Students are able to:
1. Explain the structure and functioning of Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, trophic dynamics, and climate system, including how human activities disturb these systems through changes in stocks, flows, and feedback mechanisms.
2. Analyse the behaviour of coupled social-ecological systems using concepts of resilience, adaptive cycles, ecosystem services, and adaptive management.
3. Evaluate the environmental impacts of production and consumption systems using the planetary boundaries framework, Life Cycle Assessment logic, and circular-economy principles, and propose strategies to reduce those impacts.
4. Integrate knowledge from Earth-system science and production-system analysis to assess sustainability challenges in real world social-ecological systems using interdisciplinary reasoning.

Central to the pursuit of sustainable development is the integrated consideration of economic, social and environmental aspects. However, traditional scientific paradigms are based on reductionist thinking, which tries to understand things by taking them apart. In sustainability science, systems thinking is key to address the complex and interdependent nature of our coupled social-ecological systems. Many people recognize the need to transition to a sustainable and resilient society, but this requires new ways of thinking about and addressing complex problems. Widespread adoption of systems thinking is believed to be a precondition for making real progress towards sustainability, but few understand its importance. Systems thinking is a process for understanding the interrelationships among the key components of a system, including how changes in stocks, flows, and feedback mechanisms drive system behaviour over time.

This course introduces students to systems thinking and how it can be applied to understand sustainability problems and challenges of coupled social-ecological systems. After familiarizing themselves with key concepts, students explore systems thinking across two interconnected areas. The first covers Earth systems and coupled social-ecological systems, including biogeochemical cycles, the climate system, trophic dynamics, and the principles of resilience, adaptive cycles, and ecosystem services. The second focuses on rethinking production and consumption systems, where students examine the planetary boundaries framework and explore the transition to a circular and biobased economy through topics such as value chain analysis, environmental impact assessment, and circularity principles. Throughout the course, students work towards integrating knowledge from both areas to assess real-world sustainability challenges in social-ecological systems using interdisciplinary reasoning.

Reference list will be provided

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