Anthropocene and Transitions

At the end of the module, students will be familiar with the main issues linked to the growing impact of human activities on the bio-physical functioning of the Earth system: climate change, collapse of biodiversity, difficulty in providing all humans with adequate food. They will also learn about some of the solutions currently being explored to meet these challenges and ensure the transition to a more sustainable world, including the energy transition. Last but not least, they will have been made aware of how Ethics can help to formulate differently the dilemmas faced by engineers.

• 10 hours on how the climate machine works, and the causes and direct consequences of its disruption;
• 11 hours on the links between energy, climate, the economy and public policy, at different scales, and scenarios for reducing energy consumption;
• 3 hours on demographics and food;
• 3 hours on biodiversity;
• 3 hours on ethics for engineers.

Analyze the impact of different scenarios for reducing our energy consumption on greenhouse gas emissions.