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Study bachelor degree online with Murdoch University through Open Universities Australia. Explore all degrees, subjects and short courses now.

This course aims to train the next generation of sustainability leaders for world-changing work in Australia and overseas. Students explore the environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions of sustainability, and develop a wide range of much-needed green skills. Areas covered include urban and rural sustainability, sustainability ethics and economics, and sustainable lifestyles and behaviour change. The emphasis is on giving students the sustainability expertise needed to ‘make a difference’ within communities and regions and at the global level.

Assess environmental, economic and community needs by examining sustainability transition, overseas aid, resource access and climate change. Integrate theory and practice for employment with NGOs, governments and the resources sector.

Bachelor of Arts (Sustainable Development)

It’s a sad reality that millions of people around the world are living in poverty. International aid and development can come in many forms including money, medicine, food, education, disaster relief and recovery, helping communities develop a better future, and much more.In this degree, you’ll explore the challenges and the changing approaches to international aid by governments, international organisations and aid agencies, and gain an in-depth understanding of international development programs and approaches.An important part of international aid and development is helping people create change themselves. You’ll focus on how to work with people to help them develop skills for what’s known as participatory development practice. This is a process that empowers people with the skills, knowledge and access to resources they need to make a lasting difference in their own community.

Understand how community level programs from government and aid agencies can reduce poverty and increase sustainability. Compare project management approaches in cross-cultural settings.  Assess the impact our Asia-Pacific region has globally.

Bachelor of Arts (International Aid and Development)

Sustainability, Climate Change and Economics

Introduction to Sustainable Design for Houses

Art and the Environment

Living with Fire

Sustainability

Writing, Culture and Ecology

Future Cities

Environmental Management

Climate Change Economics and Policy

Sustainability Accounting and Reporting

We share a global responsibility for the sustainable provision of food and the consequences of our food choices. The need to eat determines where, how and why we live. Food security (and insecurity) can drive conflict, propels human migration, and informs our relationship with land and environment. With an overarching global perspective, this subject explores food production and consumption, exploring its sociological, political, historical, economic, ethical, and scientific contexts.Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Food Security

The environment and environmental crises have had a profound impact on the history of the Australian people and their politics. This subject traces the relationship between people and the environment in Australia from pre-European times to the present-day climate-change crisis. We consider the ways in which Australians have sought to manage, tame and develop the natural environment. We measure the costs of hubris, the lack of ecological humility, and failures in recognising nature’s limits. The subject also considers Australia’s response to environmental issues in its region, where it has oscillated between being a trusted regional partner and crisis responder, to an ecological delinquent. Students will understand how Australia&#39;s response to environmental issues and crises has shaped its politics, economy and society – and that it will continue to do so.Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Environmental Crisis in Australia and its Region

The world is facing tremendous environmental challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and soil degradation. At the same time, states and companies race to secure supplies of valuable resources like oil, land, or metals. These developments have sparked concerns about the security implications of environmental stress, climate change and resource extraction. The UN Security Council recently hosted debates on climate change and security, peacebuilding missions mainstream environmental issues, and initiatives to deal with conflict resources are burgeoning. At the same time, there are intense debates about climate change as a driver of the Syrian civil war and violence against environmental defenders, among others.This unit tackles the question of whether and how climate change and natural resource competition impact the dynamics of peace and conflict. It provides a comprehensive introduction to debates on environmental security, resource conflicts, climate change and violence, environmental peacebuilding, and political ecology. Insights are drawn from a broad range of cases, including the Arab Spring, rebel violence after storms in Southeast Asia, water conflict and cooperation in the Middle East, and conflict resources in Sub-Sahara Africa.During the course of the unit, students will learn to identify and analyse various types of environmental conflicts. This knowledge is facilitated by lectures, readings, conflict analysis assignments and simulations.Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Climate Change, Natural Resources and Conflict

This unit provides students with real-world learning opportunities in which they apply their disciplinary knowledge, exercise critical thinking and analytical skills, demonstrate effective and professional communication, and work agilely to solve real-world problems. Working with an industry partner, the internship provides a practical bridge between university and the professions. Industry placements can be created and negotiated in diverse ways to suit both students and their industry partners. Students will acquire, demonstrate and reflect upon a diverse range of skills and understandings that prepare them for the future of work.Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

It’s time to put what you’ve learned into practice. You’ll be connected with an industry partner and complete real-world activities and projects. Start to think about the future of work and your place in the industry.

