Harvard Extension School - ENVR - E-130 / Fletcher School, Tufts University - DHPP-347
Spring Semester 2006
Global Climate Change: The Science, Social Impact and
Diplomacy of a World Environmental Crisis
William R. Moomaw and Timothy C. Weiskel  

Copyright, © 2006, Timothy C. Weiskel
http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130

 
Course Description:

     This introductory course will give students an integrated overview of the science of climate change and an analysis of the implications of this change for patterns of daily life in their own circumstance and around the world. Humankind is facing an unprecedented environmental crisis of global proportions. Scientists from across the world have issued stark warnings about the potential disruption and destabilization that changes in Earth’s climate will most likely cause in the near future for the life systems upon which modern civilization depends. The social and political implications of climate change have begun to become apparent as local communities in widely different parts of the world struggle to adapt to new patterns of excessive rainfall, prolonged droughts and severe weather events. Internationally, nation states have endeavored to forge diplomatic agreements to help humankind cope with both the causes and consequences of global climate change.

     This course has three principal objectives. First, it will introduce students to the science of climate change, drawing attention to the latest research and evolving pattern of scientific data that has emerged on climate in recent years. Second, emphasis will be given to analyzing the social changes and adaptations that human communities have already made and those they will most likely to have to make as the Earth’s climate continues to change in the coming years. Finally, specific attention will be given to the diplomatic efforts that have been launched since the creation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) during the first world-wide Earth Summit on the environment in Rio de Janeiro in June of 1992.

Course Schedule

Week 1
February 2
Introduction & Overview
   

Week 2
February 9
History of Climate Science
  The Early Years

Week 3
February 16
History of Climate Science
  Since the 1950s

Week 4
February 23
A 'Southern' Perspective on Climate Change
   

Week 5
March 2
Monitoring & Modeling: The Ongoing Evidence
 

 

Week 6
March 9
The Environmental Impact of Climate Change -1
 

Global and Local Water Issues, Biodiversity, & Agricultural Systems
   

Week 7
March 16
The Environmental Impact of Climate Change - 2
  Pests, Disease and Human Health

Week 8
March 23
The Pace and Scope of Change
  & Midterm Exam

Spring Break

Week 9
April 6
Social Impact of Climate Change: The North & The South
  Convergent Crises & The Sense of Grievance
 
[Note: brief Prospectus for Term Research Paper is Due.
See "Guidelines..".]

Week 10
April 13
Social Impact of Climate Change:
  Political Repercussions in an Unstable World

Week 11
April 20
Social Impact of Climate Change - I
 

Week 12
April 27
Social Impact of Climate Change - II
 

 

Week 13
May 4
Technological Options and Government Policy
 

Are Techincal "Fixes" Possible?
What do they Cost?
Who Makes Government Policy?

Week 14
May 11
Denial, Resistance and The Hidden Promise Embedded in the Climate Crisis
 

Week 15
May 18
Policy Alternatives: Civil Society Initiatives
   

* * Course Papers Due * *

Week 16
May 25
Summation: Where can we go from here?
  & Final Exercise (see note below)

Course Requirements

Requirements for the course include completing

1) a mid-term examination - Thursday, 23 March 2006 - (to count approximately 20% of the final grade):

2) a final exercise - Thursday, 25 May 2006 - (to count approximately 20% of the final grade);

3) class participation - (including classroom participation, where possible AND completion of all online class assignments, quizzes, etc. - to count approximately 20% of the final grade).

and

4) a brief Prospectus and Final Research Term Paper - to be submitted in writing, in class on or before Thursday, April 6, 2006 and Thursday, May 18, 2006, respectively . [That is, a brief prospectus for this paper must have been submitted by Thursday, April 6 2006, while the term paper itself is due on Thursday, May 18, 2006]. The Prospectus and the Research Term Paper will together account for approximately 40% of the final grade.

Further guidelines on the Midterm Exam, Final Exercise, Prospectus and Research Term Paper will be given in class and posted online when appropriate..

N.B. For the "Final Exam" you will have a choice to complete it in class or online. There will be no need for distance learners to arrange for a proctor.

 

Assigned Reading for the Course are drawn from:

Spencer Weart
 
2003
 The Discovery of Global Warming (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2003) [with support material.]
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC)
  2001 Climate Change 2001: Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC, 2001).
National Assessment Synthesis
  2000 Climate Change Impacts on the United States The Potential Consequences of
Climate Variability and Change: Overview Report (U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2000)
 Shaw, Jonathan
 
2002 
 "The Great Global Experiment," Harvard Magazine.(November-December 2002) [or the HTML version ]
Elizabeth Kolbert
 
2006 
 Field Notes from a Catastrophe (New York, Bloomsbury USA, 2006).
Jeremy K. Leggett
  2001 The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era (N.Y., Routeledge, 2001).
Ross Gelbspan
  2004 Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis--And What We Can Do to Avert Disaster (New York, Basic Books, 2004).
Stephen H. Schneider (Editor), John O. Niles (Editor), Armin Rosencranz (Editor)
  2002 Climate Change Policy: A Survey (Washington, D. C., Island Press, 2002).
Athanasiou, Tom & Paul Baer
  2002 Dead Heat: Global Justice and Global Warming (New York, Seven Stories Press, 2002).
 
     
The Unassigned, Required Reading:
The New York Times
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