Sustainability

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Profile Sustainability

Education for Sustainable Development

Sustainability? Definitely such an eco profile… Far from it!

The sustainability profile unites social sciences with natural sciences with the aim of providing a professionally grounded view of the current major problems of global change. Both ecological problems, but also social, economic and political problems are viewed in a differentiated way.

Geography serves to strengthen system competence and addresses topics interconnectedly on social, ecological, economic and political levels. Biology and Chemistry offer an analytically natural-scientific approach. Biology deepens the relationship between environment and humans and the functioning of organisms, while Chemistry looks more deeply at underlying processes and technologies.

Our Earth forms the basis of our life and influences our actions. At the same time, our actions affect the Earth. Indications that natural tolerance thresholds have already been exceeded are increasing. It is a matter of rethinking and taking action. This is exactly where the Sustainability Profile starts.

We do not only want to carry out a damage analysis; rather, the focus is on concrete plans and actions that can contribute to a better handling of the Earth. It should be discovered not only what we can personally do to prevent the situation from deteriorating further, but also how to improve it. Societal actions at a global scale will also be addressed.

The students should be empowered and motivated to participate in societal development. To achieve this, they will be enabled to recognize and understand global connections. They should be able to intervene in the development of complex systems and steer in the sense of sustainability.

Such knowledge is characterized above all by a high degree of networking, which is best met by a system-oriented approach. In an increasingly complex and interconnected world, these competencies and ways of thinking also provide a good skillset after graduation.

Excursions and projects round off the profile and provide the opportunity to make knowledge and competencies directly effective.

 

Topics of the subjects

Geography

Geo-ecosystems in the era of the Anthropocene

  • System concept
  • Shapes landscapes and eco-zones through climate
  • Climate change and climate crisis in overview 

Choice of spaces to study depends on Abitur requirements

Urban Geography – Living in the Age of Urbanization

  • Definitions and development of cities in Europe and other cultural circles
  • Structures and processes within cities and urban areas

Development in the Age of Global Disparities

  • Features of spatial disparities – indicators and classifications
  • Causes, consequences and solutions to spatial disparities

Securing the future in the age of globalization

  • Globalization and sustainable economy / use of resources

 

Biology

Life and Energy

  • Fundamental relationships in metabolic pathways
  • Anabolic and catabolic metabolism

Information processing in living beings

  • Fundamentals of information processing
  • Neuronal plasticity

Organisms in their environment

  • Structures and connections in ecosystems
  • Influence of humans on ecosystems, sustainability, biodiversity

Diversity of life

  • Fundamentals of molecular genetics and genetic engineering
  • Evolution as the cause of biodiversity

 

Chemistry

Molecules of life

  • Fundamentals of organic chemistry
  • Natural macromolecules: fats 

Chemistry influences our environment

  • Energy and rate of chemical reactions
  • Equilibrium of chemical reactions
  • Acids and bases

Chemical energy storage and mobility

  • Redox reactions and electrochemical energy storage
  • Alternative energy carriers

Modern materials and chemical products

  • Plastics: structure, properties and recycling

 

Seminar

The seminar accompanies the profile subjects and serves the acquisition of (pre)scientific working methods and presentation techniques. It also provides space to treat individual thematic focuses and projects. 

 

Cooperations
Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Institute for Weather and Climate Communication (IWK), GLOBE, Environmental Department of the Wandsbek District Office, Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald (SDW)

Extracurricular Learning Places/ Projects
Energy and Thermography Center Hamburg (ETC), Hafencity Information Center