Environmental Studies

Informed by experiential education approaches, students will complete a weekend backpacking trip with instructors as part of the overall course and use reflections from these experiences, in conjunction with coursework on human-nature relationships, to critically analyze and develop a personal land ethic. The field trip explores the concept of wilderness in land ethics through a direct experience of actual wilderness. The course has a focus on bi-culturally competent and globally connected understandings of the relationships between humans and nature.

Utilizing Problem-based learning (PBL), students are divided into groups and study three environmental issues during a three-week cycle. The first week is devoted to working on the details of the problem; the second week is devoted to its underlying mechanisms, and the third week comprises of student presentations of their findings surrounding the issue through the lens of environmental management, environmental sciences, and environmental sociology.  

This course examines the nature of environmental law; the merits and disadvantages of statutory and common law approaches to environmental issues; the evolution of environmental concern; particular legal problems arising out of the nature of environmental issues; the precautionary principle; philosophies of human relations with the natural world; possible implications of environmental necessity for political, social, constitutional and economic organization; environmental economics and issues of public and private property and historical and present-day case studies. 

This course provides an opportunity to apply the skills students acquire through their academic study to a project designed by a local company or community group in New Zealand, or internationally.

Ecotoxicology addresses how chemicals released into the environment impact the biota. This course thus covers all aspects from release of chemical through transport and transformation outside the biota to uptake and effects within the biota. The main body of the course is concerned with distribution and effects within the organism from molecular interactions, impact on organ systems and how these effects at the individual organismal level can translate into highter level biologica, effects in populations, and communities. The course introduces important toxicoloical tools, illustrated in theory and practice and outlines the fundamental elements in chemical risk analysis.

This course examines the concepts of how marine species interact with each other and the environment to form functional populations and communities. This course uses a mixed platform of lectures, tutorials, computer labs and field-based exercises to explore and understand current issues and processes affecting marine ecosystems, using New Zealand and worldwide examples. 

This course examines options for the transport of forest products. It covers soil engineering characteristics and low-cost methods to determine the bearing capacity of subgrade soils; vehicle/road interaction; legal regulations for heavy vehicles operating on New Zealand public roads; forestry truck and trailer designs and their impact on load capacity and vehicle safety; road design for forest roads and the design of low-cost water crossings and drainage structures; application of RoadEng road design software; and cost estimation and contract management for road construction.

This course examines how glaciers respond to climate changes. It provides a global perspective with emphasis on examples from polar regions. The course focuses on understanding the processes and impacts of the climate on glacier behavior.