THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

UGEB2114 Climate, Energy and Life 氣候．能量．生命

1nd Term, 2017-18, Course Outline

Course Teacher: Mr. LAM Chiu Ying (FYB246, lamchiuying@gmail.com, 39436458)

Tutors: Mr. LI Shau Yin (FYB251, jacklisy@link.cuhk.edu.hk, 39431385)
Ms. CUI Jinglan (FYB251A, janecui@link.cuhk.edu.hk, 39431152)
Lecture Time and Location: Friday 8:30-11:15pm, ELB LT2

Course overview:
This course presents the story of the Earth's atmosphere from its inception up to the current time, illustrating
how Climate and Life have co-evolved. Observations about the life phenomenon are discussed, highlighting
the role of energy in the sustenance of Life, individually and collectively. Changing climate is seen as the
context for the dispersal and diversification of Life on Earth. The shaping of the Human Condition by
glacial periods is discussed. The arrival of the recent warm interglacial period facilitated the emergence of
agriculture, equipping human beings with more energy in their life cycles. This brought about major
changes to human beings' way of life as well as significant disruptions to the delicate balance in nature.
Major turning points in history such as the emergence of civilizations, conflicts between nomads and
pastoralists and maritime colonialism are discussed in the climate context.

Industrial revolution and modern consumerism, both linked to increased use of Energy, are shown to be root
causes of anthropogenic climate change. Other aspects of this enormous use of Energy are discussed,
including urbanization, the attrition of the self and human beings' increasing detachment from Nature. Latest
projections of the climate in the 21st century and the potential consequences are presented. How the human
world would deal with the potential of hazardous climate change will be explored, including the particular
circumstances of China as it is about to develop further. It would be a time to reflect on the core human
values and how they are to be expressed in the new low-energy world.

The emphasis of the course is on breadth rather than depth, so as to empower students to view the global
climate change issue from a broad intellectual perspective. Students are prompted to realize the connectivity
among the numerous components of the Man-Nature relationship and to see “climate change” (and other
global environmental issues) as the inter-play among Climate, Energy and Life. With relevant knowledge
and appropriate sensitivity, they would have the foundation to develop their own views on climate change
(and other global environmental issues) as well as reflect on their individual role in changing the Earth’s
climate.

Learning outcomes:
At the end of the course, students are expected:
 to develop a comprehensive understanding of natural and anthropogenic dimensions of climate change
from a multi-disciplinary perspective, involving climatology, geography, history, biology, and culture
and political studies
 to appreciate how climate change is associated with the complex interactions between the physical world
and human society, in historical and recent times
 to realize the phenomenal impact of mass consumerism, with its attendant energy expenditure, on the
Earth's climate in the last half century
 to understand the imminent challenges posed by global warming and to be able to formulate and promote
relevant measures for the sustainable development of human beings
 to develop their own informed views on climate change (and other global environmental issues) and to
be able to contribute usefully to relevant public discourse
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 to reflect on their personal role in changing the Earth’s climate for the better

Learning Activities:
1. Lectures: to convey basic knowledge and to prompt students to develop innovative perspectives
2. Fora and discussions: to involve students in self-learning, group learning, information sharing and open
discussion of issues; to enable a deeper understanding of the subject beyond the lectures

Lecture Contents:
A. The natural world:
This component covers the co-evolution of the physical world and the living world from the inception of the
Earth up the point where agriculture emerged. The concept of the Earth's atmosphere as the collective breath
of life on Earth will be developed. In that process, the fundamental characteristics of life as an energy
phenomenon will be discussed, to bring out ideas about energy flow and various cycles in nature. How the
glacial periods and associated habitat changes shape the habits and character of human beings will be
discussed. The brief titles of the lectures are:
1. 氣候 - 生命的氣息
2. 生命 - 能量的流動
3. 流動 - 自然的循環
4. 冰河 - 人性的塑造
5. 氣候 - 生物的分布
B. The world with agriculture:
This component examines the emergence of agriculture during the latest interglacial warm period and what
happened afterwards as human beings have more energy at its disposal. The climate and geography of
civilization emergence in association with agriculture are discussed. The subsequent changed way of life and
attendant problems are examined, with a view to prompting students to re-evaluate the role of "civilization"
in life. The broad course of human history, especially the major turning points, in the time scale of thousands
of years will be discussed in the context of climate and its variability. The brief titles of the lectures are:
6. 溫暖 - 農牧的出現
7. 豐裕 - 文明的福禍
8. 波動 - 歷史的軌跡
9. 季風 - 帝國的助力
C. The burning world:
This component places its focus on the post-industrial revolution period in which human beings has
mastered the use of even more energy. The link between the burning of fossil fuel to rapid changes in the
atmospheric composition and the climate will be described. Other consequential impacts will be discussed,
such as changes in the natural world and more subtly those in the human society. The inter-connection
among energy, technology, urbanization, consumerism and climate change will be explored. The brief titles
of the lectures are:
10. 煤油 - 燃燒的時代
11. 巨變 - 人為的氣候
12. 危機 - 自然的失衡
D. The future:
The imminent hazardous climate change in the 21st century and choices available to human beings as a
species will be discussed. The special case of China as it moves towards further "development" at this
critical moment will be examined, to illustrate the complexity of the issues involved and the very
fundamental nature of the decisions to be made. The brief titles of the lectures are:
13. 中國 - 艱難的巨人
14. 未來 - 應對的選擇

