Fundamentals in Sustainability

This transdisciplinary unit introduces students to foundational concepts in sustainability, and the role of sustainability in mitigating the ‘triple planetary crises’ of biodiversity collapse, climate change and pollution. Students will become familiar with the nine planetary boundaries (Climate change, novel entities, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, ocean acidification, biogeochemical flows, freshwater change, land system change, biosphere integrity) as the unit’s key framework, and examine the historical and structural drivers of major contemporary socio-ecological challenges. Additionally, students will critically interrogate how power dynamics underlie and exacerbate socio-ecological disintegration. Through a selection of key issues and relevant case studies spanning terrestrial and marine environments, students will imaginatively explore potential solutions to pressing socio-ecological challenges through the decolonial lens of climate justice.

• Introduce students to key concepts, issues and approaches to ‘sustainability’ and the ‘nine planetary boundaries’ framework
• Enable students to evaluate diverse and at times conflicting understandings of ‘sustainability’ amidst global efforts to mitigate major global socio-ecological crises
• Equip students to critically interrogate key systemic drivers of contemporary socio-ecological crises, and to take informed, well-considered positions within these debates
• Develop transferrable skills in academic writing and communicating ideas to non-academic audiences 
   

Week    Topic
1:      Intro to unit: assessment, expectations, icebreakers

2.     What is sustainability? Western & other-than-Western approaches

        Systemic drivers of unsustainability

3.     Connecting the dots: Just sustainability

4.    Climate change: causes, impacts and solutions

5.     Sustainable cities: buildings and transport, consumption and waste

6.    READING WEEK

7.     Land use, food production and food justice

8.     Blue sustainability: oceans, waterways

9.     Biodiversity loss, ecosystems and rewilding

10.    Student free choice week – choose one of the following- (1) sustainability change agents: environmental movements, (2) Energy-just transitions, (3) sustainable business, (4) Novel entities, pollution & waste management

11.     Communicating and educating for transformative sustainability  

12.    Working with/through climate anxiety: sustainable futures for all

Looking ahead: Guest session on ‘Green employability’ 

 

This hybrid unit consists of weekly asynchronous (pre-recorded) lectures and in-person 1-hour tutorials. The sessions deploy blended and flipped teaching and learning techniques in order to enhance engagement, for instance through the use of teaching technologies like Mentimeter, pre and post-tutorial online discussion forum activities on Canvas (asynchronous), the use of multimedia tools such as YouTube and the online database Environmental Justice Atlas database for group discussion activities (synchronous and asynchronous).

Key weekly content is covered via a mini lecture series interspersed between interactive activities (i.e. guided learning, discussion forums). The tutorials are discussion-based, with group activities oriented around the week’s key readings and lecture content applied to real-world case studies. Funding permitting, guest lectures and short field trips to pertinent locations (i.e. local sustainability initiatives, projects, events) will be incorporated in order to enhance learning. 
 

• Recognise the nine interconnected planetary boundaries and their relation to contemporary socio-ecological crises
• Define sustainability and evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches to sustainability for mitigating environmental breakdown  
• Analyse the relationships between global environmental crises of today and their historical roots in colonialism, capitalism, anthropocentrism and related systems of oppression
• Critically and imaginatively evaluate alternative futures by examining relevant case studies and community-based responses to living sustainably.   

• Appraise the evidence for different perspectives and draw well-argued conclusions
• Engage with and interpret literature from a wide range of academic disciplines
• Develop a holistic and systems-thinking perspective on socio-ecological issues 

• Synthesise evidence and identify the most important key messages
• Present material in a format accessible to a non-academic audience

• Demonstrate transdisciplinary critical and imaginative thinking 
• Develop empathy through self-reflection on how one’s own positionality shapes one’s views on key issues
• Engage and communicate effectively with key actors working in sustainability sector across a range of contexts
• Undertake both independent and collaborative work to enhance time management and problem-solving skills 
• Strengthen one’s sense of personal, professional and political agency, and responsibility as a planetary citizen

Formative Assessment Task 

1. Sustainability praxis project (Group) in connection with the University Living Lab

Length (word count/time) : In-person* group PowerPoint presentation of case analysis & proposed solutions

* = cohort size permitting; if not, pre-recorded
Feedback: Verbal (tutor and peers) by week 4; written tutor feedback by week 5
 

2. Reflective journal – sustainability journey (individual)   

Length (word count/time):
First 400 – 500 words of journal entries submitted 

Feedback: Written feedback provided by tutor by week 10
 

Assessment Task:

1.  Sustainability praxis project statement (individual) - select a sustainability challenge/external organisation of choice from the ULL website, identify the key sustainability issues underlying the challenge(s), analyse their key drivers and propose a creative solution to the sustainability issues facing your chosen organisation, using supportive evidence. 

