Course Overview

Course Title: Ocean Sustainability in a Changing Climate

Relevant SDGs: SDG 1 6 7 8 9 12 14

Credit(s): 2 Credits

Course Description:

The ocean is possessing tremendous value for the sustainable development of human, and playing a crucial role in mitigating climate change. It is the largest carbon sink, and drives the heat balance between the ocean and the atmosphere, influencing dynamic phenomena such as storm surges and typhoons. The ocean also has profound impacts on environmental services, economic growth, and cultural development. With the global population and demand on the rise, questions emerge about how to transform unsustainable fishing practices, balance supply and demand, and enhance the scale and efficiency of the ocean economy. Additionally, how to effectively protect and utilize the ocean facing climate change presents an increasing challenge. We are confronted with an ever-growing array of urgent issues that require solutions. As modern marine engineering technologies advance, there is an opportunity to bolster our understanding of the ocean and increase the benefits of marine resource utilization. This can be achieved on a multi-dimensional and multi-level basis to enhance the ocean industry, all while emphasizing environmental sustainability. The development of clean ocean energy sources is gaining strong momentum, contributing to both the conservation and efficient utilization of marine resources. 

This course aims to analyze and address issues related to the sustainable utilization of the oceans and the response to climate change from various perspectives within the fields of marine science, ecological engineering, and the marine industry. The course will provide a systematic review of global climate change and environmental issues related to the oceans, existing marine development technologies, indicators, and challenges, as well as the relationships between industry, economy, and society, and methods for addressing climate change. This course will integrate marine biology, engineering, environmental science, and economics to offer a diverse educational approach that combines theory and practice. It will outline methods for addressing climate and environmental issues, providing theoretical support for promoting the sustainable development and utilization of the oceans. This course will empower the future inovators and changemakers for a more sustainable ocean.

 The participants will team up and develop one of these projects to solve the major challenges: 1) Innovation challenge: remove plastics from marine ecosystem; 2) Engineering Challenge: ecosystem engineering to reverse the climate; 3) Business challenge: sustainable low-carbon sea farm; 4) Technique challenge: transfer across marine observation and resources.   

Academic Team

PI:

• Ji Li Associate professor  School of Oceanography liji81@sjtu.edu.cn

Collaborators:

• Patricia Glibert Professor, University of Maryland liji81@sjtu.edu.cn
• Fredrik Gröndahl Professor, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden fredrik.grondahl@abe.kth.se

What skills will students get?

1. To gain an understanding of the primary challenges facing the global oceans and to establish a profound goal of protecting the ocean for the sustainable development.
2. To comprehend the primary methods of harnessing marine resources, recognize the necessity of transitioning the marine industry, enhance one's understanding of the ocean, and foster enthusiasm for ocean conservation.
3. To get the state of art of technologies and concepts for regulating climate change through ocean systems and to apply both in-class and out-of-class resources to envision and design strategies to address climate change.
4. To develop a comprehensive theoretical and technical framework for the protection, development, and utilization of the oceans, to understand technological advancements and developmental directions, and to align with individual career development plans.

Mode of Teaching

Lecture, Discussion, Presentation

Grading

1. Attendance and class discussion participation: 40%;
2. Project poster: 20%;
3. Final presentation: 40%

Course-specific Restrictions

None.

Class Schedule

Instructors

Dr. Ji Li

Dr. Ji Li is an associate professor at School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He got his Ph.D from University of Maryland. His research focus on the sustainability of marine ecosystem. His research focus on the phytoplankton and primary productivity of the ocean, and has coved the 4 oceans. His primary research interest is in how the environmental factors regulating the water quality and ecosystem dynamics, and his research has been problem motivated, specifically, working on the eutrophication and harmful algal bloom in the marine systems. He also develops new cultivation technique to growth microalgae to remove CO2, and produce valuable biomass.   

Dr. Patricia Glibert

Dr. Patricia Glibert is a phytoplankton ecologist broadly interested in effects of nutrients and algal blooms at University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences. Her work ranges from the global, addressing such questions as how are nutrient loads changing with changing land use/fertilizer use practices, to the physiological, investigating such questions as how do different species of phytoplankton respond to different forms and loads of nutrients and why. In her work, she applies laboratory experiments, field observations, and modeling approaches. Her work currently centers around issues related to nutrients and harmful algal blooms in Chesapeake Bay, Florida Bay, and in various waters of China.

Fredrik Gröndahl

Fredrik Gröndahl is the Head of Department for Sustainable Development Environmental Science and Engineering (SEED) at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH Stockholm, Sweden. His research is focusing on the sustainable use of marine resources for food, feed, chemicals and energy. The work is focused on the development of methods for evaluating the process chains from a sustainability perspective. During the last years he has been in charge of the macro algae work in the Baltic Sea Region project SUBMARINER (www.submariner-project.eu). From the 1 July 2013 he is the project leader of the project SEAFARM. SEAFARM (www.seafarm.se) is a strategic Swedish Research project for a bio-based economy. He is also the author of several textbooks in Sustainable Development, Ecology and environmental effects.

Course Contact

Ji LI: liji81@sjtu.edu.cn