In this course you will examine competing, long-standing ideas about the environment in order to better understand our attitudes and actions today. You will be introduced to the Australian indigenous idea of Country, dominant Western ideas about nature such as 'the environment' and natural resources, and how different concepts underlie the way environmental problems and solutions are framed.

This will help you develop an appreciation of the social as well as physical complexity of global environmental challenges. You will develop a deeper understanding of the key role of history, culture and power in shaping our past and present interactions with 'the environment' and how and why certain stories or 'discourses' about the environment are privileged over others. Overall, you will learn to perceive contemporary environmental challenges as part of an ancient and ongoing societal struggle about how best to think about the environment and our relationship with it.?