Environmental Studies

Located within one of the global centers of biodiversity, Singapore is endowed with a rich natural heritage that is impacted by expanding urbanization. Development poses a great challenge to nature conservation and Singapore is an excellent model to study how a balance can be achieved. This course introduces the country's natural heritage, its historical, scientific and potential economic value; provides the opportunity to explore important habitats, and to think critically about the issues of sustainable development and the nation's responsibility to posterity and to regional and international conventions related to biodiversity conservation. Field practicals form the main component of the course and double-up effectively as tutorials. Guest speakers provide further enrichment on the challenges of conservation management in a densely-populated and highly urbanized city state. 

Cultures influence how sustainability issues are viewed and addressed in different contexts and situations. They determine the ways in which environmental, social, and economic considerations connect to sustainability and sustainable urban development. Success in our global sustainability efforts depends on our understanding of the underlying cultures and the connections between them, particularly in the face of urbanization. This coursre raises awareness of these issues and equips students with the critical thinking and collaborative decision-making skills necessary to find solutions to local and global problems of societal concern. Appropriate cross-cultural case studies will be discussed.

The course discusses principles of conservation as well as plant and animal protection and their application to the West African environment. Topics include management of renewable natural resources, conservation of plant genetic resources, pollution of the environment, the Ghana's Environmental Action Plan, climate change and other global environmental problems.

Nanotechnology is an emerging field that covers a wide range of technologies which are presently under development in nanoscale. It plays a major role in the development of innovative methods to produce new products, to substitute existing production equipment and to reformulate new materials and chemicals with improved performance resulting in less consumption of energy and materials and reduced harm to the environment as well as environmental remediation. Environmental applications of nanotechnology address the development of solutions to the existing environmental problems, preventive measures for future problems resulting from the interactions of energy and materials with the environment, and any possible risks that may be posed by nanotechnology itself. This course gives a comprehensive review on the ongoing research and development activities on environmental remediation by nanotechnology.

The course presents the field of sustainable health and environment from an East Asian perspective in a globalized world. It covers facts and developments in issues related to sustainable health and environment through cross-country lectures, multimedia viewing, panel discussion, and group projects and presentations. The sciences of sustainable health and environment cover broad and intersected disciplines from health sciences, physical sciences to social sciences locally, regionally, and globally. Views of sustainable health and environment are cultivated from current and historical perspectives as well as local and regional living experience. Global perspectives are further cultivated through in-class discussion among students, group projects by cross-country teams, and essay writing. Guest lectures by distinguished experts in the fields of sustainable health and environmental sciences provide global perspectives on sustainable issues.