Units for Programmes in Natural Sciences, 2007/08 |
XX30172 State of the planet |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Honours |
| Semester: 2 |
| Assessment: EX75CW25 |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must (take XX20085 and take XX20001) or (take CH10056 and take CH10057) or (take CH10007 and take CH10008) or (take CH10089 and take CH10090) and while taking this unit you must take CE40044 |
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Aims: To enable advanced study of the impact of human populations on the global environment, focusing specially on human population growth and its impact on food supply, human use of common resources, ecological services and biodiversity.
Learning Outcomes: After taking this Unit students should be able to demonstrate that they: * Have advanced knowledge of a range of scientific and technical problems concerning the current state of the global environment, and the evidential basis for such knowledge; * Understand historic and current impacts on the global environment of human population growth and technological advance; * Can access and analyse web-based governmental and NGO public databases of global environmental information; * Appreciate the importance of detailed accounting of environmental indices in appraising global situation; * Can evaluate the worth of predictive models of future environmental change, and their implications for Homo sapiens and the biosphere; * Are aware of historic and current proposals to limit human population and economic growth and their scientific, technological, philosophical and political implications. Skills: Written communication (T/F/A), Oral presentation (T/F/A), Numeracy and computation (T/F/A), Data acquisition, handling and analysis (T/F/A), Information technology (T/F/A), Information handling and retrieval (T/F/A), Group working (T/F), Working independently (T/F). Content: Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons"; Ecosystem services and the state of the planet; Appraisal of the current global human population and the probable trajectory of its growth; Current states of the following global indices: Soils and food security; Biodiversity and the natural world; Fisheries and the oceans; Freshwater resources; Energy reserves; Air quality and pollution; Climate change. |