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Description
This introductory course deals with changes in our physical and biological environment on a variety of timescales, looks into the causes of natural environmental change and examines the progressive environmental impact of people from the last glacial stage up to the present. The aim of the course is to place present-day environmental issues such as climate change, evolution, biodiversity and human-environment interactions in a long-term temporal perspective, arguing that an understanding of the present and prediction of the future both require an examination of the past. It also emphasises the complex interplay between geological, climatic, ecological and human factors in shaping our present environment.
The main course topics include change on long geological timescales and the evolution of plant and animal species, including humans; environmental change during the glacial-interglacial cycles of the past few million years; changes since the last glacial maximum; human impacts on climate and the environment; future climate change projections and their potential impacts.
The lectures are organised into four themes, namely tectonics and evolution; Quaternary environments; Holocene environments; the anthropogenic interval.听
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Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 8th April 2024.
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