Weather and Society

Catalog description

Individuals often hesitate to act on early warnings of impending meteorological hazards and disasters. Understanding the cognitive mechanisms that drive the hesitancy, doubt, and/or denial of science is the largest challenge we face when trying to reduce loss from severe weather. In this course, we will address this issue by exploring fundamental principles of meteorology and examining approaches social scientists are currently taking to solve weather-related problems. Additional emphasis will be placed on how various stakeholders make decisions with meteorological data and how these decisions have implications for society, education, communication, law, politics, and/or our economy. Prerequisite(s): One of the following FSRC Pillar courses ( BIOL 101 , BIOL 114 , CHEM 111 , ENSC 162 ) and completion of the FHBS Pillar requirement Corequisite(s): None *Fulfills Civitae Core PSRC SI