Internship

This subject was previously known as SUS212 Global &amp; Regional Sustainability.
This subject enables students to apply their understanding of sustainability and their knowledge of environmental systems to different scales ranging from regional to global. Students will develop competence to unpack the threats to sustainability and their underlying drivers. They will explore strategies to address them which incorporate technical, governance, economic and social approaches.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Dig deep to unearth the social and economic factors impacting the scope and scale of sustainability worldwide. Identify threats and causes. Explore strategies for global governance. Debate evidence-based sustainability choices and challenges. 

Global and Regional  Sustainability

This subject was previously known as SUS214 Sustainability, Ecology and Communities.
This subject develops knowledge of the conceptual, practical and policy aspects of sustainable development. The subject focuses on the implementation of sustainability at a local and sub-national level. Systems thinking and resilience are presented as key tools to both understand sustainability problems and develop sustainability solutions within socio-ecological systems. The implementation of sustainability is then explored through governance, business and civil society approaches.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Approach sustainable development from conceptual, practical and policy perspectives. Define sustainable governing practices. Discover how to foster change in individuals, organisations and communities. See how policy can aid ecological sustainability.

Sustainability, Ecology and Communities

NOTE: If you study this subject in Winter, the subject will be a shorter duration (5 weeks) and will require at least 20 hours of study per week.This unit is a critical introduction to sustainability that traces the concept&#39;s evolution and explores how we can establish a more sustainable society. To this end, a range of different approaches to sustainability are introduced and compared, and analysis will be made of their respective effectiveness in addressing global sustainability problems, including reducing the impact humans have on the natural environment.Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Discover how sustainability has developed as a concept over the last four decades. Dig into the political economy of sustainability. Test the effectiveness of various approaches to sustainability in battling global sustainability problems.

Introduction to Sustainable Development

Note: If you study this subject in Winter, the subject will be a shorter duration (5 weeks) and will require at least 20 hours of study per week.This intensive subject explores the interplay between economics and sustainability. Students will examine the explanatory power and policy impact of the dominant neoclassical economics paradigm in order to understand its benefits and limitations in relation to sustainability. The subject provides an overview of economic tools and techniques for dealing with sustainability problems and introduces alternative economic perspectives, which challenge economic orthodoxy.Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Approach the topic of sustainability from an economic standpoint. Investigate some of the economic tools and techniques decision-makers draw on to address sustainability problems. Address where climate change fits into this discussion.

Economics of Sustainability

This subject was previously known as SUS220 Sustainable Urban Communities.
Over half the world’s population now live in urban areas and 75 percent could be urban by 2050. This subject examines the sustainability challenges and possibilities that lie ahead as we become an increasingly urban species. The subject explores how we can create urban communities and lifestyles that enhance human dignity and equality, while also being more environmentally sustainable. The subject takes an international perspective, exploring majory urban sustainability issues and inspirational practices from Australia, Asia and around the world.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Forecast the spread of urban communities and the sustainability of this growth. Ask how society maintains dignity and equality in the face of urbanisation. Identify challenges facing modern cities. Consider issues like public transport and water usage.

Sustainable Urban Communities

This external version of the unit involves students finding and visiting relevant case studies in their own region, to do their own analysis and evaluation. For this external version of the unit, we require that students do some investigation of their own region. Students will have to find relevant case studies, projects, organisations and businesses within their own region, visit some of them, and interview people involved. Students should not enrol in the external version of the unit unless they are prepared to undertake this level of investigation.Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Gain a regional perspective on how environmental sustainability works in the field. Step into the arena of eco-entrepreneurism. Line up traditional approaches to agriculture against permaculture and other organic and biodynamic alternatives.

Resilient Regions: Sustainability in Practice

Murdoch University Bachelor Degree Sustainability Courses & Degrees | Open Universities Australia

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