Humans and the Environment

Timetable

Faculty of History, Wednesday, 9:00am, room 3.129

Module aim (aims)

The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the relationship between man and the natural environment in the long process of cultural development of the human race, from the paleolithic stage with it’s gatherer-hunting economy, through early agricultural communities of the Neolithic period, the birth of urban communities, the first civilizations to the times of the industrial revolution and the modern IT world. Attention will be paid to the geographical diversity of the natural and cultural environment reaching beyond Europe on the African, Asian, American and Oceania continent.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

Syllabus

The place of man in the natural world - from the point of view of the long history of biological and cultural evolution of man and in the message of the largest religious systems in the world

History of ecumena development - human settlements of terrestrial environments

History of Easter Island - as a lesson from the past man-environment relationship

The main stages of the anthropogenic transformation of the biosphere. Introduction

Human-environment relations in the era of hunting and gatekeeping. A look in space and time

Human-environment relations in the era of hunting and gathering. A look in space and time

The birth of cities - the birth of urbicenoses..

The origin of the first civilizations - their environmental conditions and consequences

An era of great geographical discoveries of Europeans and their significance for the natural environment of the planet

Industrial revolution and its impact on terrestrial ecosystems.

From the devastation of the natural environment to the idea of sustainable development. On the way to environmental ethics

Contemporary global climate change - challenges and opportunities for human society

Man's path into the extraterrestrial environment. On the threshold of life in space.

The place of man in the world of nature - from the point of view of the long history of biological and cultural evolution of man and in the view of the world's largest religious systems

Reading list

a)basic literature

• Bahn P.G., Flenley J., 2003: Tajemnice Wyspy Wielkanocnej, Wydawnictwo Amber, Warszawa.
• Bell M., Walker M.J.C., 2005: Late Quaternary Environmental Change. Physical and Human Perspectives, Person Prentice Hall, Harlow.
• Cowie J., 2001: Zmiany klimatyczne. Przyczyny, przebieg i skutki dla człowieka. środowiska Ziemi. Historia środowiska przyrodniczego i kulturowego, Wyd. Nauk. PWN, Warszawa.

1. b) advanced literature

• Mannion A.M., 2001: Zmiany środowiska Ziemi. Historia środowiska przyrodniczego i kulturowego, Wyd. PWN, Warszawa.
• Takacs-Santa A., 2004: The major transitions in the history of human transformation of the biosphere. Human Ecology Review 11(1): 51-66.
• Wolański N., 2008: Ekologia człowieka. Ewolucja i dostosowania biokulturowe. Tom 2. Nauk. PWN, Warszawa.