Climate Science for 21st Century Citizens

Catalog description

Earth's climate has changed in the past and will change in the future. Climate science and hypotheses about climate change and man's effects on climate figure prominently in the news and popular culture. However, forces and feedbacks impacting climate are poorly understood by the general public. This lack of understanding originates partially because climate science is complicated and interdisciplinary, and partially because addressing climate change requires significant changes in the global energy economy, turning it into a political issue with skewed and un-scientific public discourse. This course aims to cover parts of climate science that are well established, differentiate them clearly from parts of climate science where genuine uncertainty exists and use these contrasts to illustrate the scientific methods, culture of science and science practices of the 21st Century.