Welcome to ESS
Aims of ESS
1. Acquire the knowledge and understanding of environmental systems at a variety of scales.
2. Apply the knowledge, methodologies and skills to analyse environmental systems and issues at a variety of scales.
3. Appreciate the dynamic interconnectedness between environmental systems and societies
4. Value the combination of personal, local and global perspectives in making informed decisions and taking responsible actions on environmental issues.
5. Be critically aware that resources are finite, and that these could be inequitably distributed and exploited, and that management of these inequities is the key to sustainability.
6. Develop awareness of the diversity of environmental value systems.
7. Develop critical awareness that environmental problems are caused and solved by decisions made by individuals and societies that are based on different areas of knowledge.
8. Engage with the controversies that surround a variety of environmental issues.
9. Create innovative solutions to environmental issues by engaging actively in local and global contexts.
Why the Big Questions?
The intention of the Big Questions (BQs) in the ESS course is to glue the topics of the course together by encouraging a holistic view of the subject. These questions are not examined but help link topics together and show the interconnectedness of ESS. viii
They may be weaved into the responses to the essay questions in Paper 2.
They stimulate an approach to ESS that should allow you to apply higher-order skills such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation in your (conceptbased) learning and prevent the topics being addressed in isolation.
The Big Questions at the end of each topic allow you to rennect on your learning and to explore the connections between topics.
The main themes in the Big Questions are:
1. Equilibrium: the systems approach
2. EVSs: environmental value systems
3. Sustainability
4. Strategy: management strategies – the effectiveness of human intervention in solving environmental issues
5. Biodiversity: a global viewpoint on the future of the Earth's environment.
The six Big Questions
A. Which strengths and weaknesses of the systems approach and of the use of models have been revealed through this topic?
B. To what extent have the solutions emerging from this topic been directed at preventing environmental impacts, limiting the extent of the environmental impacts, or restoring systems in which environmental impacts have already occurred?
C. What value systems are at play in the causes and approaches to resolving the issues addressed in this topic?
D. How does your personal value system compare with the others you have encountered in the context of issues raised in this topic?
E. How are the issues addressed in this topic relevant to sustainability or sustainable development?
F. In which ways might the solutions explored in this topic alter your predictions for the state of human societies and the biosphere decades from now?