Environmental Studies

This course provides a general overview of practical applications of fertility control for ethical management of wildlife and other free-living animals. Lectures and practical sessions focus on case studies to illustrate the many aspects of wildlife fertility control applications. Students learn about products available, methods to deliver contraceptives and evaluate their impact on reproduction and welfare of individuals and populations of free-living animals. Through a mixture of lectures, informal discussion groups, laboratory and field practical sessions, students learn about the challenges and opportunities offered by fertility control and complete a proposal for a project on wildlife fertility control. The course addresses the rising demand for innovative conservation approaches and prepares students to balance ecological and economic needs with animal welfare. 

The course enables students to gain a broad understanding of ten important environmental issues that have emerged during the Anthropocene, the science that underlies them, the various management and mitigation options and technologies, and how this links to policy. Topics include (as representative samples, which may change): deforestation, desertification and agricultural intensification, biodiversity loss, urbanization, pollution, ocean acidification, loss of polar environments, maintaining sustainability and ecosystem services, and understanding ecological systems and resilience.

This course examines a range of contemporary environmental challenges in Australia and globally, with particular emphasis on climate change, energy transitions, and the role of resources. Through case studies, students will examine the history and emergence of these issues, the key actors involved, and the dynamics that shape their governance. Special attention will be given to the environmental and social impacts of the problems of resource extraction and climate change, as well as the strategies used to manage these two conjoined problems. The subject covers multiple dimensions (scientific, socio-cultural, economic, political) of environmental challenges and highlights the forms of knowledge and power that mediate human-environment relationships. Students will gain insights into the drivers of environmental conflicts and the mechanisms for their resolution, situating these discussions within broader questions of environmental governance, sustainability, and the global shift toward low-carbon energy systems.

This course explores, giving them voice, how aboriginal Americans (also named First Nations, Tribal groups, Indigenous People, or Native-Americans) relentlessly attempted to “unsettle” their land and exposed the connectedness between violence to the earth and violence towards them. Far from feeding the trope of the “Indians in harmony with nature,” this course examines how their demand to preserve the ecological integrity of the land has been an act of political resistance. It develops a historical perspective on the specificity of Indigenous environmentalism in the United States, for the “healing” of land, non-human life and natural resources has been inherently tied to the ongoing land grabbing and exploitation of their territories. Ranging from History to Anthropology, Native-American Studies and Environmental History, this class historicize indigenous vulnerabilities to extreme weather, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and pollution from manufacturing and resource extraction. It engages in weekly conversations to unpack the ongoing struggle that indigenous and black communities have fought for the preservation of the right to bury their dead, breathe, and survive.

This course explores key concepts and debates in environmental and technology ethics: the commitments and values operative in models of sustainable development (theories of justice, capability, and agency); questions of human populations (demographics, food production, and food security); sustainable transport; values at work in approaches to biodiversity conservation (wild, agricultural, urban); and conflicts and convergences in aiming for smart and sustainable cities. Students focus on the instrumental versus intrinsic value; demographics and consumption; food security and related aspects of animal agriculture; justice and sustainable development; environmental citizenship; and the future of work. The course examines key ethics responses rooted in hermeneutics, in philosophical, and religious traditions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Daoism) and characterizes the role of the ethicist in "expert" cultures and in policy development in Ireland, the EU, and internationally.  

This course examines how the idea of sustainable development has emerged as an effort to redirect economic growth to produce more socially just and environmentally benign outcomes. It covers how human-environment interconnections, across different scales and in different contexts, come together to demonstrate how environmental issues are situated in, and shaped by political and economic contexts.