GEOG*1220 - Explaining Environmental Change
Course Description
This course introduces foundational concepts for understanding how the world's most pressing environmental problems, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and water pollution, have their roots in societal structures and processes. It integrates perspectives from both earth system and social sciences and contrasts issues, drivers, and governance approaches from around the world, but with emphasis on Canadian and US examples.
Note: This course can be taken individually or as a part of a certificate program.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, the learner should be able to:
- Identify and describe human impacts on the environment across a variety of earth systems and scales;
- Define concepts from earth system sciences that characterize environmental change from a biophysical perspective (e.g., feedback loops, open/closed systems, nutrient cycles, etc.) and apply these concepts to specific cases and examples;
- Discuss the social scientific concepts that drive human impacts on the environment (e.g., institutional failures, market failures, environmental racism, etc.) and different ways governments, companies, and civil society actors govern environmental change, and apply these concepts to specific cases and examples;
- Investigate, evaluate, and synthesize diverse sources of knowledge about real-world, place-based environmental issues; and
- Write a policy memo that provides an overview of what we know about a specific environmental change, its societal drivers, and potentially effective governance approaches.
Course Topics
- Earth System Science
- The Anthropocene
- Population
- Institutions
- Ethics and Values
- Risk Governance
- Markets
- Political Economy
- Settler Colonialism
- Environmental Justice
- Writing Research Summaries and Synthesizing Research
Additional Requirements
Assessment
| Assessment Item | Weight | Learning Outcomes |
| Weekly Quizzes (Best 7 out of 9; 3% each) | 21% | 1, 2 |
| Comprehensive Exam | 24% | 1, 2 |
| Research Journal – Topic | 10% | 3 |
| Research Journal – Sources & Summaries | 20% | 3, 4 |
| Research Journal – Policy Memo | 25% | 3, 4, 5 |
| Total | 100% | 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 |
Applies Towards the Following Certificates
- Certificate in Environmental Citizenship : Electives
- Certificate in Environmental Conservation : Electives
Technical Requirements
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*Course details are subject to change.