| Course Name | Ecology, Politics, Planetary Thinking |
| Code | Semester | Theory (hour/week) | Application/Lab (hour/week) | Local Credits | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEHU 303 | Fall/Spring | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Prerequisites | None | |||||
| Course Language | English | |||||
| Course Type | Service Course | |||||
| Course Level | First Cycle | |||||
| Mode of Delivery | - | |||||
| Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course | ||||||
| Course Coordinator | ||||||
| Course Lecturer(s) | ||||||
| Assistant(s) | - | |||||
| Course Objectives | This course aims to introduce key issues, major themes, and pressing problems concerning environmental politics and ecological thinking. Massive-scale expansion of urban areas; irreversible processes of deforestation and environmental degradation caused by the idea of "infinite growth"; careless urbanization and suburbanization; local and global threats posed by the climate change; and transnational impacts of changing public consumption habits into blind consumerism; all of these developments in the past few centuries address that in our age, the human-nature relationship takes place in the form of an "ecological crisis," meaning the time for taking significant steps towards rethinking of this relationship. In this respect, this course offers students to comprehend various issues of politics of environment from the perspective of "planetary thinking," which acknowledges contributions of conventional approaches; but it also brings a new approach by studying "human life" and "human health" in relation to planetary health that includes animal health, environmental/ecological health, and biodiversity. |
| Learning Outcomes | The students who succeeded in this course;
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| Course Description | This course will develop in three parts. In the first part, we are going to spend some time in understanding the “ecological crisis” by looking at its symptoms and reasons, also climate denialism, and the idea of “planetary thinking” and “planetary health.” In the second part, we are going to elaborate on the critical perspectives towards the idea of environmental justice with an emphasis on green philosophy and politics as well as international cooperation on sustainability and ecological enhancement. We will devote the final part of the course on current debates. |
| Related Sustainable Development Goals |    |
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| Core Courses | |
| Major Area Courses | ||
| Supportive Courses | ||
| Media and Managment Skills Courses | ||
| Transferable Skill Courses |
| Week | Subjects | Required Materials |
| 1 | Introduction to the course: Objectives and Expectations | John Bellamy Foster (1999), The Vulnerable Planet, (NY: Monthly Review Press), Preface&Ch.1 |
| 2 | Ecology and the Emergence of Environmental Politics | Jaboury Ghazoul (2020), Ecology: A Very Short Introduction (NY and London: Oxford University Press), ch.1-2. Andrew Dobson (2016), Environmental Politics: A Very Short Introduction, (NY and London: Oxford University Press), introduction; ch.1-2. Pamela S. Chasek et al. (2018), “The Emergence of Global Environmental Politics,” Global Environmental Politics (7th ed.), (NY and London: Routledge), pp. 1-49. |
| 3 | The Rise and Fall of Developmentalism and “Infinite Growth” | Kelley Johnson (2010), “Developmentalism Then and Now: The Origins and Resurgence of an Enduring Grand Theory,” Grand Theories and Ideologies in the Social Sciences (ed. Howard J. Wiarda), (NY: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 19-40. Sukhoon Hong (2010), “Environmental and Geographic Determinism: Jared Diamond and His Ideas,” Grand Theories and Ideologies in the Social Sciences (ed. Howard J. Wiarda), (NY: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 141-158. Jacobus A. du Pisani (2006), “Sustainable Development: Historical Roots of the Concept,” Environmental Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 83-96. |
| 4 | Actors and Regimes of Environmental Politics | Pamela S. Chasek et al. (2018), “Actors in the Environmental Arena,” Global Environmental Politics (7th ed.), (NY and London: Routledge), pp. 51-103. Lindsay Maizland (2021), “Global Climate Agreements: Successes and Failures,” Council on Foreign Relations (https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/paris-global-climate-change-agreements). |
