Environmental Studies

This is an interdisciplinary course that addresses sustainability, climate change and how to combine economic development with a healthy environment. Students explore greening the economy and the sustainable development goals on four levels – individual, business, city, and nation, and look at the relationships between these levels. Practical examples of the complexities and solutions across each level are discussed. A particular focus is placed on examples from Scandinavia, but the course also features examples from Europe and around the world.

What is the evidence for anthropogenic climate change? How can we generate low-carbon electricity from nuclear and renewable sources, and how can we make our transport infrastructure greener? If we fail to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently rapidly, will we need to intervene directly in the climate system through so-called “geoengineering”? This course covers all of these topics, with a strong emphasis on the underlying physical principles and deriving simple estimates of the potential contribution of various low-carbon energy sources. In addition to attending lectures, students research one particular aspect of climate & energy in depth and present their findings in an essay and associated short presentation.

This course is tailored towards three of the major environmental domains: water, energy, and food systems which are crucial for human subsistence and of major environmental relevance. This course reviews the major transformations (transitions) that are needed within these three intersecting systems to reach sustainability. The core concepts of "Sustainability" and "Transitions" are critically discussed from the perspectives of policy, history, and technology. The multi-disciplinary perspectives on "Sustainability" and "Transitions" are applied to the analysis of past and future transformations in food, water, and energy systems in the domains of production, supply, distribution, and consumption. In this course, the concept of transition as it relates to sustainability is used to analyze systems-based transformation processes in which sectors in society change in a fundamental way over one generation (25 years) or more. The course adopts a historically situated and contextual analysis. It considers major changes these systems have undergone in the past as a crucial prerequisite to discussions on the present and future transitions. The course begins with a foundational week of historical and theoretical lectures on the key concepts of sustainability and transition (management) underpinning the course. Following this foundational week, the course progresses to offer three thematically structured weeks focused on the topics of energy transitions, food transitions, and water transitions. Each of these thematic areas is explored from the angles of environmental history, environmental policy/sociology, and environmental technology. Through this thematic approach, an interdisciplinary perspective of past, present, and future transitions in the intersecting domains of food, water, and energy through which conceptual, historical, and present issues are discussed through Dutch and international cases and examples. The course also includes an excursion to innovative sustainability projects in The Netherlands.

This course offers a study of state-of-the-art research within the field of environment, society, and development with a specific focus on understanding theoretical approaches to development geography and coupled human-environment systems in the Global South. It provides the theoretical and historical foundations for understanding contemporary sustainability agendas, including approaches to sustainable development. The first part of the course focuses on societal transformation processes in urban and rural areas and discusses how contemporary scholars theorize and explore urbanization and rural transformation processes in the Global South. The second part of the course focuses on the dynamics of coupled human–environmental systems and the multiple conceptual models that have been proposed to understand this complex relationship, including cultural, human, and political ecology; land use intensification; land system science; sustainability science; and resilience and vulnerability approaches. The course discusses approaches that relate to interactions between the human and environmental spheres.

This course explores various energy-related issues through an interdisciplinary lens drawing on literature from the environmental sciences, communication science, psychology, and sociology. In drawing together the links between energy and society, students explore the role of greenwashing within the energy sector, the socio-political and environmental impacts of energy infrastructure development (drawing on case studies such as the Shale Gas boom in the US, and oil extraction in the Arctic), and explore questions such as can we engineer our way out of the climate crisis? As an overarching frame for the course, students explore how energy and climate issues are communicated to the public, and in doing so draw on the field of science communication.

This undergraduate research course provides opportunities to conduct independent research under the supervision of a faculty member at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Participants are expected to devote approximately 20 hours per week to their research project, with the exact time commitment determined in consultation with the faculty supervisor. The course requires the completion of an original research paper. It develops research methods, analytical thinking, academic writing, and the ability to communicate research findings effectively through scholarly papers and reports. As an independent research program, the course emphasizes initiative, self-directed learning, and regular consultation with the faculty supervisor throughout the research process.

"Sustainable Development" is a term that is very widely used internationally, nationally, and locally by academics, policy-makers, businesses, and NGOs, but what does it really mean? This course is designed to provide an introductory overview to underpinning ideas, such as social justice, human well-being, inter-generational equity, and environmental stewardship, which are embedded within notions of sustainable development as key areas of debate in defining and interpreting the concept. The course also provides an account of how sustainable development has emerged as such a powerful idea, and examines different disciplinary perspectives on what issues sustainable development should be trying to address, as well as exploring the value of an interdisciplinary approach in studying and facilitating sustainable development.

The existence of many species depends on the survival of others. Humans are no exception. In the past 14,000 years, many organisms have left indelible marks and exercised on human history. The roles that individual species play in providing food, unique medical compounds, air, and water purification are critical to our health and survival. This course will provide sufficient background of 12 selected organisms and discuss their impacts on our daily life and culture. Field trips to Taipei Zoo and/or Botanical Garden will also be arranged.