Environmental Studies

This course introduces the extent of the global agriculture and food production and its geographic location. Through a combination of lectures and exercises, the first part of the course identifies the factors that influence and adjust the global need for and production of food, as well as of the global trade with food. It then looks at the impact of different climatic and soil conditions on plant and livestock production in specific regions. In the project work, students go into detail in an individual area.

This course examines the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. It explores the fundamentals of ecology (e.g. disturbance/recovery, recruitment, organism interactions with their environment, nutrient cycles, limits on productivity) in a marine setting, as well as human impacts on marine environments including fisheries and the design of ecological surveys and experiments. 

This course examines the impact of components of the hydrological cycle on the South West Pacific, particularly New Zealand, including evaporation and precipitation, terrestrial water movement and storage (surface and groundwater), and extreme events.

This course deals with advanced sedimentology from a temporal and spatial perspective. Development of sedimentary basins, and their sedimentary infill is treated with emphasis on depositional processes/environments and resultant stratigraphic architecture.

This course provides fundamental knowledge of dynamic atmospheric air quality in a changing world. The topics cover the effects of emission sources and pollutants, air quality assessment, atmospheric reactions of air pollutants, principles and implications of vertical mixing and transport of airborne pollutants, and air pollution control strategies and devices. This enables students to understand dynamic atmospheric processes and to identify air pollution issues associated with varied energy sources and economic development. Students also learn to assess air quality, quantify air pollutant levels, devise control strategies and recommend engineering solutions to enhance air quality.

This course examines the connection of global and local environments. Case studies will include historical responses to climate change in Europe and North America, the transformation of indigenous foodways and the urban development of Vancouver. 

This course examines the scientific basis for, impacts of, and law and policy responses to climate change.

This course examines the use of economic tools to assess and develop environmental protection strategies. This includes methods for evaluating “environmentally friendly” products, projects and policies in terms of their benefits and costs. Benefits considered include marketed benefits, such as energy savings and avoided property losses, and non-marketed benefits, such as improvements in human health and conservation of biological diversity. Economic tools for solving environmental problems that will be considered in the subject include taxes on environmentally harmful activities, tax deductions for “environmentally friendly” activities, making polluters or “risk creators” pay for environmental damages, and allowing private ownership of environmental assets.

This course entails completing an interdisciplinary group project on a topic of relevance to the scientific or wider community. 

This course provides a study of the main environmental risks and challenges posed by human activity. It also examines current debates on the sustainability of economic growth and the problems of global governance posed by environmental challenges. Other topics covered include: industrial exploitation and the global ecological crisis; stocks, market and environment; environmental degradation and global governance; urban planning and sustainability; development and corporate environmental responsibility; ethics, regulations and environmental justice.