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Lectures
- Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30 - 1 Story Street -
Rm 306 | Class Discussion
Section - Rm. 306 - 4:30-5:30 Wednesdays |
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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.
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Climate
News Headlines
[Provided
by moreover.com]
(from second link onwards)
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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.
Particular
attention will be devoted to addressing the question of how
the global human community is likely to behave 
after
the Conference of Parties (COP-15) meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark
from 7-18 December 2009, and what the proposed plans of
action might achieve in the face of the ongoing trends of change
in the global climate.
| Operative
Course Schedule
[Suject to periodic updates.
Please consult each week.]
| Week
5
February 24 |
| A
'Southern' Perspective on Climate Change |
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Adil
Najam |
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The
Frederick S. Pardee Professor for Global Public
Policy
Director, The Frederick S. Pardee Center
for the Study of the Longer-Range Future
Professor, Department of International Relations
Boston University |
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Spring
Break
| Week
13
April 28 |
| Climate
& China |
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Li
Zhu & Dong
Song, The Fletcher School
with Prof. Wm. Moomaw |
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| Week
14
May 5 |
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Ross
Gelbspan |
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Bill
Blakemore,
ABC News |
| **
All Course Papers Due ** |
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Spring
Semester 2010
Course Requirements
Requirements for the course include completing
1)
A Statement
of Research Intent - Due 10
March 2010. (Approximately
10% of the final grade.)
2) a mid-term examination - Wednesday,
24 March 2010 - [ Distance learning
students should consult the procedures on "Academic
Policy and Exam Proctoring" in the Extension
School catalogue. You are responsible for identifying
an appropriate Proctor, completing the online proctored
examination form and making arrangements for the administration
of the examination at a distance.] (This exam counts
for approximately 20% of the final grade):
3) a final exercise - Wednesday,
12 May 2010 – (to count approximately
10% of the final grade);
4)
class participation - (including classroom participation,
where possible AND completion of all online class assignments,
quizzes, etc)
and
5) A Prospectus & Final
Research Term Paper - to be submitted in writing,
in class on or before Friday,
2 April 2010 and Wednesday,
5 May 2010,
respectively . [That is, a brief prospectus for this
paper must have been submitted by Friday,
2 April 2010, while the term paper itself
is due on Wednesday, 5
May 2010].
The Prospectus and the Research Term Paper will together
account for approximately 60% 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. But
Nota Bene: Distance Learners who will not be taking
the "Final Exercise" in class are required
to make arrangements for a Proctor. Instructions for
"Proctored Examinations" are available in
the Extension School Catalogue, and you must complete
an online proctored examination form for this Final
Exercise -- just as in the case of the mid-term.
N.B.
The final grade for the course will be assessed
on approximately the following basis:
1)
Statement
of Research Intent - Approximately 10% of
final grade.
2) Mid-term examination - Approximately 20% of
the final grade
3) Final hour exam exercise - Approximately 10%
of the final grade
4) Prospectus - Approximately 20% of the final
grade
5) Term Paper - Approximately 40% of the final
grade
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Assigned
Reading for the Course are drawn from:
| Elizabeth
Kolbert |
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2006 |
Field
Notes from a Catastrophe (New York, Bloomsbury
USA, 2006). |
| Tony
Blair (Foreword), Hans Joachim Schellnhuber (Editor),
Wolfgang Cramer (Editor), Nebojsa Nakicenovic (Editor),
Tom Wigley (Editor), Gary Yohe (Editor), Rajendra
Pachauri (Introduction) |
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2006 |
Avoiding
Dangerous Climate Change (Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 2006).
[PDF
version] |
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The
Unassigned, Required Reading & Listening/Viewing |
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