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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems: the Nexus between Water, Energy and Food by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

4.5
stars
85 ratings

About the Course

In this course you will become familiar with the ideas of the water-energy-food nexus and transdisciplinary thinking. You will learn to see your community or country as a complex social-ecological system and to describe its water, energy and food metabolism in the form of a pattern, as well as to map the categories of social actors. We will provide you with the tools to measure the nexus elements and to analyze them in a coherent way across scales and dimensions of analysis. In this way, your quantitative analysis will become useful for informed decision-making. You will be able to detect and quantify dependence on non-renewable resources and externalization of environmental problems to other societies and ecosystems (a popular ‘solution’ in the western world). Practical case studies, from both developed and developing countries, will help you evaluate the state-of-play of a given community or country and to evaluate possible solutions. Last but not least, you will learn to see pressing social-ecological issues, such as energy poverty, water scarcity and inequity, from a radically different perspective, and to question everything you’ve been told so far. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Part of the results and case studies presented have been developed within two projects: MAGIC and PARTICIPIA. However, the course does not reflect the views of the funding institutions or of the project partners as a whole, and the case studies were presented purely with an educational and illustrative purpose....

Top reviews

AD

Dec 11, 2019

Wonderful course about us and the environment! If you are a data loving philosopher this will be your dream (as it was for me) :) - Would love to get more lectures from this courses' teachers!

SG

Sep 20, 2020

I am so grateful to all the teachers of this course. I am basically a social work student (miles away from science), but this was interesting and benefitting. That you very much

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1 - 25 of 32 Reviews for Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems: the Nexus between Water, Energy and Food

By Xavier G

Jun 10, 2021

I am currently enrolled in this course but the instructor`s English level is clearly burdening my advance. Given the fact that He is Italian, It'd have been better for him and for everyone to teach the course in his own language rather than in a different language for which he he is not enough qualified. He speaks bad and very fast, makes inconclusive sentences and seems to be addressing to his students who might know how he is and what he implies to state. Unfortunately, the capitality of the subject does not fin a match with the teaching level. I am giving the course a star because less is not possible.

By Anja D

Dec 12, 2019

Wonderful course about us and the environment! If you are a data loving philosopher this will be your dream (as it was for me) :) - Would love to get more lectures from this courses' teachers!

By Ricardo V C

Apr 7, 2020

This course has expanded my knowledge on sustainability and complex thinking. It is well structured and provides a clear understanding at conceptual and practical level. The input given by lecturers is high quality, critical and clear. I also appreciate the enthusiasm and commitment of all lecturers. I feel very lucky to get to know about this course through the project Magic Nexus. Thanks a lot!

By Gustavo A D A

Oct 20, 2017

For me as a Mechanical Engineer has been great, I have worked for manufacturing companies and also I am the owner of a company; for me have this tool to evaluate any kind project is a priceless treasure, this brings to you a lot of tools, and another point of view of how must be seen the sustainability and how must be applied on the project evaluation.

By Anthony L

Mar 31, 2018

Everybody should learn this !

It will change my way of looking at sustainability as promised by Prof. Giampietro.

THX

By rob m

Jun 21, 2021

I found this course to be very interesting and a great overview of the science behind the WEF nexus.

By Chantal T

Jun 3, 2020

Interesting course, but I didn't get the main take-home message. Also, the questions were sometimes hard to answer because they were too different from the taught content.

By Azra T

Nov 5, 2019

really informative and thorough... would highly recommend to environmental & sustainability professionals interested in broadening their horizons and learning about the WEF nexus. Although fast-paced, it covers a lot of material and gives you a really good insight into all three topics and how they relate to each other

By Sutirtha G

Sep 21, 2020

I am so grateful to all the teachers of this course. I am basically a social work student (miles away from science), but this was interesting and benefitting. That you very much

By Anibal A

Mar 12, 2019

It's a great course and was very helpful to bring me the basics of a robust methodology to my current thesis work.

By Martin C

Feb 11, 2018

One of the best MOOCs I have taken! A real gem!

By Marina R

May 28, 2020

Very good course to introduce the Nexus methodology of analysis of socio-ecological systems and its challenges. If you don't know this method of analysis, lectures can sometimes feel heavy on new terminology and theory. I would have liked to have more real case studies where the Nexus system of analysis is applied and the outcomes of its application for decision making, policy etc, as well as its success or not as a system to tackle the complexity of sustainability issues in specific real cases.

The course includes as well epistemological analysis and theories, and encourages critical thinking with regard to narratives in the scientific realm and when developing quantitative research and data analysis.

By Scott P

Apr 22, 2019

This class was terrific. It offered a new viewpoint and means of thinking about the importance of water, energy and food. I highly recommend it to others and look forward to learning more abou these issues in perhaps a part 2.

By Martin E L

May 24, 2021

The course delivers, I was a little apprehensive at first, because I didn't feel it was being concise enough, I felt it was being maybe a little "ethereal" at some points, but I am happy to say that my first impression was very mistaken, they really put everything together mid-way through in a fantastic way.

I appreciate what this course teaches; it is, in my opinion, unapologetic about the fact that the Nexus approach is complex (unlike other trains of thought in sustainability and IWRM) but tackles the problem anyways and presents a useful methodology that doesn't feel disingenuous. A methodology that is truly trying to cover all the bases when it comes to analyzing complex systems. Great job! I recommend this very much.

As a final note, and just because I saw a couple of people complaining about this, from my point of view there is nothing wrong with the language this course is taught in, it is perfectly understandable and at no point I felt I didn't understand what they were saying. The subtitle make mistakes here and there but if you are an English speaker you shouldn't have any problem at all.

By Niveditha B R

Jun 18, 2022

It's a compelling and insightful course on Sustainability. It gave me a better understanding of Sustainability and the Nexus between water, energy, and food. It also gave me a better perspective on analyzing complex systems using MuSIASEM 2.0 — I find it to be one of the best ways to analyze any complex socio-ecological system as it involves a participatory-integrated assessment approach.

By Taurai C

Aug 2, 2021

Slightly difficult to understand the technical aspects of the course at first go. However, once grasped they will change, significantly, how one is able to perceive and analyze any given situation in terms of sustainability. After taking the course, I am confident that I can analyze perform an analysis of any given situation with remarkable ease and accuracy.

By Nicolas S S

Sep 23, 2020

Thanks for this great course. I found it well prepared, organize and away from a basic training program. The level of information has opened my eyes to see the depth and complexity of the water, energy food nexus and the role of science in this regards. Thank you team!

By Muhammad K A

Nov 9, 2023

This course was amazing, it gave me an insight about the connection between water, energy and food.

By Paola P

Jan 23, 2021

this course changes your mind and the way you look at sustainability, with a real systemic view

By Alexander F

Nov 22, 2018

Outstanding course !! One of the most useful courses I have been pursuing :)

By Sakhumzi R

Jan 21, 2023

Great learning experience, I enjoyed this course.

By 郭逸飞

Jan 18, 2020

Fantastic work. Hope to see you in future!

By Carlos F T P

Jul 23, 2018

Muy buen curso, con bastantes ejemplos

By Igor C

Apr 9, 2018

Excellent course!!!!

By chantal m

Aug 31, 2021

excellent course!