Global Challenges and Sustainable Futures 2016

Global Challenges and Sustainable Futures 2017 (7.5 credits)

Autumn 2017 weeks 35-02 (28 august – 14 january) – evening – 25% – Campus
Application at antagning.se »

About the course

What are the challenges facing humanity today and in the future? How can we create and rediscover sustainable ways of living on this planet?

With accelerating trends such as climate change, water scarcity, energy depletion, social injustice, economic crisis, resource wars and other challenges, there is a growing need for sustainable alternatives. This course connects guest lectures that describe the severity of the challenges and workshops that discuss the possible sustainable responses and solutions to those challenges within the context of a specific global city or region. Students will have the opportunity to link global challenges to their own local and cultural backgrounds.

GCSF – Autumn 2016

Here you will find the latest information related to the course ‘Global Challenges and Sustainable Futures 2016’!

Please keep checking this course portal for the latest updates, and contact us if you have any question at: gcsf@csduppsala.uu.se.

Schedule & Course Info

05 December, 2016

Final Presentations, feedback on 30 Day Challenge and FINAL DEADLINE! 

Hello everyone!

We are enjoying this course with all of you but it is coming to an end soon… We will have time to feel nostalgic about it but we still have two sessions together and the Sustainability Festival, next week ;).

Tomorrow we will have your final presentation for your projects Back from the Future We Want: Managua 2056. Remember that you have to follow the instructions (see above, under Assignment Instructions). The format will be Pecha Kucha, so you have to present 20 slides in 20 seconds per each slide, which means 6 minutes and 40 seconds, so around 7 minutes and there will be around 5 minutes for questions. Have a look on instructions for inspiration and practice before. We are looking forward to see your presentations!

As you can see in Studentportalen, we have uploaded now the feedback on your 30 Day Challenge submissions. Check the comments on the PDF file that we uploaded and if your status is “Incomplete, under supplementation” it means that you need to resubmit you reflection (see the comments for more info). If you have “Completed” remember that you still need to bring your Creative Outcome to the Sustainability Festival in order to pass.

The final deadline to submit MakeUp Tasks and late assignments is December 16th at 17:00h, so submit as soon as possible. If you are not sure if you need to submit something check the PROGRESS at Studentportalen to see if you have something that you haven’t submit or is incomplete and/or come talk to us if you have doubts.

We will try to finish reading as much as possible before the Christmas break but as we have mentioned before, late assignments will be considered the last.

Well, that was a long post but all with relevant information for you! Hope it is helpful and again, looking forward to see you all tomorrow!

Best,

Alejandro and Sachiko

28 November, 2016

MakeUp Task for Seminar 2 and reminders! 

Hej hej!

Hope everything is going great!

Just a quick update to say that now you can find the instructions of the MakeUp Task if you missed the book discussion during Seminar 2 (above) and the Hand In sections on Studentportalen.

Remember also that tomorrow we will be at Geocentrum. First, in Småland room, the Hambergsalen and then in the CEMUS Library.

Best, and see you tomorrow!

Alejandro and Sachiko

11 November, 2016

Field Trip and MakeUp Task for Workshop 2! 

Hej everyone!

Tomorrow is the Field trip to Hågaby! We are really excited about it and are looking forward to see local solutions to face global challenges. The sun is supposed to shine so we are expecting a really beautiful day.

• Time: 14:ooh
• Place: Håga Centrum (see Picture)
• For bikers, I will be leaving Geocentrum at 13:15h if you want to join. But of course you can get there yourself or take a bus.

Regarding Workshop 2, you have now the slides from Lakin Anderson and our slides (see above). As always, if you didn’t attend the Workshop, you need to do a MakeUp Task in order to pass the course (see Assignment Instructions).

Have a nice weekend and hope to see you tomorrow!

Best,

Sachiko and Alejandro

7 November, 2016

Reminders & Annoucements! 

Hej everyone!

A couple of reminders and announcements from us:

1. Group Project Part 1: Don’t forget that the deadline is today (Nov 7 17:00)! Tomorrow at Workshop 2, we will launch the Part 2 and this is important!
2. After Work(shop): Tomorrow after the workshop, we will go to a nation, so bring your IDs if you want to join :)
3. Field Trip: This Saturday 12th 14:00-17:00 at Hågaby!!! Sign up during class tomorrow for those who can attend.
4. Mid-Course Evaluation: If you were absent last week, and haven’t filled in the Mid-Course Evaluation yet, please do so from this link. 

Have a nice snowy day!

Alejandro and Sachiko

28 October, 2016

2052 is coming! 

Hej everyone,

Hope you are great and enjoying this nice Autumn sunshine!

This post is to communicate that we have uploaded the instructions for the 2052 assignment (see above). It is really important for you to read the instructions and talk to us if you have questions or comments!

Next week, Hans Peter Hansen will visit with us to talk about ‘Democracy & Sustainable Futures. How do we decide about the future?’ and we will be back to ‘our’ room at Blåsenshus (12:004).  We will also have our Midterm Evaluation so it will be great if you can bring a computer or tablet to write it online (Thanks!).

Last, but not least, you can find now the slides from Margarita Cuadra about Managua (above).

Have a nice weekend,

Alejandro and Sachiko

20 October, 2016

Travelling to Managua…

Hi everyone!

Thanks for last Tuesday seminar! Above you will find the slides that we used. You already have the instructions for the project but you will find there a few more questions and guidelines that may be useful to prepare your questions for Margarita Cuadra next week.

