Example courses

• Environmental Futures for Aotearoa New Zealand

  This course broadly maps human-nature relationships throughout human history in Aotearoa New Zealand. You will focus on how our relationships as part of the natural world, and our perspectives of them, manifest environmental values and ethics that become embedded in environmental management systems, policy and legislation. By mapping this, the course builds your sense of agency and purpose in Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental future.

• Perspectives in Environmental Science in Aotearoa New Zealand

  Global ecosystems are facing escalating pressures revealed by the exceedance of multiple planetary boundaries. These exceedances are the result of humankind’s accelerating population and consumption of non-renewable resources powered by fossil energy. In this interdisciplinary science course, students will explore contemporary and controversial environmental issues threatening the life supporting capacity of the planet. The course will be lecture-and seminar-based, with external guest-speakers offering their perspectives on the state and future of ecosystems in New Zealand and globally. Students will experience and interact with experts and practitioners working across a broad range of environmental research and action.

• Topics in Environmental Science

  Topics in environmental science that may include: environmental toxicology, Antarctica and environmental change, greenhouse effect environmental risk assessment, mathematical modelling of environmental problems; human health and ecology, atmosphere and ocean dynamics and natural resource management. This course will allow students to integrate their science discipline into an environmental framework and discuss, analyse and apply these ideas.