Cultural Links to Biodiversity
Course #: CAPS 211
Description:
This course investigates relationships between human cultures and the natural world. Linkages between the two are increasingly seen as keys to sustainable development and addressing world issues such as poverty and food supply. Over time, man's relationship with nature has changed, especially as technology plays a greater role in our lives, and globalization begins to homogenize cultural views. Emerging areas of study focus on the links between culture and biodiversity. Definitions of culture reflect this connection by including the co-evolution of the natural environment and the shared systems of beliefs, values, norms, artifacts and institutions that commonly are part of the definition of culture. By exploring our changing cultural attitude towards nature through the built environment, agriculture, transportation, tourism, and the economy, the importance of cultural as well as biological diversity will be established.
Pre Requisites: