Details on the organization of the lectures are in the attached *.xls document.

Syllabus 1) Social challenges; 8MDG. demographic consequences of mankind's development. Characteristics of the population growth, demographic transition, gender issues, lack/surplus of food, famine as a political tool, diseases, income disparity. 2) Life in Anthropocene. Planetary boundaries I: Biodiversity loss, Climate change, and Acidification of the oceans. 3) Planetary boundaries concept II: Stratospheric ozone loss; Global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, Global freshwater consumption, Chemical pollution, and Atmospheric aerosols. 4) History of the concept of sustainable development as a reaction to developmental issues. Important global (Our Common Future, Rio Declaration, Agenda 21), European (Europe 2020), and national (Czech Republic 2030) documents related to the sustainable development concept. UN project Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030). 5) Ecological nature of human beings and resulting impact on the environment. Roots and social manifestations of ecological crisis (migration of people, frustration, violence, etc.). 6) Energy production - environmental, economic and social consequences of various types of energetics. 7) Food production - environmental, economic and social consequences of industrial (conventional), sustainable and organic farming. 8) Environmental ethics - people-environment relation from the perspective of values. Values versus facts. Anthropocentric and biocentric types of ethics. Biocentric ethic (A. Schweitzer), Land ethic (A. Leopold), The Rights of Nature ethic (R. Nash, P. Singer), Deep ecology (A. Naess). 9) The environmental economy as a tool to reach social prosperity with respect to environmental boundaries. The tragedy of Commons, fiscal evaluation of the environment, internalization of externalities. 10) Sustainable production and consumption. Limits of technological solutions as preferred tools in the way towards a sustainable life. 11) Solutions in the field of personal values. Lifestyles, voluntary simplicity, postmodernism.

Consultation Anytime when agreed with the lecturer email: michal.bittner@recetox.muni.cz tel: 54949 3807

The first lecture will introduce students to the field of developmental issues. There will be shown what are the most challenging issues and what were the outcomes of the huge development project 8 Millenium development goals.

• Anthropocene - Earth system shaped by human forces. Biodiversity loss is one of the "side effects" of the vast interventions of people to the Earth system (environment).
  

There are many environmental issues (besides Biodiversity loss or Climate change) as a consequence of human activities. This lecture briefly introduces issues such as Ozone depletion, Ocean acidification, Nitrogen and Phosphorus consumption, Freshwater use and Land changes.

Present climate change is one of the most serious jeopardies for the environment and the prosperity of human society.

In this chapter, we will discuss basic ecological terms that are crucial for understanding the context of anthropogenic environmental issues. These are mainly the following areas:

• ecological stability, positive and negative feedback
  
• food chains and food pyramid
• types of population growth curves, their sociological and environmental consequences
• development of ecosystems and life strategy of organisms
• the importance of ecosystems' functions
• the relationship man - ecosystems

This lecture will introduce you to the evolution of the concept of Sustainable Development as a reaction to environmental degradation. The brief journey through history starts in the Constitution of Iroquois Nations several hundred years ago and will end in the year 2030.

The area of environmental ethics is crucial in considering possible and appropriate solutions to environmental issues (or environmental crisis in a more general sense). If we want to discuss with reference to the wrongness or suitability of action, then it is necessary to first define the wrongness or suitability. And there is room for ethics (in general), which deals with the world of values (as opposed to science, which deals with the world of facts). Due to the thematic differences from most courses at the Faculty of Science, ethics will be introduced in general in the first part, and then we will discuss in detail the key topics of environmental ethics.

The first group will be types of anthropocentric environmental ethics, such as the Selfish-Prey Attitude and the Attitude of Noble Humanity. In the second group, there are types of non-anthropocentric ethical theories that we will discuss in more depth, including an introduction to their founders of thought:

 

• Albert Schweitzer - Reverence for Life
  
• Aldo Leopold - Land Ethics
  
• Peter Singer a Roderick Nash - Concept of Extended Rights
• Arne Naess - Deep Ecology
  
  7_Env_ethics.pdf

The curves of growing consumption of raw materials (not only coal, and oil, but virtually all other raw materials), greenhouse gas production, or a human population, while biodiversity is declining rapidly, point to the environmental crisis we are now facing. Many people identify with the need for sustainable development, for example by reducing CO2 emissions, developing renewable technologies, or increasing energy efficiency, in addition to including all externalities in the final price of products. However, a growing number of scientists, pointing to current trends in production and consumption, fear that all these efforts are odd to address the sustainability of life as long as the economic system is based on the assumption of sustainable growth. If we are serious about sustainability, then we must change the whole economic system.

In this lecture, we will discuss both the shortcomings (and advantages) of the current economic system, as well as the possibilities for its improvement, which will minimize the negative impact on the environment.

Production of food and other industrial raw materials in agriculture together with
the generation and disposal of relevant waste is one of the key environmental issues which
solution or at least mitigation of negative manifestations is associated with extensive
socio-economic context.

Approaches toward a sustainable society need to be addressed in all types of human activity (municipal administration, economy, technology, etc.). This lecture will outline approaches to achieving more sustainable development of municipalities (and what are the characteristics of such a municipality), as well as the limited role of the technology in the way towards a sustainable society.