Dr Richard Grove

We live in what is now universally agreed is a Global Climate & Biosphere Emergency. International Governmental and public concern has finally understood the impact of the unprecedented consumption of space and resources on Earth’s climate, other environmental systems and human societies. They are generated by our rapidly increasing technological capability, reorganisation of international political and economic systems such as the rapid industrio-economic emergence of China, India, Brazil and other developing nations, global demographic trends and a failure of market economics and the global banking system.

The 2005 Kyoto Protocol was not enforced by global action, despite recognising the changing fabric of society and reorganisation of socio-economic systems progressively degrading physical and social environments. The 2016 Paris Climate Agreement after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2015 Summit (CoP 21), and subsequent CoP 27 appears insufficient to avoid Dangerous Climate Change exceeding 1.5^o C global warming since the Industrial Revolution, evidenced by unprecedented global extreme weather since 2020 and dramatically in 2023. International targets to reach Net Zero carbon by 2050 and halve emissions by 2030- on which the future depends – now appear beyond reach.

Past environmental changes and human-environment impacts offer important ‘proxy’ clues to those we now experience and how our ancestors perceived and reacted, amounting to a major change in the recognition of human-forced global climate and environmental change. We will have to manage rather than prevent its consequences in the new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, which has now begun.

This Is An Opportunity for Interdisciplinary Study

Participation in this interdisciplinary Course is encouraged, irrespective of the student’s principal academic background. The Course options in Environmental Studies explore the character and implications of these changes through multi- and inter-disciplinary studies, since solutions for our socio-economic and environmental future can be found no longer in a single discipline. Participants from a wide range of relevant academic backgrounds can expect to bring their particular expertise to the Course and to appreciate the significance of adjacent disciplines through the Oxford Tutorial system of study.

Historical evidence of the impact of physical and human forces shaping the landscape is important to our themes. This is evident in the use made during the Summer School of the rich and diverse nature of British Landscapes in illustrating the impact of past as well as contemporary environmental, socio-economic, cultural and technological systems and using them as models on which to forecast the future.

As a result, the Course is likely to appeal to majors in Archaeology, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Ecology, European Studies, Geography, History, Humanities, International Studies, Life Sciences, Medieval Studies, Policy, Political, Social & Economic Studies and Urban Studies.

Field Excursions

A popular 4-Day Field Excursion to Wales ‘The Development of British Landscapes’ is held half-way through the Summer School and is a co-requisite part of the academic programme of study as well as being included for other participants of the Summer School. This is in addition to the general, 1-Day Excursions which form an integral part of the Summer School-wide Programme (see main brochure). Many parts of the British Isles record almost continuous human settlement from the end of the last global episode of the Ice Age 11,700 years ago, embracing inter alia periods of Neolithic (upper Stone Age), Bronze & Iron Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlement prior to the Norman Conquest, the High Middle Ages, Industrial Revolution and Modern periods. They provide a magnificent opportunity for direct study of a full range of environmental changes in an enjoyable academic and social atmosphere.

Selection of the Programme of Study

Choice of particular themes within the Options allow participants to construct their own individual Summer School programmes, enabling them to concentrate on areas of prime interest or to extend their range of study by sampling related disciplines. Two Options, each one described individually in this brochure, are available. Students select ONE Option  although both could be blended in a ‘hybrid’ version – and both may share some interdisciplinary tutorial & seminar sessions. Students will be required to submit a Tutorial Essay or present a Seminar Paper in the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th  weeks of the programme, concluding with an Essay and PowerPoint Seminar version in the final week.