Course Description

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges that humanity faces this century. This course provides students with the critical scientific grounding to understand the dynamics of the climate system, the causes of climate change, the impact of climate change on society, and the challenges of mitigation and adaptation.

The first half of the semester is devoted to the science of the climate system. This includes how the sun and planetary motion affects the Earth's energy budget, atmospheric composition and radiative forcing, the carbon cycle, global atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and modes of climate variability. The second half of the semester is devoted to the interactions between human activity and the climate. We begin by examining how climate has varied in the past and the effect on the development of human society. Then we discuss the current and predicted impacts of climate change on environment and society, the communications challenge, and the politics and economics of controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

During the semester, students are expected to keep track of news related to climate change science, politics and solutions. A set of links to quality news organizations and web-sites is available above.