The following six blocks will equip you with a way of thinking that can be described as ‘interdisciplinary environmental imagination’. Cultivating and practising such a way of thinking gradually over the course of the module will allow you to make that way of thinking your own and to use it to make sense of situations you encounter outside of the module.
Block 1: Introduction
Block 1 provides a brief introduction to the planetary environmental crisis, explains how the question of habitability will frame the rest of the module, and introduces three tools that will help you navigate the module’s interdisciplinary content. It also introduces the two core case studies that will run through the module: the coast of Senegal in West Africa and East Anglia in England.
Block 2: Life
Block 2 explores habitability in relation to biological life on Earth, examining how the planet's conditions have co-evolved with its organisms. You’ll develop an understanding of environmental issues as shaped by the interdependence between living systems and their environments. Drawing on a range of disciplines, the block spans topics from astrobiology to oil and gas extraction and coastal management.
Block 3: Food
Block 3 looks at food as a crucial point of connection between human societies and environments. It highlights the role of food production and consumption in sustaining diverse lifestyles and shaping environments. It examines how the intensification and industrialisation of food production are implicated in disrupting planetary biochemical cycles and entrenching social inequalities. Finally, it looks at a range of institutional, industrial and grassroots initiatives that seek to reimagine the future of food.
Block 4: Water
Block 4 examines how water is implicated in habitability and its unmaking, including the role of large ocean currents in shaping the climate, and the threats of melting ice and rising sea levels to habitability, with uneven impacts. The block emphasises power by examining the often unruly, sometimes life-threatening power of water, as well as the social and political power exerted through the control and channelling of water. Finally, it explores innovative water management through approaches that work with water rather than against it, such as floodplain restoration and beaver reintroduction.
Block 5: Energy
Block 5 investigates the essential role played by energy in sustaining all forms of life. It delves into the making of energy-intensive resource regimes based on coal, gas and oil, and their relation to capital accumulation and colonialism. It examines competing definitions and applications of the ‘just’ energy transition, and the role of civil society in calling for reparations, better regulations, and the development of community projects that centre on maintenance, reuse, and collective ownership of energy infrastructures.
Block 6: Consolidation
Block 6 consolidates your learning by revisiting the key module components from across the previous five blocks. You’ll apply them to new case studies. Through this, you’ll consolidate a clear sense of how an interdisciplinary environmental imagination can help you to understand and intervene in environmental debates.
Your online learning will include a focus on transferable skills, with each block developing a different skill. You’ll practise these skills using a range of materials and strengthen your ability to analyse data, organise your thinking, and communicate ideas to different audiences.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Course work includes:
You'll be provided with two module books and have access to the module website, which includes:
You can study this module on its own or use the credits you gain towards an Open University qualification.
DST216 is a compulsory module in our:
DST216 is an option module in our:
Environment: inhabiting a changing planet starts once a year – in October.
This page describes the module that will start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2037.
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
This is an OU level 2 module, and whilst there are no prior study requirements, we recommend that you study at least one OU level 1 module before this one. Our key introductory OU level 1 module, Environment: journeys through a changing world (U116), would be ideal preparation.
The following free OpenLearn courses are ideal preparation if you’re studying this module on its own. They will provide you with the fundamentals of climate science, climate change, and climate policy, the everyday aspects of environmental change, and the entanglements between the environment and society.
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying DST216 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
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