Overview
The impacts of human populations on the natural environment are well studied but little progress has been made to improve the sustainability of our lifestyle due to the complex interactions among social, economic and environmental imperatives. In Sustainability Issues and Solutions you will investigate the impact of human activities on a range of living and non-living, renewable and non-renewable natural resources. By applying 'Systems Thinking' you will practise developing solutions that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. On completion of this unit you will have a broad appreciation of the balances underpinning both temporal and spatial variation in sustainability and human efforts to control these.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Minimum of 72 credit points
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 3 - 2018
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Moodle evaluation
Students found the material interesting and current.
Continue to ensure material is up to date.
Feedback from Moodle evaluation
Some students found the assessment requirements were not clear.
Will work further on finding the balance between making assessment requirements clear and making them too prescriptive.
- Discuss the economic, ethical and ecological issues associated with the sustainable utilisation of the earth's renewable and non-renewable natural resources.
- Explain the importance of systems thinking and an understanding of temporal and spatial scales and feedback loops in determining solutions to sustainable management of resources.
- Discuss the shortcomings in our understanding and acceptance of the processes that lead to sustainability.
- Develop a range of possible strategies that would help to ensure the sustainable utilisation of natural resources.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||
| 4 - Group Discussion - 10% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 4 - Group Discussion - 10% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
j.wake@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Sustainability concepts and the application of systems thinking
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 1
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ecological, economic and social measures of sustainability
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Biodiversity
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 3
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Management of water resources
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Marine resource management
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 6
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Energy generation and use
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Building and urban design
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 9
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Waste minimisation and reuse
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 11
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Cultural change and social innovation
Chapter
Study Guide Chapter 12
Events and Submissions/Topic
Report on the sustainability of the use of electric vehicles Due: Week 12 Monday (4 Feb 2019) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Group Discussion
You are required to post relevant comments to each of the four forums in Moodle to obtain the maximum marks. Each forum will be open for approximately three weeks. Forum posts must be 200 words or less and be presented as dot points.
There is no minimum mark or grade for this assessment item. Therefore, you do not have to attempt it in order to pass the course overall. However, it also means you will not be awarded a supplementary assessment if you come close to passing and/or you do not meet the criteria for a Pass grade in another assessment item.
Forum 1 will close at the end of week 3, Forum 2 at the end of week 6, Forum 3 at the end of week 9 and Forum 4 at the end of week 12.
Mark will be available through the moodle gradebook.
Your posts will be assessed on:
- Relevance to the question
- Evidence of critical thinking
- Clarity of arguments
- Conciseness of posts
- Discuss the economic, ethical and ecological issues associated with the sustainable utilisation of the earth's renewable and non-renewable natural resources.
- Explain the importance of systems thinking and an understanding of temporal and spatial scales and feedback loops in determining solutions to sustainable management of resources.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Written Assessment
Prepare a presentation that you could use to deliver to land managers explaining why they should take measures to preserve or increase biodiversity on their land. Provide an overview of the important role of biodiversity in ecosystem services then choose a particular geographic area so you can research and present detailed information on the importance of the biodiversity likely to be present and its value to the particular land use/s. You might find it useful to look for information on the plants and animals that may occur in the area in the regional ecosystem mapping (See: https://environment.ehp.qld.gov.au/regional-ecosystems/) and websites for state and national herbaria and museums.
Your presentation should consist of a PowerPoint presentation of 15 slides (maximum), including the title slide and a slide of references. Add the extra information you would use during the presentation in the notes section below the slides. You should not have more than about seven dot points or 30 words per slide, and the notes section should be in dot point format and be between about 1000 and 1500 words in total for the entire presentation.
Pitch your material at an informed lay audience, by using clear concise English and avoiding the use of jargon.
Week 5 Monday (10 Dec 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 7 Friday (4 Jan 2019)
- Clarity of presentation and logical presentation of the issues
- Application of science and sustainability principles
- Comprehensive coverage of relevant issues
- Use of valid information sources and accuracy of reference details
- Appropriateness of language and presentation for audience
- Discuss the economic, ethical and ecological issues associated with the sustainable utilisation of the earth's renewable and non-renewable natural resources.
- Discuss the shortcomings in our understanding and acceptance of the processes that lead to sustainability.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Written Assessment
Prepare the arguments, both FOR and AGAINST, for a debate on the following topic:
Environmental water flows should be available for use by farmers in drought declared parts of Australia.
Focus on the environmental considerations, but include some of the social and economic issues as well. Your arguments should be based on detailed scientific information, and while some of your arguments will be based on general principles, use a specific river or river system to illustrate your points.
Provide a brief introduction to the topic, then a series of arguments for each side of the debate in a TABLE with two columns headed: FOR and AGAINST. Complete your assignment with a brief concluding paragraph, setting out which side has the strongest arguments. Your assignment should not exceed 2000 words with roughly equal numbers of words for each case. Make sure you apply the principles of Systems Thinking, use only credible information sources, and cite references where applicable.
Week 8 Monday (7 Jan 2019) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 10 Monday (21 Jan 2019)
Assignment will be assessed on:
- Comprehensive coverage of arguments both for and against
- Logical presentation of arguments
- Relevance of issues raised
- Clarity of expression
- Evidence of research and critical thinking
- Selection of credible sources and correct referencing
- Discuss the shortcomings in our understanding and acceptance of the processes that lead to sustainability.
- Develop a range of possible strategies that would help to ensure the sustainable utilisation of natural resources.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
4 Written Assessment
The Queensland Government is hoping to increase the uptake of electric vehicles in Queensland. Write a report focusing primarily on the environmental impacts, but also touching on the economic and social impacts of the use of electric vehicles for domestic use. Give a very brief introduction to the technology, then discuss the environmental impacts of increasing the number and usage of electric vehicles. You also need to briefly discuss some of the economic and social impacts and some of the barriers to uptake. Conclude by weighing up the evidence you have documented and advising whether the Government should continue to provide financial and other resources to increase the uptake of electric vehicles in Queensland.
Format your assignment as a report with headings and an executive summary. Maximum word limit: 3000 words. The word count will include words in tables and the executive summary but not words in figures, or reference citations and list.
Week 12 Monday (4 Feb 2019) 11:45 pm AEST
Exam Week Friday (15 Feb 2019)
- Logical and comprehensive presentation of information
- Evidence of critical thinking and problem solving
- Validity of conclusions from evidence presented
- Clarity of expression, evidence of research and accurate referencing
- Overall presentation, including format of diagrams and tables, correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.
- Explain the importance of systems thinking and an understanding of temporal and spatial scales and feedback loops in determining solutions to sustainable management of resources.
- Develop a range of possible strategies that would help to ensure the sustainable utilisation of natural resources.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
