Climate Change

Catalog description

Climate change is among the most complex and challenging problems that we have confronted as a civilization, but the responses and impacts will vary largely across space and the global population. This course is designed to give you an overview of the scientific basis of climatic change, and will expose you to multiple facets of a very interdisciplinary and encompassing field. You will be introduced to the physical science of our climate system, the contributing system components, and the basic mechanisms that govern how the climate system responds to drivers of change. We'll then explore climate change from multiple perspectives: paleoclimatic change, recent historical variability and change, future climate projections as well as social and economic issues. Each session will start with a discussion about a scientific paper (or parts of the IPCC report) followed by a one hour lecture and practical work at the end of each session. The practical work will have large components of learning scientific writing and presentation.