Syllabus
1. Introduction to the course (10. 10.) 2. Anthropocene, planetary boundaries, climate change and international environmental agreements (17. 10.)
Reading: Steffen, W., Persson, Å., Deutsch, L., Zalasiewicz, J., Williams, M., Richardson, K., … Svedin, U. (2011), The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship. AMBIO, 40(7), 739–761. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0185-x 3. Capitalocene, Doughnut Economics and Just Transition (31. 10.)
Davis, J., Moulton, A.A., Sant, L.V., Williams, B. (2019), Anthropocene, Capitalocene, … Plantationocene?: A Manifesto for Ecological Justice in an Age of Global Crises. Geography Compass, 13(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12438
Raworth, K. (2017), Why it's time for Doughnut Economics. IPPR Progressive Review, 24, 216-222. https://doi.org/10.1111/newe.12058 4. Seeds of Vandana Shiva – movie screening (7. 11.) 5. Environmentalism – from nature conservation to climate justice and degrowth (14. 11.)
Schlosberg, D., Collins, L.B. (2014), From environmental to climate justice: climate change and the discourse of environmental justice. WIREs Clim Change, 5, 359-374. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.275
Hickel, J. (2021), What does degrowth mean? A few points of clarification, Globalizations, 18(7), 1105-1111. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1812222 6. Ecofeminism (28.11.) 7. Transition towns (5. 12.)
Kolářová, M. (2020), Climate Change and the Transition Movement in Eastern Europe: The Case of Czech Permaculture. Sociologický časopis 56(3), 363-386. https://doi.org/10.13060/csr.2020.022 8. Food system transformation (12. 12.)
Gerber, J.-F. (2020), Degrowth and critical agrarian studies. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 47(2), 235–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2019.1695601
Nyéléni Forum for Food Sovereignty (2007). Declaration of the Forum for Food Sovereignty. Selingué, Mali, 23–27 February. 9. Project presentation (19. 12.)
Annotation
Today’s dominant economic model based on infinite economic growth and maximising profit is driven by exploitation and plundering of both human and natural resources. This unsustainable and unjust model is the root cause of the multiple socio-ecological crises we are facing today, and of our inability to solve them in the context where power is concentrated in the hands of elites who profit from the status-quo. Deepening social inequalities, housing crisis, energy poverty, climate change, ocean acidifcation, declining biodiversity, habitat loss, but also de-democratization and political polarization and many other problems are all manifestations of living in the era of the Anthropocene, and the symptoms of the problems at the root of the Capitalocene.
There is now an emerging agreement that these problems and crises cannot be solved without a fundamental social-ecological transformation and a far-reaching change in how we live. In this course we will explore the various manifestations of the polycrises of today, their root causes and discuss possible ways out.