Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Niko Antalffy
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
12cp
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit examines the relationship between science and society through environmental sustainability. We focus on two big questions: how can we understand science and scientific developments as social processes and institutions; and how can we understand the implications of scientific advance and insights on society in light of environmental issues? We examine how science developed through Modernity, how scientific knowledge is formed and how it's used in the policy process. We look at the continuum of values from conventional instrumental to deep ecological values and investigate their uses in environmental policy. The first question is addressed through an analysis of what we mean by scientific knowledge, how this might differ from other knowledge systems and how science is actually practiced and new insights developed. The second question we address through debates on climate change and sustainability. We ask how and why scientists have raised questions about environmental sustainability. What is the basis of these claims and of criticisms of science? How have scientists engaged in broader social and political debates to advance their environmental insights? How have scientists influenced our societies to become more sustainable, and why have they not been more successful?
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Due |
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Participation | 15% | ongoing |
Book review | 25% | 04/09/2015 |
Weekly Quiz | 20% | ongoing |
Report | 40% | 23/10/2015 |
Due: ongoing
Weighting: 15%
5% attendance of tutorials, 5% attendance at lectures, 5% participation in tutorials
(online participation for external students for all three)
Due: 04/09/2015
Weighting: 25%
Summary of a book on the environment, chosen from the supplementary list or in consultation with your tutor (600 words); due Fri, Week 6.
Topic: Select one book on the environment from the supplementary list and do the following:
Assessment criteria:
Due: ongoing
Weighting: 20%
Weekly online quizzes will appear on iLearn from Week 2 to Week 11. These will incorporate weekly lecture topics and material from the weekly reading. Each quiz will be worth 2 points, adding up to 20% of your overall mark over 10 weeks. These will have to be completed within a set time period following the lectures.
Due: 23/10/2015
Weighting: 40%
An investigation into the use of science by one environmental advocacy body in relation to environmental issues (2000 words); due Fri, week 11.
Topic: Choose one organisation that has made a significant contribution to debate on the issue of climate change and critically assess the connection between its values and interests, its advocacy positions and its use of science. To what extent do you support its views?
READINGS
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Week 1 |
1. Hannigan, J A (1995) ‘Social Construction of Environmental Problems’, in Hannigan, J A (1995) Environmental Sociology – A Social Constructionist Perspective, Routledge, New York: 38-57. COMPULSORY 2. Martell, L (1994) ‘Ecology and Industrialism’, in Martell, L (1994) Ecology and Society – An Introduction, Polity Press, Cambridge: 24-33. COMPULSORY |
Week 2 |
Pepper, David (1996) ‘Defining Environmentalism’, in Pepper, David (1996) Modern Environmentalism – An Introduction, Routledge, London: 10-16. COMPULSORY |
Week 3 |
1. Williams, M (2000) ‘Where did science come from’, in Science and Social Science: An Introduction, London: Routledge: 8-27. COMPULSORY 2. Pepper, David (1996) ‘Pre-Modern and Modern Ideas about Nature and Science – the roots of technocentrism’, in Pepper, David (1996) Modern Environmentalism – An Introduction, Routledge, London: 124-163. SUPPLEMENTARY |
Week 4 |
Dovers, Stephen (2005) ‘Thinking about Policy’, in Dovers, Stephen (2005) Environment and Sustainability Policy: Creation, Implementation, Evaluation, The Federation Press, Sydney: 18-37. COMPULSORY |
Week 5 |
