Introduction to Sustainability and Development Archives

Human development is at odds with our environment

Development can have a high cost for the planet. The exploitation of natural resources introduces a clear tension between maintenance of environmental sustainability and human development. Looking at the whole …

Poverty and Sustainability

Is there a sustainable way of eliminating poverty? One of the drivers for development is alleviating poverty to maximise the quality of human life. In this step, we explore two …

Review and reflect

Congratulations on completing Week 2. This week we investigated past events contributing to the environmental issues of today and explored worldviews and visions of the future. We examined the role …

The story so far

Is the glass half empty or half full? In this short course we have: explored global challenges including the key concept of boundaries within which the planet can still operate …

Back to the future

What might the future look like? There are many competing visions of the future. How we visualise our future drives many decisions that we make today. Consider what visions of …

Welcome back

Start with a goal in mind. Welcome back. This week we will focus on the questions: What actions have we taken so far for sustainable development? What actions may we …

Introducing the sustainable development goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the current global framework for development. We have explored development and the impact of this development on our planet. Some of the challenges for …

Sustainability and population growth

The elephant in the room: how and why population is growing. The question of sustainable development is fundamentally challenged by human population growth. At the same time, we are failing …

What is Human Development?

The evolution of human society: from nomadic hunters to nomadic supermarket shoppers. Human Development Human development in the broadest sense is about humans’ relationships and interactions with each other and …

Learning online with Deakin

Deakin’s online courses are based on a few, but important, learning principles. To get the most out of this course, we encourage you to keep in mind the following. Our …

Course: Introduction to Sustainability and Development

Introduction to Sustainability and Development