What is Britain now? Its metropolises are increasingly multicultural. Its hold over its distant colonies is a thing of the past. Its sway within the global political arena is weak. Its command over Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland is broken or threatened. What have novelists made of all this? What are they writing as the old empire fades away and as new social and political formations emerge? These are the questions that will concern us in this course.

This course focuses on main currents in contemporary German literary and visual culture. Taking Nietzsche's thought as a point of departure, students will survey the dialectics of tradition and modernity in both Germany and other European countries, particularly the UK, France, Denmark, and Poland. Primary works are drawn from literature, cinema, art, and performance, including works by Peter Sloterdijk, Thomas Vinterberg, and Michel Houellebecq.

Historic energy transitions, primarily driven by fossil fuels, significantly improved human well-being, measured through consumer surplus. In the UK, transitions from stagecoaches to railways to cars, and from candles to gaslight to electric lighting, substantially increased consumer surplus. However, these benefits diminish as societies reach high well-being levels.

The transition from traditional lighting methods to modern illumination in the United Kingdom has had significant social, economic, and environmental consequences. Historically, lighting services relied on candles made from animal fat, but the 19th century saw the introduction of new fuels such as town gas, kerosene, and eventually electricity.

Roger Fouquet's research on the United Kingdom highlights the remarkable growth in energy consumption over centuries. Factors like fuel shifts, improved efficiency, and changing preferences drove the increases. However, efficiency gains led to the rebound effect, where saved energy was partly offset by increased consumption.

Learn how parental care is displayed by animals in their environment and how different species show parental care in different ways. As part of the Ecology topic from the Virtual School. Are you a passionate teacher who would like to reach hundreds of thousands of learners? Get in touch: vsteam@fusion-universal.com | Find out more: http://www.thevirtualschool.com | This video is distributed under a Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND

Access to personal mobility has played a crucial role in people's life satisfaction, with personal vehicles revolutionizing daily life since the early 1900s. The number of global car registrations has dramatically increased over the years, reaching 1.1 billion in 2019. The energy historian Roger Fouquet explored the impact of personal transportation services in the United Kingdom from the 14th to the 20th century, revealing the economic, social, and environmental changes brought about by the expansion of personal travel.