| 5 | Approaches 1: Population and Scarcity vs. Institutions and Commons | Paul Robbins et al. (2014), Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction, (UK: Wiley Blackwell), ch.2&ch.4. |
| 6 | Approaches 2: Environmental Justice *Deadline for setting up presentation groups | Paul Robbins et al. (2014), Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction, (UK: Wiley Blackwell), ch.5. |
| 7 | Midterm | |
| 8 | Making Sense of the “Crisis” of Ecology | TBA |
| 9 | Climate Change: Denialist vs. Alarmist Controversy **Deadline for submitting presentation topics with brief descriptions | TBA |
| 10 | Solutions 1: Transnational Activism/ Environmental Movements ***Feedback on presentation topics | TBA |
| 11 | Solutions 2: “Planetary Health” | TBA |
| 12 | Presentations | |
| 13 | Presentations | |
| 14 | Presentations | |
| 15 | Review of the Semester | |
| 16 | Final Exam |
| Course Notes/Textbooks | |
| Suggested Readings/Materials |
| Semester Activities | Number | Weighting |
| Participation | 1 | 10 |
| Laboratory / Application | ||
| Field Work | ||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | ||
| Portfolio | ||
| Homework / Assignments | 1 | 20 |
| Presentation / Jury | ||
| Project | ||
| Seminar / Workshop | ||
| Oral Exam | ||
| Midterm | 1 | 30 |
| Final Exam | 1 | 40 |
| Total |
| Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 3 | 60 |
| Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 1 | 40 |
| Total |
| Semester Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | ||
| Study Hours Out of Class | 16 | 1 | 16 |
| Field Work | |||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | |||
| Portfolio | |||
| Homework / Assignments | 1 | 8 | |
| Presentation / Jury | |||
| Project | |||
| Seminar / Workshop | |||
| Oral Exam | |||
| Midterms | 1 | 10 | |
| Final Exams | 1 | 18 | |
| Total | 100 |
| # | Program Competencies/Outcomes | * Contribution Level | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | To have knowledge of basic concepts, theories, approaches (behavioral, biological, cognitive, evolutionary, social, developmental, statistical, humanistic, psychodynamic, and socio-cultural), and current applications specific to the field of psychology by using current course materials and instruments. | |||||
| 2 | To have basic knowledge and skills about the applications in the different subfields of psychology. | |||||
| 3 | To have basic knowledge about the testing and measurement instruments used in different subfields of psychology and basic level skill that does not require expertise in carrying out applications in different subfields of psychology. | |||||
| 4 | To make use of other disciplines that may contribute to psychology and have basic knowledge about the contribution of psychology to these disciplines. | |||||
| 5 | To have cumulative knowledge about the position of psychology as a scientific discipline in Turkey, the conducted research, applications and problems encountered from past to present in the field of psychology. | |||||
| 6 | To have the competence to conduct a research individually and/or as a team using the knowledge acquired in the field of psychology, interpret the findings obtained by using scientific problem solving and critical thinking approaches. | |||||
| 7 | To have the ability to construct a research hypothesis, create a research design, collect data, analyze it, report it in a scientific writing format, and interpret it by using basic knowledge related to testing and measurement, research methods, and statistics acquired in the field of psychology. | |||||
| 8 | To have the competence to share the theoretical and applied knowledge acquired in the field of psychology with the experts and lay people by using the required information and communication technologies in scientific studies and events that benefit the society. | |||||
| 9 | To have knowledge of the relevant professional and ethical values in the domains of psychology and respect individual differences and human rights in research and practices related to psychology. | |||||
| 10 | To constantly renew herself/himself professionally by following both national and international publications in the field of psychology, the developments in testing and measurement instruments and software programs used in the discipline. | |||||
| 11 | To establish written and verbal communication with experts and lay people by using both Turkish and English. | |||||
| 12 | To be able to speak a second foreign at a medium level of fluency efficiently. | |||||
| 13 | To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise. | |||||
*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest