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 Weekly Course Schedule:
Week/Date Topic Required readings/other requirements
1. 7 Sep Introduction, #10, See below

2. 14 Sep #11, #12 -

3. 21 Sep #13,#14 -

4. 28 Sep #1,#2 -

5. 5 Oct Quiz 1 -
#3, #4
6. 12 Oct #5, #6 -

7. 19 Oct #7,#8, -

8. 26 Oct #9, re-visit #10-14 -

9. 2 Nov Quiz 2 -
Forum: groups 1, 2 Room booking
10. 9 Nov Forum: groups 3, 4, 5 -

11. 16 Nov Forum: groups 6, 7, 8 -

12. 23 Nov Forum: groups 9, 10 -

Course overview and synthesis
13. 30 Nov Quiz 3 -
Discussion: “Actions for the Future”

Required readings and other recommended readings/ learning resources:

The numbers below are the sequential numbers of the lectures (see “Lecture Contents” above). The full
names of books are given under “Book List”.

(*) = required; (+) = recommended.

1. *《天地變何處安心》 第二章： 天人合一

2. *《天地變何處安心》 第一章： 有情、無情 ; *《天地不說話》第三章：有情
+: BH-S Chapter 5 (Life on Earth)
3. +: Gaia Chapter 6 (Metabolism and Planetary Biochemistry)
4. *《天地變何處安心》 第三章： 冰河、人性 ; +: BH-B Chapter 3 (Human Emergence: One Species)
& Chapter 4 (Advanced Hunting and Gathering) ; +: BH-S Chapter 6 (Early Human History)
5. *GGS Chapter 5 (History’s Haves and Have-nots) , Chapter 7 (How to Make an Almond), Chapter 9
(Zebras, …), Chapter 10 (Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes)
6-8.*《天地變何處安心》 第四章： 農牧、文化
6. +: GGS Chapter 4 (Farmer Power); BH-B Chapter 5 (Early Agriculture); BH-S Chapter 7 (Recent
Human History), up to page 231
7. +: GGS Chapter 11 (Lethal Gift of Livestock), Chapter 14 (From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy); BH-
B Chapter 6 (Early Cities); BH-S Chapter 7 (Recent Human History), pp 231-256

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8. +:Lee, H.F. and Zhang, D.D. (2015) Quantitative analysis of climate change and human crises in history.
In: M. Kwan, D. Richardson, D. Wang, and C. Zhou (eds.) Space-Time Integration in Geography and
GIScience: Research Frontiers in the US and China. Dordrecht: Springer. Pp. 235-267. [Soft copy
available from tutors.]
9. * BH-B Chapter 11 (Connecting the Globe); +: BH-S Chapter 11 (Recent Human History), pp 256-263;
Trade Routes: pages to be specified later
10-12. *《天地變何處安心》 第五章： 燃燒、文明
10. +: BH-B Chapter 12 (Industrialization); BH-S Chapter 11 (Recent Human History), pp 264-271
11. +: Scientific Facts on Climate Change to be found at:
http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf
+: Davis, S.J., and Caldeira, K. (2010): Consumption-based accounting of CO2 emissions. Proc. Nat.
Acad. of Science, Vol. 17, 5687-5692. (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0906974107)
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/12/5687.full.pdf
12. *: Steffen, W., Grinevald,J., Crutzen, P., & McNeil, J. (2011): The Anthropocene: Conceptual and
Historical Perspectives. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, Vol. 369, No. 1938, 842-867.
(doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0327)
http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1938/842.full.pdf+html
13. *Ning Zeng, et al. (2008) Climate change – the Chinese challenge. Science, 8 February 2008 319: 730-
731.
14. *《喚醒 69 億隻青蛙》 第二部分; +: BH-B Chapter 13 (What Now? What Next?); +: VFG Chapter
4 (Energy and Food Sources)

