This paper examines the increasing risks imposed on human communities by global environmental change such as global warming and the occurrence of severe natural events. The paper establishes a platform for the critical analysis of these processes by introducing students to important theoretical developments including the role of culture-nature dualisms in geography, theories on population-environment relationships, political ecology, and natural resource and environmental economics. The paper provides opportunities to build up a knowledge base that is aligned to individual areas of interest.

The paper interrogates various dimensions of environmental change through lenses provided by theories that have been developed in the context of environmental problems. These different conceptualisations tend to diagnose different root causes of problems of environmental change, rely on different narrative interpretations of change, and ultimately prescribe different solutions. The course will make use of these different lenses for analysis of a range of thematic environmental change challenges and, in so doing, will illuminate both theoretical and applied implications of these approaches.

The paper is delivered through a series of face-to-face lectures (Thursday) and Zoom-based tutorial sessions, both of which will be recorded. The format for classes will typically consist of a lecture on a topic and class discussions of examples. There are assigned readings for each week and, as this is a graduate level course, students are expected to have worked through these prior to class. These readings provide students with a set of 'starting materials'; as individual topics are developed, students will develop their own individualised materials. Students are encouraged to bring their own course-related material to class, be that video clips, news links, reading material and web sources.