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Lecturer(s)
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Nováček Pavel, doc. RNDr. CSc.
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Course content
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The course Sustainable Development and its Alternatives builds on the previous courses Global Environmental Issues and Sustainable Development. Sustainable development is a concept formulated in 1987 by the UN Commission for Environment and Development and represents a normative (?desirable?) version of the future development of human society at various levels (global, national, regional, and local). In this course, students will become familiar with several alternatives to sustainable development presented in the form of scenarios, such as: - Business as usual (extrapolation of current trends). - Sustainable retreat (an idea developed by British physicist and author of the Gaia hypothesis, James Lovelock). - Collapse (examples of possible ?wild cards? and ?black swans,? according to Nassim Taleb, which may lead to the breakdown of social and/or natural systems). - New technologies prevail (a scenario based on the concept of ?shallow ecology,? where human creativity plays a decisive role in the research, development, and application of technologies responding to emerging environmental challenges). - Transformation and regeneration of social systems, drawing primarily on the theory of punctuated equilibria (Eldredge, Gould). The course will also address lessons from history, particularly through the example of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and key milestones in European history following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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unspecified
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Learning outcomes
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Prerequisites
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unspecified
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Assessment methods and criteria
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unspecified
As part of the Tutorials, students will prepare their own presentations on assigned or self-selected topics, which will then be discussed collectively.
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Recommended literature
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Bárta, M. (2021). Sedm zákonů. Jak se civilizace rodí, rostou a upadají. Brno: Jota.
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Eldredge, N., Gould, S. J. (1972). Punctuated Equilibria: An Alternative to Phyletic Gradualism. In: Schopf, T. J. M., ed. Models in Paleobiology. San Francisco: Freeman Cooper, s. 82 ? 115.
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Ferguson, N. (2014). Civilizace. Západ a zbytek světa. Praha: Argo.
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Ferguson, N. (2025). Zkáza. Politické aspekty katastrof. Praha: Argo/Dokořán.
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Funda, O. A. (2000). Znavená Evropa umírá. Praha: Karolinum.
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Kysučan, L. (2010). Oni a my. Dvanáct neodbytných otázek mezi antikou a postmodernou. Brno: Lipka.
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Lovelock, J. (2006). The Revenge of Gaia. New York: Basic Books.
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Tainter J. A. (2009). Kolapsy složitých společností. Dokořán.
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Taleb, N. N. (2011). Černá labuť. Následky vysoce nepravděpodobných událostí. Praha-Litomyšl: Paseka.
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