Understanding the Sustainability Challenge

In the context of unfolding climate breakdown, with the socio-political implications of this becoming more apparent, this module sets out to examine the concept of ‘sustainability’. Although the concept is a central value in the United Nations sustainable development goals and in many countries’ policy frameworks, the claim underlying the concept has been subject to critical analysis for some time. The module addresses a number of questions. Is sustainability, as currently envisaged, compatible with economic growth and development? Is any growth justifiable given the contemporary climate and habitat crises, with their attendant human displacement issues? Is it possible to reconcile ecological concerns with social justice or principles of equality? Is the only truly sustainable position a measured human withdrawal from the natural world in favour of ‘re-wilding’ or regeneration? How truly sustainable is ‘sustainable development’ if it is predicated on further extraction of resources and the expansion of a growth-led consumer economy, however modest this may purport to be? The ‘Green economy’ itself requires vast resources to be implemented. The module seeks to involve students in thinking their way through these and other critical questions.

1. Critically articulate the ecological, economic and social challenges of the 21st century

2. Demonstrate an ability to critically apply the sustainability concept, particularly encompassing its historical origins and contemporary expressions

3. Analyse the critiques of sustainability with particular reference to anti-colonial, gender, and indigenous perspectives, socio-ecological frameworks, and contemporary political theory.

4. Engage with imagining responses to the ecological and social crises of the 21st century grounded on contemporary theory in the social and physical sciences.