being the first to change our environment to make it less favourable to life. We are making our own world inhospitable, and so risk losing what it means to be human. Gaia will become Grendel, unless sustainability is taken seriously, as if the world matters.
The aim of this module is to analyse and explore these environmental factors and relationships, and relate them to the potential for developing sustainable patterns of living for the future.
Learning Outcomes
To pass this module students will need to be able to:
1. describe and discuss the key components of sustainability and the challenges of moving from current practices to more sustainable ones;
2. describe the interactions between humans and animals, and the many conflicts and contradictions for ecological management;
3. evaluate the impacts on natural resources from unsustainable practices;
4. explore issues of waste management strategy including problems and solutions;
5. understand and evaluate how green places affect physical and mental health;
6. describe and analyse the benefits of sustainable practices in food production, in agricultural development and the pressures preventing them;
7. show an integrated understanding of the cross-disciplinary (environmental, social, economic and policy) features of sustainability thinking and practice;
8. use and practice the key skills of information retrieval, written communication and critical analysis.