The main objective of the Applied sustainability science course is to introduce the basic principles of this multidisciplinary field. The secondary objective is to present various perspectives on the solutions to global environmental crises and to encourage the students’ critical thinking about the complex issues of sustainability.

• HEINRICHS, H., P. MARTENS, G. MICHELSEN AND A. WIEK Sustainability Science, An Introduction. Edtion ed.: Springer Dordrecht, 2016. ISBN 978-94-017-7242-6.

• SAGE, Rowan F. Global change biology: A primer. Global Change Biology, 2020, 26.1: 3-30. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14893

• RAWORTH, Kate. Doughnut economics: seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2017.

• CLARK, William C. (ed.). Sustainability science: a room of its own. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007, 104.6: 1737-1738. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0611291104

• BIGGS, Reinette; SCHLÜTER, Maja; SCHOON, Michael L. (ed.). Principles for building resilience: sustaining ecosystem services in social-ecological systems. 2015.

• ROBEYNS, Ingrid. What, if anything, is wrong with extreme wealth?. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 2019, 20.3: 251-266. https://doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2019.1633734

• WILLETT, W., et al., Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet, 2019. 393(10170): p. 447-492.

• IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA. doi: 10.1017/9781009157926

• Lewis, S., Maslin, M. Defining the Anthropocene. Nature 519, 171–180 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14258

• TAYLOR, Bron, et al. The need for ecocentrism in biodiversity conservation. Conservation Biology, 2020, 34.5: 1089-1096. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13541

• DÍAZ, Sandra, et al. Assessing nature's contributions to people. Science, 2018, 359.6373: 270 272. doi: 10.1126/science.aap8826

• STERMAN, John D. All models are wrong: reflections on becoming a systems scientist. System Dynamics Review: The Journal of the System Dynamics Society, 2002, 18.4: 501-531. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/sdr.261

Study materials on the department's intranet website.

1. Humans and the environment: relationship, ethical & moral principles, values and worldviews

2. Sustainability: definitions, approaches

3. Earth as a complex adaptive system: stable states, feedbacks, thresholds, Earth system boundaries, social-ecological system, adaptive cycles

4. Climate crisis: RCP scenarios, climate tipping points, climate justice, impact distribution

5. Biodiversity crisis: ecosystem conservation tools and their justifications, dimensions and variables

6. Pollution crisis: NIMBY and the environmental justice framework, responsibility for pollution

7. Quantitative sustainability analysis: footprints, GDP, HDI, labelling, greenwashing

8. Resources: fossil, renewable, water, land, nature’s contributions to people

9. Society & Development: nutrition, education, gender, rights and capabilities approaches

10. Economy: poverty, equality (equity), economic growth, degrowth

11. Governance: power, policymaking, participation

12. Sustainable Development Goals

None.