Our Changing Climate

Catalog description

Devastating forest fires. Unprecedented heatwaves. Massive flooding. Deadly hurricanes. The impacts of climate change, fueled by decades of human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, are already evident. Without swift global action to reduce emissions, these effects are likely to worsen. But what is climate change? How do we know humans are causing recent changes and that these changes are not just part of the natural fluctuations in Earth’s climate that have occurred throughout Earth’s history? Why have we not responded to this issue despite being aware of climate change and its consequences for decades? How do we address climate change and what happens if we don’t? In this course, we will examine literature and data from the climate science and policy fields to explore such questions and evaluate the complexities of the coupled climate-human system.