Climate Perspectives: Climate Science, Impacts, Policy, Negotiations, and Advocacy

The course contains four main parts:Climate Science, Climate Impacts, Climate Policy, Climate Advocacy. Part I begins with a detailed introduction to climate science, including an assessment of arguments by climate science skeptics, and an examination of climate change models. Part II describes the impacts of climate change on the planet, human health, species and biodiversity, and it adds an economic perspective on the costs and benefits of responding now¿or later¿to climate change. Part II also include a discussion on climate change ethics, i.e., fairness and responsibility among individuals, nations, and generations. Part III focuses on climate policy, from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Accord. Part III also includes an introduction to how the public and officials have viewed climate change over time, and it explores factors that make widespread formal agreement difficult. Part IV looks forward to climate advocacy and what to expect from future of climate negotiations. Enrollment limited to students with sophomore academic standing or above. Prerequisite: Human Biology Core or Biology Foundations or consent of instructor (i.e. background in earth systems, economics, policy).