         Length:  2000 words

         Feedback: Written feedback provided by week 8, within 15 days of submission as              per Faculty guidance. 

         Weighting:   40%

2. Reflective journal: sustainability journey (individual) - Students are required to apply the knowledge learned from the materials covered throughout the unit, critically reflecting on their sustainability journey addressing following queries: What were your preconceived notions of sustainability, and how has your understanding changed throughout the unit? 
•    What are the potential pathways for achieving just sustainable transitions? 
•    Looking forward, through the lens of planetary justice, how will you embed sustainability in your personal, professional and/or civic life for being a more responsible planetary citizen? List 2 – 4 specific actions that you will take in response to what you’ve learned. 

Length: 1000 words 

Feedback: Written feedback to be provided by week 14, within 15 days of submission as per Faculty guidance. 

Weighting:   60%
 

Books:
-    Ajl, M. (2021). A people’s green new deal. Pluto Press.
-    B. Coolaset (ed.) (2021) Environmental justice : key issues. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :; Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :, Routledge.
-    Gilio-Whitaker, D. (2019) As long as grass grows : the indigenous fight for environmental justice from colonization to Standing Rock . Boston :, Beacon Press.
-    S. Hawkins, I. Convery, S. Carver, & R. Beyers (eds.) (2023) Routledge handbook of rewilding . Abingdon ; New York, NY :; Abingdon ; New York, NY :, Routledge.
-    Irene, J. O., Irene, B. N., Omeihe, K. O., Frank, R. (2025). The emerald handbook of decolonising sustainability: A Global South perspective. Leeds: Emerald Publishing Limited. 
-    Kimmerer, R. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Milkweed editions.
-    Lange, E.A. (2023) Transformative sustainability education: reimagining our future. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :; Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :, Routledge.
-    Longo, S.B., Clausen, R. and Clark, B. (2015). The tragedy of the commodity: Oceans, fisheries, and aquaculture. Rutgers University Press.
-    Robertson, M. (2021). Sustainability principles and practice. London: Routledge.
-    Sneyd, A. (2024) Hidden politics in the UN sustainable development goals. Rugby, Warwickshir : Practical Action Publishing.
-    Solnit, R. and Young-Lutunatabua, T. eds. (2023). Not too late: Changing the climate story from despair to possibility. Haymarket Books.
-    Sze, J. ed., 2018. Sustainability: Approaches to environmental justice and social power. NYU Press.
-    Thomas, L. (2022) The intersectional environmentalist : how to dismantle systems of oppression to protect people + planet. London: Souvenir Press.

Articles:

-    Ceaușu, S., Hofmann, M., Navarro, L.M., Carver, S., Verburg, P.H. and Pereira, H.M. (2015). Mapping opportunities and challenges for rewilding in Europe. Conservation Biology, 29(4), pp.1017-1027.
-    Ferguson, C.E., Bennett, N.J., Kostka, W., Richmond, R.H. and Singeo, A. (2022). The tragedy of the commodity is not inevitable: Indigenous resistance prevents high-value fisheries collapse in the Pacific islands. Global Environmental Change, 73, p.102477.
-    Giovannoni, E. and Fabietti, G. (2013). What is sustainability? A review of the concept and its applications. Integrated reporting: Concepts and cases that redefine corporate accountability, pp.21-40.
-    Hickel, J. (2019). Is it possible to achieve a good life for all within planetary boundaries?. Third World Quarterly, 40(1), pp.18-35.
-    Ingold, T. (2024). How to imagine a sustainable world. Acta Borealia, 41(1), pp.7-15.
-    Lorimer, J., Sandom, C., Jepson, P., Doughty, C., Barua, M. and Kirby, K.J. (2015). Rewilding: science, practice, and politics. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 40(1), pp.39-62.
-    Mohai, P., Pellow, D. and Roberts, J.T. (2009). Environmental justice. Annual review of environment and resources, 34(1), pp.405-430.
-    Rupprecht, C.D.D., Vervoort, J., Berthelsen, C., Mangnus, A., Osborne, N., et al. (2020) Multispecies sustainability. Global sustainability. 3. 
-    Sultana, F. (2023). Whose growth in whose planetary boundaries? Decolonising planetary justice in the Anthropocene. Geo: Geography and Environment, 10(2), p.e00128.
-    Swyngedouw, E. (2015). Urbanization and environmental futures: Politicizing urban politica