Course summary

Global Environment, Politics and Society (GEPS) is a highly interdisciplinary programme that caters to and draws on many academic backgrounds and areas of practical experience. In this programme, you will use social scientific approaches to understand and address environmental issues. Understanding issues such as climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable development requires understanding and analysis of the political, social, cultural, and moral dimensions of environmental problems and solutions. This programme provides a social science-based, practice-oriented exploration of these global environmental challenges and solutions. On the GEPS programme, you will develop the knowledge and analytical tools to address questions such as:

• Are meaningful international environmental agreements possible in a system of sovereign states?

• Is the environment more than an economic resource for human exploitation? Should it be?

• What drives groups, individuals or institutions to take action on environmental issues?

• What is the effect of such mobilisation?

• What does environmental justice look like, to what extent is it achievable, and how?

• the Edinburgh Environment and Development Network

• the University's Social Responsibility and Sustainability Department

• the Edinburgh Environmental Humanities Network

• the University’s Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes

• the University’s Earth Initiative