Berkes, Fikret (1999) ‘Context of Traditional Ecological Knowledge’ and ‘Toward a unit of mind and nature’, in Berkes, F (1999) Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management, Taylor & Francis, London: 3-14 and 163- 183. COMPULSORY |
Week 6 |
1. Bulkeley, Harriet (2001) ‘Governing Climate Change: The Politics of Risk Society?’, in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol 26, No 4: 430-447. COMPULSORY 2. Gidley, Jennifer et al (2009) ‘Participatory Futures Methods: Towards Adaptability and Resilience in Climate-Vulnerable Communities’, in Environmental Policy and Governance, No 19: 427-440. SUPPLEMENTARY 3. Grundmann, Reiner (2007) ‘Climate change and knowledge politics’, in Environmental Politics, Vol 16, No 3: 414-432. SUPPLEMENTARY 4. Haas, Peter M (2005) ‘Science and international environmental governance’, in Dauvergne, Peter (ed) Handbook of Global Environmental Politics, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK: 383-401. SUPPLEMENTARY 5. Beder, Sharon (2009) ‘Industry Conjurers’, in Overland, Vol 195, Winter 2009: 54-58. ADDITIONAL |
Week 7 |
1. Chapin, S F et al (2000) ‘Consequences of changing biodiversity’, Nature, Vol 405, 11 May 2000: 234-242. COMPULSORY 2. Connelly and Smith (1999) ‘Introduction’, in Politics and the Environment – From Theory to Practice, Routledge, London: 2-9. SUPPLEMENTARY |
Week 8 |
1. Carson, Lyn et al (2002) ‘Community Consultation in Environmental Policy Making’, in The Drawing Board: An Australian Review of Public Affairs, Vol 3, No 1, July 2002: 1-13. COMPULSORY 2. Muir, Cameron (2010) ‘Feeding the world – our great myth’, in Griffith Review, No 27, Autumn 2010: 59-73. ADDITIONAL 3. Ritter, David (2010) ‘Fishing like there’s no tomorrow – behind our seafood feast’, in Griffith Review, No 27, Autumn 2010: 122-130. ADDITIONAL |
Week 9 |
Irwin, Alan (2001) ‘Sustainability as Social Challenge’, in Sociology and the environment, Polity, Oxford: 31-49. COMPULSORY |
Week 10 |
1. Dovers, Steve (2008) ‘Urban water: policy, institutions and governance’, in Troy, P (ed) Troubled waters: confronting the water crisis in Australia’s cities, ANU E-Press, Canberra: 81-98. COMPULSORY 2. Miller, Chris (2011) ‘Struggling in the face of complexity – water reform in the Murray- Darling Basin’, in Griffith Review, No 32, Autumn 2011: 213-224. ADDITIONAL |
Week 11 |
1. Lowe, Ian (2005) ‘Radically rethinking a sustainable future’, in Griffith Review, Edition 2, Dreams of Land, 2005: 1-5. COMPULSORY 2. Williams, Robyn (2011) ‘Science without a capital S’, in Griffith Review, No 31, Autumn 2011: 102-110. ADDITIONAL |
Week 12 |
Murray, Paul (2011) ‘Awareness: Personalizing Sustainability’, in The Sustainable Self – a personal approach to sustainability education, EartScan, London: 27-63. COMPULSORY |
Week 13 |
No set reading… please review previous readings.
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LECTURES |
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Week 1 |
Introduction + Main environmental concepts |
28 July Matthew Bunn |
Week 2 |
Frameworks: understanding science and the environment |
4 August Matthew Bunn |
Week 3 |
Science in society |
11 August Matthew Bunn |
Week 4 |
Science as industry |
18 August Niko Antalffy |
Week 5 |
The environmental crisis, its origins and components |
25 August Niko Antalffy |
Week 6 |
Climate change |
1 September Niko Antalffy |
Week 7 |
Biodiversity
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8 September Niko Antalffy |
SPRING BREAK |
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Week 8 |
Environment and health
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29 September Niko Antalffy |
Week 9 |
Environmental policy and values |
7 October TBA |
Week 10 |
Water |
13 October Niko Antalffy |
Week 11 |
Science and the future & recap on course themes |
20 October Niko Antalffy |
Week 12 |
Environmental activism and sustainability |
27 October Niko Antalffy |
Week 13 |
No lecture
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Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.
This graduate capability is supported by:
As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.
This graduate capability is supported by: