Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

Biodiversity is collapsing. Drinking water is vanishing. Natural disasters are becoming more frequent. "Understanding the Nature Crisis" is a dynamic, interdisciplinary course that directly addresses a major societal challenge: the accelerating ecological collapse, including biodiversity loss and resource scarcity. Combining environmental science, ecology, and policy, the course is inherently linked to sustainability themes. Students investigate the complex interdependencies among Earth's climate, biosphere, and human decisions, exploring root causes and regional impacts.

Nature is in crisis, but it's not too late. This course invites you to understand what's at stake and be part of the solution to protect it.

2 x 2 hours per week, one hour will focus on group exercises. 

No mandatory requirements. This course is recommended (but not required) to be taken after 'Understanding the Climate Crisis' in semester 1.

None

None

1. Two in-person class tests. Each assessment is worth 30% of the course grade (60% total).

2. Moodle multiple choice quizzes. The quizzes count towards 40% of their grade, and the lowest two grades will be dropped. Students will be able to miss two of the quizzes without submission of an extenuating circumstances request.

Four themes are developed in this course that target providing students from interdisciplinary backgrounds with the building blocks of knowledge for:

1. Drivers and moderators of climate and biosphere change

2. Hydrologic cycle and weather extremes

3. Earth surface change in response to the climate crisis

4. Biosphere processes and responses to climate change

The course fully utilises the IDEA framework through: 

■ Interacting across disciplines and with external actors to co-produce sustainable futures that engage with climate justice and challenging conventional assumptions.

■ Disrupting established ways of learning and knowing, particularly concerning rights violations.

■ Enhancing students' awareness of their positionality, community issues, and responsibilities as global and local citizens.

■ Appling their learning to confront societal challenges by generating solutions and developing transferable skills for policy change.

This focus aligns strongly with university strategy of being a Change Maker (driving solutions), a Global Citizen (conveying complex ideas strategically), a Creative Leader (using evidence-based arguments), and a Social Innovator (fostering new ways of thinking).

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Explain the drivers of historical and contemporary biosphere and environmental change and categorise their distinct impacts across natural (Earth surface, marine), and biological systems.

■ Interpret data from authoritative sources (e.g., biodiversity & IPCC reports) to infer the implications of the nature crisis for nature and society.

■ Apply ecology and environmental science concepts to formulate evidence-based strategies for real-world problems, demonstrating the ability to collaborate effectively in a multidisciplinary context.

■ Evaluate the viability of potential environmental solutions by differentiating between technical limitations and socio-economic barriers to adoption.