London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Modules

68
Society and the Environment

This paper is intended to introduce students to the key issues faced by society which affect the natural environment. The subject will require some understanding of natural environmental processes but the main emphasis will focus on the nature, causes of, and solutions to the major environmental problems faced by society.

Environmental systems and society: Analysis of the varied two-way interactions between human societies and natural environmental systems. Environmental history, timescales of changes and changing perceptions of environment. Population growth, technology change and market defects in the creation of renewable resource scarcity and environmental problems. Doomsday scenarios. The Gaia hypothesis. Ecocentric and technocentric attitudes.

Environmental pollution: The nature, causes and consequences of environmental pollution. The main types of pollution by medium - biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, including a consideration of pesticides, sewerage, nitrates and phosphates, urban smog, nitrogen and sulphur emissions and acidification.

Environmental hazards: The nature, significance and trends of natural hazard impacts, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. The variety of startegies that can be adopted to minimise hazards.

Global environmental change: Issues of global environmental change including the enhanced ‘greenhouse effect’, stratospheric ozone depletion, desertification, soil resource depletion, fuelwood shortages, and the depletion of the tropical rain forests.

Causes of and solutions to environmental concerns: The underlying causes of environmental problems and assessment of the proposed solutions to environmental problems. The assessment methods used to evaluate environmental damage caused by development, and the benefits of control and conservation (environmental impact assessment and benefit-cost analysis). Conclusions: future environmental change.