Page 9 - Guidelines for Training/ Orientation of Faculty on IKS

Unit I. Humans and the Environment

Learning Outcomes
After completing this unit, students will be able to:

• Appreciate the historical context of human interactions with the environment.

• Gain insights into the international efforts to safeguard the Earth’s environment and
resources.

Unit Outline

The man-environment interaction: Humans as hunter-gatherers; Mastery of fire; Origin of agriculture;
Emergence of city-states; Great ancient civilizations and the environment, Indic Knowelege and Culture
of sustainability; Middle Ages and Renaissance; Industrial revolution and its impact on the environment;
Population growth and natural resource exploitation; Global environmental change.

Environmental Ethics and emergence of environmentalism: Anthropocentric and eco-centric perspectives
(Major thinkers); The Club of Rome- Limits to Growth; UN Conference on Human Environment 1972;
World Commission on Environment and Development and the concept of sustainable development; Rio
Summit and subsequent international efforts.

Suggested readings
1. Fisher, Michael H. (2018) An Environmental History of India- From Earliest Times to the
Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press.

2. Headrick, Daniel R. (2020) Humans versus Nature- A Global Environmental History, Oxford
University Press.

3. Hughes, J. Donald (2009) An Environmental History of the World- Humankind’s Changing
nd
Role in the Community of Life, 2 Edition. Routledge.
4. Perman, R., Ma, Y., McGilvray, J., and Common, M. (2003) Natural Resource and
Environmental Economics. Pearson Education.

5. Simmons, I. G. (2008). Global Environmental History: 10,000 BC to AD 2000. Edinburgh
University Press

8
Guidelines and Curriculum Framework for Environment Education at Undergraduate level