This lecture-seminar introduces students to the conceptual and empirical foundations of global environmental change and its intersections with social, economic, and political transformation. The course treats climate change, biodiversity loss, urbanisation, and socio-economic inequality as coupled human–environment processes operating across scales, recognizing that these processes manifest differently in different world regions and therefore demand context-sensitive responses.

Through this course, learners critically engage with core frameworks of global change scholarship, including Anthropocene thinking, planetary boundaries, tipping-point dynamics, social vulnerability theory, sustainability transitions, and climate justice. These perspectives are used to interpret contemporary challenges such as climatic extremes, biodiversity and land-system change, urban infrastructure stress, demographic mobility, and the uneven global distribution of environmental burdens and responsibilities.

Using comparative case studies from the Global North and Global South, the course demonstrates how global processes translate into highly differentiated local realities. Students would analyse scientific and policy assessments and evaluate responses to global change across three arenas: policy and governance, technology and nature-based solutions, and education, communication, and behaviour. Moreover, a recurring emphasis is placed on the role of geography education and science communication in translating complex global change processes into meaningful learning experiences and locally grounded action.

Kurs im HIS-LSF