Environmental Studies

This course explores the principles, problems, and methods of sustainability. After a critical historical introduction, the course studies what the natural sciences tell us about processes and cycles on our planet from a systems point of view. Ecology, the end of fossil fuels, alternative energy sources, environmental pollution, loss of biodiversity, and climate change are reviewed. Besides relevant facts, the sciences also provide interpretive theories with important, but often uncertain, implications for the future. The course then moves into environmental ethics and a critical analysis of the relationship of humans to nature. Having heard the facts and discussed values, the course turns to the social, economic, and political aspects of sustainability, and considers the clash between competing interests and different cultures. Possible solutions to such problems are explored, including environmental economics. The relevant agents, government, NGOs, or grass-roots groups are discussed. Finally, the course integrates the different approaches and points of view in an attempt to arrive at policy recommendations. Preferred prerequisites include a course on Earth Studies or Physics.

Note: Was previously code UCINTSUS21 Sustainability. You cannot take both courses; they are the same.

This course discusses agricultural water resource planning issues and related subjects. The course covers agricultural water usage, irrigation water usage estimation, irrigation methods, irrigation regulation, irrigation management; agricultural water supply (source, pump, water rights, effective rainfall); water shortage risk analysis and planning assessment. Other topics include relationship between water, soil, and crops; effective rainfall, irrigation system configuration; and regional irrigation of crops. 

This course examines the theories, concepts and applications of urban green equity and urban environmental justice, with particular focus on implications for urban forest policy, planning, management, and design.

This course examines the study of how organisms in rivers and lakes interact with each other and their environment. It covers the ecological communities of rivers and lakes, linkages with adjacent terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and the management of freshwaters including conservation and restoration.

This course introduces food systems and their actors as a framework for understanding and analyzing the development in the food sector. It provides a basis for handling future changes of food systems in a societal context. The course explores food systems and food networks as conceptualizations of the complex system behind food products and as useful tool in analysis of food related developments. It examines the historical development and structure of food systems (mainstream and alternative food systems), including an overview of changing technologies; structure, location, and actors as well as salient political issues characterizing food systems in different periods. The course then discusses the governance of food systems, including an introduction to dynamics of policy processes, and questions of the power and interests of core actors as well the role of social movements. Finally, it presents key concepts and theories useful for understanding an analyzing the development and transition of food systems, such as socio-material approaches to food systems change, sustainability, and actor understandings.

This course probes the entanglements of nature, society, and politics through which the environment is formed, experienced, problematized, interpreted, contested, and governed in different sociocultural contexts. It develops a critical perspective on the dominant patterns of industrial production and consumption and asks how our societies can be made more sustainable. The course draws on insights from environmental history, environmental sociology, science and technology studies, sustainability studies, and recent debates on the "Anthropocene". Thereby, it seeks to complement the fact-oriented perspective of the natural sciences with a reflective understanding of the politics through which our knowledge (and non-knowledge) of the environment is formed. The course is structured in four sections. The first three focus on one core domain of nature-society-politics: the risks of industrial production; biodiversity and land; global climate change. The final section reflects on how we can move from these insights toward a comprehensive understanding and transformative politics of the Anthropocene.

This course introduces the basic scientific knowledge about indoor and outdoor air pollution, as well as global and regional climate change, in relation to human health. It examines scientific research in this field and environment and health in international perspectives. Environment is of great significance to human health. Air pollution, both indoor and outdoor, is closely related with different health problems in different populations. Climate closely interacts with ambient air pollution and affects human health independently. Currently, global climate change has been observed and heat wave and cold wave has been reported to happen more frequently. In this course, the following questions are discussed: What air pollution is found in indoor and outdoor environments? What types of compounds form the pollution? Can they be measured? Do we know the level of different pollutants? How about the relationship between outdoor and indoor environments? Is it safer staying indoors if there high outdoor air pollution? Do we have any measures to prevent or lower the pollution level? What are the health effects of these pollutants? Do they affect our respiratory health, cardiovascular system or even our endocrine system? How about the current climate if compared with old times? Is there any change? How much it will affect our health?