Environmental Systems & Societies

To help you transition seamlessly into the rigours of the IB Diploma or Career-related Programme, this subject page houses your essential preparatory resources. Beyond the required Summer Task, designed to prime your analytical and subject-specific skills, you will find curated Recommended Reading and Recommended Viewing lists. These selections are handpicked by your future teachers to broaden your perspective, ignite your curiosity, and provide the cultural and academic context necessary for high-level inquiry. Engaging with these materials now will not only ease the step up from Grade 10 but will also give you a distinct advantage as you begin your two-year journey. 

• Build a terrarium : Studying  how ecosystems work is at the core of the IBDP ESS course. What a better to study an ecosystem than build one!  A terrarium  is a functioning , closed ecological system that teaches about many envirionmental science concepts like  closed systems, sustainability , water cycle etc. Use the link attached to build a terrarium and observe how different components interact to support life.

1. Silent Spring library.uniteddiversity.coop/More_Books_and_Reports/Silent_Spring-Rachel_Carson-1962.pdf :  Nonfiction book written by Rachel Carson that became one of the most-influential books in the modern environmental movement. Published in 1962, Silent Spring was widely read by the general public and became a New York Times best seller. The book provided the impetus for tighter control of pesticides and has been honoured on many lists of influential books, including Discover magazine’s list of the 25 greatest science books of all time.  

2. Breaking boundaries: The Science behind our planet : Authored by Johan Rockstrum and Owen Gaffney, this book offers a gripping exploration into the urgent state of our planet, unveiling the critical thresholds our environment teeters upon. 

3. Thinking like a Mountain : An essay by Aldo Leopold on different ways  human  shape natural landscapes.

• My Octopus teacher ( Netflix movie) : Shows the true story of one man, Craig Foster and his growing relationship with an octopus he meets whilst freediving in the ocean near his home.  

• Planetary Boundary Model : An eye opener, this TEd talk by Johan Rockstrom, a leading expert on global sustainability , explores human pressure on Earth's resilience.

• Chasing Ice : Documentary -In Chasing Ice, Balog deploys revolutionary time-lapse cameras to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers"