Quantifying Earth’s Boundaries in the Anthropocene

After completing this course students are able to:

1. (After the five four weeks) demonstrate knowledge on ‘Planetary boundary’ framework, its application in the scientific community and key points of critique.
2. (After the first five weeks of the course) develop a systems overview by categorizing relevant system components and studying system response to perturbations of theoretical systems in the context of planetary boundaries.
3. conduct guided group research in the context of a single planetary boundary.
4. present research findings in conference-style poster and research report formats.
5. critically reflect on the planetary boundary concept and identify strengths and weaknesses of the concepts in terms of applicability to guide human development in the Anthropocene.

Note: Was previously code UCSCIEAR33. You cannot take both courses; they are the same.

Content
Earth can be considered to be single life support system in which different Earth-system processes provide vital ecosystem services. One of the key challenges in the Anthropocene is how to manage the Earth-system in a way that it continues to provide a stable and inhabitable environment for humanity. The concept of planetary boundaries, as outlined by Johan Rockström et al. (2009), proposes nine key Earth-system processes and associated thresholds which, if crossed, could degrade the Earth's life support functions in an unacceptable manner. The planetary boundaries framework thereby offers, in principle, a useful method to guide Earth-system management in a sustainable manner.

This course aims to introduce students from the UCU tracks Earth and Environment and Sustainability to the concept of planetary boundaries and provide analytical approaches to analyse Earth system processes for their stability and resilience. The course specifically focuses on the planetary boundaries ‘Biogeochemical flows’, ‘Biosphere integrity’, ‘Land system change’ and ‘Climate change’.

The course consist of three stages that complement each other. In stage 1 students are introduced to the planetary boundaries concept, study the underlying Earth system dynamics, and critically di. In stage 2 students conduct a group project where they explore in more depth one of the planetary boundaries and apply knowledge from prerequisite courses. In stage 3 all groups reconvene to communicate their findings to each other and integrate the knowledge gained during their project.

Format 
The course combines traditional forms of teaching with a group-based research project:

• Lectures to support lecture notes based on recent scientific literature and the assigned book 
• Computer labs to analyze stability in selected Earth system processes;
• Guided group research on focused on a single planetary boundary;
• Conference-style poster presentation;
• Writing of a personal reflection paper.