Book list:
《天地變何處安心》，林超英著，快樂書房，2010
《天地不說話》，林超英著，快樂書房，2014
《喚醒 69 億隻青蛙》，李逆熵著， 經濟日報出版社，2011
Big History - From the Big Bang to the Present by Cynthia B Brown. The New Press, New York, 2008.
[Abbrev. "BH-B", more for arts students]
Big History and the Future of Humanity 2nd ed. by Fred Spier. Wiley Blackwell, 2015. [Abbrev. “BH-S,
more for science students]
Gaia - Medicine for an Ailing Planet by James Lovelock. Gaia Books, London, 2005. [Abbrev. "Gaia",
more for science students]
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. WW Norton, 2005. [Abbrev. "GGS"]
The Vanishing Face of Gaia by James Lovelock. Penguin, London, 2009. [Abbrev. “VFG”]
The Great Trade Routes: A History of Cargoes and Commerce over Land and Sea by Philip Parker. Naval
Institute Press, 2012. [Abbrev. Trade Routes]
Prosperity Without Growth by Tim Jackson. Earthscan, London, 2009. [especially for students of
economics, sociology, politics and sustainable development]

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Assessment scheme:
Assessment Description Weight (%)
component
1. Quiz Three in-class quizzes (15% each) will be conducted. The duration, 45%
format and scope of the quizzes will be announced in class.

“0” mark will be assigned to students who are absent without prior
permission. Absentees on account of sudden sickness must submit to
the tutors a medical certificate signed by due authority as soon as
possible after the Quiz date.
2. Forum Students will be divided into groups, each responsible for a forum on 30%
a selected topic. Each group member is responsible for a 5-minute (group presentation
segment. After the presentation, the group will take charge of a Q&A 12%
and discussion session of about 10 minutes. All students in the + participation 18%
audience are to join the discussion and to complete a short quiz = 9 × 2%)
afterwards.

Students will obtain scores from their presentations (group and

individual) and from the short quizzes. “0” mark will be assigned to
absentees* and students who are 10 minutes late or leave any forum
early for the respective short quiz (*as in Quizzes).
Marks will be deducted from all members of any group which fails to
submit the Powerpoint file and the draft short quiz before the
deadline. Any student who fails to submit in time his part of the
Powerpoint file to the group coordinator will have his marks
deducted individually.
Details about the formation of groups and the selection of titles will
be announced in class.
3. Essay Each student is required to write an essay on one of the recommended 25%
topics but it must be different from that adopted by his/her group for
forum presentation. The length should be 1,500-2000 words in
Chinese or 2,000-2500 words in English.

The deadline for both the hard copy and the soft copy submitted via
the Veriguide system is the end of the class, that is, 11:15 a.m. Friday
1 December. Late submission will be penalized by 10% reduction of
the mark for the essay for each additional day of delay.

Details about the assignment will be announced in class.

Feedback for evaluation

a. Course and teaching evaluation survey will be conducted in the second last week of the course. Students
are reminded of their responsibility and right to give feedback to facilitate enhancement of the course.
b. Students are welcome to give feedbacks to the course teacher at any time in person or through emails.

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Academic honesty and plagiarism
Academic honesty and plagiarism
Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the
disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations.
Details may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.
With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are
aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.

 In the case of group projects, all students of the same group should be asked to sign the
declaration, each of whom is responsible and liable to disciplinary actions should there be
any plagiarized contents in the group project, irrespective of whether he/she has signed
the declaration and whether he/she has contributed directly or indirectly to the plagiarized
contents.
 For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-
based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued
by the system upon students’ uploading of the soft copy of the assignment.

Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers.
Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.
The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g.
to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be
regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submission. It is common and acceptable to
reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is
problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained
prior to the submission of the piece of work.

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 Attachment 1

I am submitting the assignment for:

□ an individual project or
□ a group project on behalf of all members of the group. It is hereby confirmed that the submission is
authorized by all members of the group, and all members of the group are required to sign this
declaration.
I/We declare that: (i) the assignment here submitted is original except for source material explicitly
acknowledged; (ii) the piece of work, or a part of the piece of work has not been submitted for more than
one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration; and (iii) the
submitted soft copy with details listed in the <Submission Details> is identical to the hard copy(ies), if any,
which has(have) been / is(are) going to be submitted.
I/We also acknowledge that I am/we are aware of University policy and regulations on honesty in academic
work, and of the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations, as
contained in the University website http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.
In the case of a group project, we are aware that each student is responsible and liable to disciplinary
actions should there be any plagiarized contents/undeclared multiple submission in the group project,
irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed directly
or indirectly to the problematic contents.
It is also understood that assignments without a properly signed declaration by the student concerned and in
the case of a group project, by all members of the group concerned, will not be graded by the teacher(s).

__________________________ __________________________
Signature(s) Date

__________________________ __________________________
Name(s) Student ID(s)

__________________________ __________________________
Course code Course title