People and Nature

PLAN64111 People and Nature 15 Semester 1 Postgraduate Taught Level 6 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Masters/Integrated Masters P4 ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 7.5 “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our grandchildren.”  (Native American proverb)To address the biodiversity crisis we need a paradigm shift in the co-existence of people and nature. The People and Nature course unit draws on multi-disciplinary experts to explore some of the contemporary philosophical, ethical, moral and practical debates and dilemmas confronting the imperative for transformative change for nature. Join us, and our external speakers, to embark on an engaging yet challenging journey exploring diverse perspectives on the intricate relationship between humanity and the natural world.The course content will blend philosophy and ethics with specialisms spanning sociology, economics, politics, natural resource management and ecology. The course unit launches with introductory sessions that provide the theoretical and conceptual context for understanding the nature-people nexus. The remaining sessions then welcome a variety of guest speakers to provide inspirational ‘soap-box’ lectures that will encourage you to question, challenge and re-evaluate preconceptions about people and nature. Each of the guest lectures will be followed by an interactive workshop, where you will be invited to discuss and debate relevant topics, present and ‘perform’ (through role-play) diverse perspectives on challenging topics and develop skills in co-production, public participation and persuasive communication. The unit concludes with a session that reviews and reflects across the taught material to develop transdisciplinary perspectives. The People and Nature course unit will enable you to challenge conventional wisdom, cultivate critical thinking skills, and to develop nuanced, balanced and inclusive perspectives about our collective responsibility towards nature's restoration and our ethical obligations to future generations.    “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our grandchildren.”  (Native American proverb)To address the biodiversity crisis we need a paradigm shift in the co-existence of people and nature. The People and Nature course unit draws on multi-disciplinary experts to explore some of the contemporary philosophical, ethical, moral and practical debates and dilemmas confronting the imperative for transformative change for nature. Join us, and our external speakers, to embark on an engaging yet challenging journey exploring diverse perspectives on the intricate relationship between humanity and the natural world.The course content will blend philosophy and ethics with specialisms spanning sociology, economics, politics, natural resource management and ecology. The course unit launches with introductory sessions that provide the theoretical and conceptual context for understanding the nature-people nexus. The remaining sessions then welcome a variety of guest speakers to provide inspirational ‘soap-box’ lectures that will encourage you to question, challenge and re-evaluate preconceptions about people and nature. Each of the guest lectures will be followed by an interactive workshop, where you will be invited to discuss and debate relevant topics, present and ‘perform’ (through role-play) diverse perspectives on challenging topics and develop skills in co-production, public participation and persuasive communication. The unit concludes with a session that reviews and reflects across the taught material to develop transdisciplinary perspectives. The People and Nature course unit will enable you to challenge conventional wisdom, cultivate critical thinking skills, and to develop nuanced, balanced and inclusive perspectives about our collective responsibility towards nature's restoration and our ethical obligations to future generations.    The unit aims to: - Convey the complexity of the relationship between humans and non-human nature and the scale of behaviour change required to achieve transformative change that will reverse biodiversity declines - Encourage students to reflect on their personal environmental values, to identify and establish their role as nature positive facilitators and to foster the ability to communicate these positions to diverse audiences - Offer students the opportunity to critically engage with diverse interdisciplinary approaches to nature recovery, restoration and rewilding provided by guest speakers working in practice or research - Immerse students in the diverse range of contemporary debates that surround the nature positive agenda to demonstrate the philosophical, ethical and moral challenges and to expose uncertainties and contestations <ul><li>Summarise, evaluate and defend their own values of, and relationships with nature and reflect on the positive and negative implications of these for addressing the biodiversity crisis  </li><li>Recognise, explain and respect diverse worldviews, opinions and values of nature and humanity’s role in its restoration and recovery, including where these are in opposition to the student’s own opinions </li></ul> <ul><li>Develop a transdisciplinary awareness of human-nature relationships that reflect inclusive, multi-cultural perspectives to address environmental and ecological injustices</li><li>Evaluate the complexity of interactions between the priorities of different sectors that impact biodiversity and the philosophical, ethical and moral obligations required to implement transformative change for nature  </li></ul> <ul><li>Locate, recognise and reference academic and other information sources that reflect diverse worldviews about nature recovery, restoration and rewilding</li><li>Reflect on the process of  designing questions and undertaking group-based interviews with an environmental expert    </li><li>Demonstrate empathetic communication skills, combining appraisal, responsiveness and respect for other worldviews  </li></ul> <ul><li>Articulate ideas and opinion effectively to a target audience</li><li>Confidently ascertain and analyse the opinions of other people</li><li>Assimilate, respect and be open-minded to diverse values and worldviews about nature recovery, restoration and rewilding  </li></ul> Students will be taught through a face-to-face format, with three hours of lecture-workshop hybrid each week across 11 weeks (some weeks will be one hour lecture, two hours workshop and other weeks will be vice versa). Guest lectures will be scheduled in the usual lecture slot for the course unit, and materials for/from the guest lecture will be uploaded to the VLE in advance of the session. In most instances, lectures will be recorded using the usual University systems, unless a guest speaker specifically requests not to be recorded - if this is the case, students will be notified in advance if possible. Discursive workshops that require student contributions will not be recorded. Students will also be provided with a suite of additional online learning material that can access asynchronously to augment their learning.  Assignment 1 -  Message to future generation - 1,000 words or 10 minute digital media recording. Weighting 30%Assignment 2 - Thematic critical analysis of expert-interviews on a theme related to the interaction between people and nature under recovery, restoration or rewilding 2,000 words. Weighting 70%   Online via Turnitin within 15 working days of submission MSc Nature Recovery MSc Nature Recovery PGDT Taught Component Mandatory N Arnds, P., 2020. Rewilding the world in the postcolonial age: On the nexus between cultural production and species politics. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 56(4), pp.568-582.Dunn-Capper, R., Quintero-Uribe, L.C., Pereira, H.M. and Sandom, C.J., 2023. Diverse approaches to nature recovery are needed to meet the varied needs of people and nature. Sustainability Science, pp.1-17.Elliot, R., 2008. Faking nature: the ethics of environmental restoration. Routledge.Feinberg, M. and Willer, R., 2019. Moral reframing: A technique for effective and persuasive communication across political divides. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(12), p.e12501.Kohler, F., Holland, T.G., Kotiaho, J.S., Desrousseaux, M. and Potts, M.D., 2019. Embracing diverse worldviews to share planet Earth. Conservation Biology, 33(5), pp.1014-1022.Norton, B.G., 1994. Toward unity among environmentalists. Oxford University Press.O'Neill, J., Holland, A. and Light, A., 2008. Environmental Values. Routledge.Pettorelli, N. and Bullock, J.M., 2023. Restore or rewild? Implementing complementary approaches to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. Ecological Solutions and Evidence, 4(2), p.e12244.Vlasceanu, M., Doell, K.C., Bak-Coleman, J.B., Todorova, B., Berkebile-Weinberg, M.M., Grayson, S.J., Patel, Y., Goldwert, D., Pei, Y., Chakroff, A. and Pronizius, E., et al. 2024. Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries. Science Advances, 10(6), p.eadj5778.Ward, K., 2019. For wilderness or wildness? Decolonising rewilding. In: Pettorelli, N., Durant, S.M. and Du Toit, J.T. eds., 2019. Rewilding. Cambridge University Press. pp.34-54. Lectures 22 Seminars 8 0 120