Course info

The scale of the environmental and social challenges facing the world today has intensified in recent decades. It will increase further in a world of scarce and unequal resources, a growing population, and unmet human development needs. The claim that we now live in the Anthropocene raises fundamental questions for and about humanity on a changing planet.

The objectives of the program are:

1) to develop in students a critical and well-informed understanding of the environmental and geopolitical context of the idea of the Anthropocene, and its challenge to reinterpret and reimagine the relationships between humans, non-humans, and physical processes;

2) provide students with the opportunity to acquire or develop advanced knowledge and transferable skills relevant to their research interests and career aspirations;

3) to develop students skills in dealing with complex issues in both systematic and creative ways;

4) to foster in students abilities to evaluate contrasting theories, explanations, and policies, to collect, critically judge, evaluate, and interpret varied forms of evidence, and to combine and interpret different types of evidence to address specific problems.