Global Change and Environmental Hazards:
Is the World Becoming More Disastrous?

T his module treats the relationship between hazards and global change; it introduces students to the complexities of environmental hazards, which arise from the multiple links among natural, social, and technological systems. Throughout, we retain a critical viewpoint, keeping in mind five key questions about hazards and their linkages to global change:

1. Are societies becoming more vulnerable to environmental hazards and disasters? If so, which hazards may intensify in the future as a consequence of global environmental changes?

2. What social/physical factors influence changes in human occupance of hazard zones?

3. How do people respond to environmental hazards and what accounts for differential adjustments (in the short term) and adaptation (in the long term)?

4. How do societies mitigate the risk of environmental hazards and prepare for future disasters?

5. How do local risks and hazards become the driving forces behind global environmental changes?

These questions are mainly addressed in the latter two of three units, providing some answers, yet also showing that simple explanations are impossible. Unit 1 introduces basic hazard concepts, hazard types, and characteristics, as well as the five key questions that form the core of research on hazards and global change. The unit raises the fundamental question of what environmental hazards are and uses insights from hazard research to demonstrate the variety of answers to this question; it then stresses the need for common definitions of hazard-related terms in order to investigate and communicate societal and physical trends.

Unit 2 ("Are things getting better or worse?") considers trends in hazard occurrences, impacts, and societal vulnerability to hazards. The relatively bleak picture that emerges at the end of this unit -- mainly as a result of the trends in societal vulnerability -- is the starting point for Unit 3, which considers how societies respond and adjust to environmental hazards. Unit 3 explains the ways in which humans respond to and mitigate hazards and emphasizes the differential vulnerability of various populations. Each unit includes focus issues, which highlight timely topics and provide specific examples.

The module provides students with a basic understanding of hazards, vulnerability, impacts, and mitigation strategies; it also gives students an opportunity to consider the complex relationships among social, geophysical, and technological factors and what these imply for future hazard events and experiences. Students actively engage with the material through mapping, role playing, media analysis, group discussion, numeracy, and graphing. Throughout, the module challenges students to take a critically aware stance on the subjects of global change and hazards.