SGO2301 - Environment and society
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Course content
This course focuses on contemporary environmental issues and the challenges of both understanding and responding to them in an equitable and sustainable manner. The course provides insights in discourses and framings of environmental problems, including how beliefs, values and worldviews influence perceptions of problems as well as proposed solutions, and the implications for human security. The lectures present economic, political, cultural and ethical perspectives on environmental problems, focusing on issues such as climate change, energy supply and energy consumption, urban environmental problems, land use change, biodiversity, access to water and food, and vulnerability to disasters. The course includes discussions of social transitions and transformations that are considered necessary for creating a resilient and sustainable future. Understandings of the relationship between nature and society as well as between technology and society are stressed, and the role of individuals and groups as agents of change is considered. Students are expected to participate actively in the seminars.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge Aims
- Understand key concepts and theories about environmental problems, including vulnerability, resilience, adaptation and human security;
- Explain the role that discourses play in framing problems and solutions;
- Recognize different perspectives and approaches to environmental problems, and how these influence research, policy and action;
- Understand the key issues related to individual environmental problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, etc.;
- Understand the links between globalizaton and environmental change, and recognize how multiple processes (e.g., economic change, urbanization, epidemics, etc.) intersect and interact;
- Explain how environmental problems are linked to development and understandings of human-environment relationships and society-technology dynamics;
- Understand how contributions from the social sciences can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of environmental problems and solutions.
Learning Aims
- Discuss and debate articles and text on environmental issues;
- Recognize how different discourses are represented in media coverage of environmental issues;
- Experience in writing short opinion pieces on environmental problems;
- Write an academic text with references that addresses a particular question related to environment and society;
- Reflect and comment on the assignments of other students;
- Present and defend viewpoints among a group of students.
Admission
Students who are admitted to study programmes or individual courses at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in StudentWeb
Admission to this course is given on the basis of specific rules. For further information, please read: Rangeringsregler ved SV-fakultetet
You may apply to sit for the exam(s) in this course as a private candidate.
Private candidates are given a 6-hours school exam in English. The exam is held on the same day as the submission of the regular home exam.
Prerequisites
Formal prerequisites
No obligatory prerequisites beyond the minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway.
Recommended prior knowledge
SGO1001 - Innføring i Samfunnsgeografi
Teaching
This course will be taught at The University of Oslo, Blindern campus. Other location in Oslo may be used. The e-learning tool Fronter will normally be used.
The teaching is organized as lectures and seminars, which will be given in English. The course is part of the regular course provision at The Faculty of Social Science.
Application for change of seminar group
Teaching is mainly held during daytime. Teaching is organised as a combination of lectures and seminars throughout the semester. On the semester page you can find information about time and place of the current semesters lectures and seminars.
It is required of the student that he/she writes a feature article relevant to the course. The student must be present in the first seminar where he/she will be assigned to a group. Completed and approved compulsory course work is valid until the course is no longer offered. Students who have failed to complete the compulsory course work cannot take the exam.
Criteria for access to teaching resources
A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, contingent on available capacity.
Exam information
The Faculty of Social Science is responsible for the exam(s), and exam(s) are/is normally held at The University of Oslo, Blindern campus. Other locations in Oslo may be used.
The exam for this course is a 2-week take home exam in English. The exam question is handed out at 10.00 am on the day of the exam and must be submitted at 2.00 pm 14 days later.
When submitting the essay the candidate is also required to submit a statement regarding plagiarism, also called a compulsory statement
Any take home exam or essay etc. handed in at the University of Oslo may be checked for plagiarism by use of the Ephorus text recognition software.
Exam resources
No special exam resources are allowed.
Language of examination
The students can choose whether they will answer the exam questions in English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.
Assessment and grading
Examination results are available in StudentWeb three weeks after the examination-date, if no other information is given on the Web page for the current semester.
Course grades are awarded on a descending scale using alphabetic grades from A to E for passes and F for fail. Read more about the grading system .
An external auditor regularly evaluates the academic quality of the course, including the form of exam used on the course.
Explanations and appeals
Explanations & appeals at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography
Possibility of make-up exams and re-takes
You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam .
Withdrawing from exams and limits on re-takes
A student can sit for this exam up to 3 times. If a student wishes to withdraw from the exam, s/he must do this in StudentWeb at least two weeks prior to the first day of the exam. Failure to do so will be counted as one of the three opportunities to sit for the exam.
Exam options for students with special needs
Application forms for special examination arrangements on school-exams should be sent to The Faculty of Social Science. Applications for special examination arrangements on other exams should be sent to the Department which organizes the course.
Evaluation of this course
This course is evaluated half way through every semester and every four years the course is evaluated more thouroughly.
An external auditor regularly evaluates the academic quality of the course and he/she makes a written report every year.
Contact us
SV-infosenter
Visiting address:
Moltke Moes vei 31, Eilert Sundt's Building, 1st floor
Visiting hours:
Monday - Friday: 9 - 15
Postal address:
P.O. 1084 Blindern
N - 0317 Oslo
E-mail: sv-info@sv.uio.no
Web: http://www.sv.uio.no/english/studies/contact/sv-infosenter/