58228 Climate Change: Politics and Ecology

With climate change the ecological crisis is visible as a global crisis. Worldwide, it is already exhausting nourishing landscapes, causing extinction of species and displacements of peoples. The possibility of catastrophic climate change is now on the international policy agenda. Low-income societies are in the immediate firing-line, while global elites, about a fifth of the world's population (including most Australians), continue to reap the benefits of carbon-intensive development. Such asymmetries raise profound issues of environmental ethics and justice. These foreground relations between species, between nature and livelihood, between generations, and between young and old, pose a fundamental challenge to notions of sustainable development. To find new possibilities and transformations, this subject engages with climate politics, from global frameworks to local actions. Students analyse climate discourses from scientists, corporate executives, social activists and governments. They investigate key sites of climate politics, such as climate governance and emissions trading, adaptation to new climate conditions, climate action, and mobilisation for climate justice.

Typical availability

Spring semester, City campus