Environmental Studies

This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the concept of sustainable development and global sustainability challenges from economic, environmental, and social perspectives. Current sustainability challenges are explored through international case studies. The contributions of relevant disciplines such as demography, social and political science, ecology, energy and innovation, environmental science, agricultural science, and economy are explained. The core topics include energy and society, consumption and consumerism, risks and resilience, waste, water, and land. Concepts such as food security, environmental health, planetary boundaries, Climate change, world views, and ethics are also addressed.

The course gives a broad theoretical ground to wider work with digital geographic data. Understanding of representation and analysis of spatial elements are emphasized. The course also highlights general geographic problems within the environment and society through practical GIS applications. These treat both Swedish and international issues and vary in scale from the local to the regional. The parts within GIS that are treated include basic cartography, including projections, reference system, geographic data in digital form (maps, images, and tables) and positioning with GPS, basic analysis of geographic data in raster and vector format, and cartographic and graphical presentation of digital map material. In the course, training in oral and written communication is also included. Special emphasis is placed on the cartographic presentation of digital geographic data.

This course is part of the LM degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course discusses topics including climate change: the physical basis and impacts; carbon emission drivers, abatement strategies, and investment needs; transition dynamics and socio-economic impacts; climate-related macro-financial risks, and physical/financial asset stranding; mitigation policies: carbon pricing and permit markets; sustainable finance policy-making, and central banks and financial supervisors; climate economic modelling: the DICE model, IAMS, and CGE models; neoclassical transition modelling approaches; complexity-driven transition modelling approaches; and production and financial networks.

This course is a study of grasslands and rangelands, which can be defined as the type of vegetation in which grasses and forbs are dominant. This course covers the importance of grassland as natural vegetation but also addresses the prevalence of semi-natural and agricultural grasslands, which are often managed by humans to provide food for domestic animals. This course explores a range of topics including the taxonomy and morphology of grassland species; the growth, development, and physiology of grassland species; grassland management, including aspects of grazing methods, botanical composition, soil quality, carbon sequestration, and the water and nutrient supply of soil; nutrition of ruminants, forage quality, forage conservation, and feeding systems; grass breeding, variety selection, and seed production; plant species diversity and productivity of semi-natural grasslands; and sports field turfgrass. Selected topics are highlighted for students through case studies and excursions. Amongst other skills, students learn to identify the most important grassland species using a classification key, understand grassland plant growth, production, and reproduction, and analyze societal, agronomic, and scientific problems related to grassland management and use.

This course focuses on the concepts and practical use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for problem solving in both the social and physical sciences. Topics include vector and raster data formats and their analytical functions. Practical laboratory exercises utilizing GIS software such as ArcGIS are a core component of the course.

This course explores the governance initiatives that are emerging in response to the phenomenon of anthropogenic climate change which, as a truly global problem, implicates and affects all parts of the world and makes these initiatives necessarily more speculative, less established, and more rapidly evolving than most other governance initiatives. The topics and readings for the course foreground the theme of governance and explore the various institutions and techniques that have evolved, or might evolve, to address the phenomenon of climate change.

The delicate art of eating has many implications for sustainability. Food production and consumption affect the climate, the natural environment, and the landscape. Food also affects the sustainability of societies and individuals. Both bodily functions and length of life are partly determined by how, what, where, and when we eat. The course gives a broad introduction to the study of food and eating concerning sustainability. The course has an interdisciplinary approach, combining cultural, nutritional, and geographical perspectives. Local field studies are combined with a global outlook, based on literature studies.

This course explores how to create a sustainable future by moving away from dependence on fossil resources to biomass resources for the production of food, chemicals, and energy carriers. Microorganisms and catalysts to create biobased products are discovered and then learning how to market and sell those products within a profitable business model is reviewed. This course provides a solid foundation of relevant concepts in the biobased economy and biobased products by reviewing an introduction to biobased sciences, production of biomass, biorefining, achieving sustainability, consumer behavior, bioconversion, (bio)chemical conversion, business, logistics and supply chains, and economy and regulations.