One more thing we didn’t have time to, was to show a short video about Managua. It is a short video that focus on tourism but there are a lot of details and images that can be interesting for you to start wondering about the region. The video is in Spanish with English subtitles and we hope it is a good starting point and it s inviting to know more about Managua and Nicaragua.

If you find interesting resources that might be relevant for everyone, you can share them on the Facebook group: For instance, keep an eye in the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, ‘Habitat III`, that it is happening in Ecuador (finishing today). We are sure it can provide a lot of relevant information for the project.

Remember that next week we will be in SLU and you will be asking questions to our guest. If you are biking and you don’t know where SLU is, we will leave from Geocentrum main entrance at 16:15h.

Best regards, and have a nice end of the week!

Alejandro and Sachiko

11 October, 2016

Reminders Week 41: 

Hej everyone!

As always we have a lot of news and reminders for this week. Here they go:

1. Field trip: During today’s class we passed around a Sign Up Sheet for the Field trip if your haven’t Sign Up, and you want to come, send us an email.
   • Day: Saturday, October 22nd.
   • Time: 13:ooh (TBC)
   • Place: Håga mound (Hågaby, Uppsala). Close to Flogsta. More info will come.
2.  Seminar I: Next week we will have our first seminar with 3 main activities that you need to prepare for (see Preparation Tasks above) and submit at Studentportalen.
   • Answer the questions related to the book The Collapse of Western Civilization.
   • Bring your Creative Outcome for your 30DC (check instructions)
   • Chose three topics that you are interested in to work with during the Group Project and read the instructions before the Seminar (check this portal!! Instructions will be uploaded before Seminar I).
3. Open events: Check the CEMUS webpage for information for open events: http://www.web.cemus.se

Best,

Alejandro and Sachiko

4 October, 2016

Hej!

Check the Preparation Task for the Seminar 1 (Oct 18th), uploaded above! Make sure to read and be prepared to discuss the book The Collapse of the Western Civilization, present your 30 Day Challenge in a creative way (no powerpoints!), and check the topics for the Group Project since we will form the groups.

Note that there has been changes in the Schedule, so have a look.

Finally, if you have missed the Workshop 1 (Sep 13th), don’t forget to submit the Make Up Task (instructions available above), and if you have organized a SLS, to submit your Individual Reflection Paper (See SLS Instructions).

13 September, 2016

Hej again!

Here are the pictures from last week’s Silent Board Discussion, to the questions!

“Can we live within a just and safe space (the doughnut)? or “Human Extinction isn’t that unlikely”

Looking forward to revisiting these discussions throughout the semester also. See you soon at the workshop! (Room 12:004 in Blåsenhus)

12 September, 2016

Workshop I: Kick-Off 30DC + Challenges around the World + After Work(shop) 

Hej everyone,

Hope you are all ready for tomorrow. Our first Workshop is here and we are looking forward to it!

Remember that you need to bring your Q&A a day and a copy of your Project Plan (the one you submitted last Friday)!

We will also have three presentation from master students to illustrate and discuss different “Challenges around the World”:

• Laila Mendy: When the Forest is Finished: Deforestation and the Bunong of Cambodia An Exploration of the Social and Cultural Complexities of Deforestation
• Meena Pillai: Wedged between intractable parties. How war affects the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians of Kosovo
• Björn Eriksson: Fins, gills and fishermen: The socio-economic impacts of marine conservation in southern Indonesia

As we told you we will go to a nation to continue the get to know each other a bit more and keep discussions. We haven’t received any confirmation from the nation yet, so we will post it on the Facebook group or we’ll tell you during the class.

See you tomorrow,

Alejandro and Sachiko

02 September, 2016

Summary of Intro lecture and more!!

Hej everyone,

The kick-off of the semester and the course has come and, as we told you, we are going to use this course portal to give some updates and reminders that you need, so get used to check it regularly! Here you have the info:

1. Course Reader: In the Studentportalen, you will find the readings for next week. It is important for you to read them since there will be an SLS Demo during the lecture where we will discuss the articles. Since not everyone has access to Studentportalen yet, the folder is public and everyone should have access to it but let us know if you have any issue.
2. Assignment instructions: Above you will find the assignment instructions for the 30 Day Challenge (30 DC) and the Student-Led Sessions (SLS), Remember that you have to start filling in the Q&A a day as a diary and also that you need a group to the SLS. Most of you signed up for an SLS group during the Intro Lecture but if you haven’t, you should be able to do it now via Studentportalen. You need also to check and discuss with your group the suggested Methods for your SLS (ignore the discussion questions and be sure you check the methods’ description in the instructions)
3. Facebook Group: Global Challenges and Sustainable Futures 2016. We have also created a FB group for you to contact each other and as a space to exchange interesting articles, videos, etc. That would be a space also to share/organise social activities that we/you might find interest for others (exhibitions, initiatives, etc.).
4. Lecture Slides: Under Lecture Materials, you will find the PDF with last Tuesday slides for you to check.

Hope you had a first week and looking forward to seeing you next Tuesday!

Have a nice weekend,

Alejandro and Sachiko

8 August, 2016

Welcome to GCSF 2016

Welcome to the course ‘Global Challenges & Sustainable Futures 2016’!

We Alejandro and Sachiko, course coordinators for this course, are really excited for the start of the semester, and we hope you are too.

Above you will find the links to important information about the course including schedule, syllabus, assignments, literature, etc. We will be updating it frequently so, keep an eye out!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at: gcsf@csduppsala.uu.se.

Warmly welcome to the course!

Alejandro and Sachiko

Course Information