This two-credit course is designed for professionals who are concerned about climate change issues and want to improve their skills in convincing others about the urgency and opportunities raised by this global process. At the end of the course, the participants will have acquired:
a) a fuller understanding of the physical, ecological, social, cultural and political factors that drive the climate change dialogue; and
b) improved skills to influence specific audiences on these issues.
The theoretical part of the course will address the forces driving climate change (physical and ecological processes); will clarify the risk, vulnerability, resilience, mitigation and adaptation concepts, as well as their human security impacts (social and political processes); and will analyse the main factors behind the resistance to taking concrete actions.
The more practical part of the course will improve the participants' skills in creating and combining web-based tools such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and short documentaries, to influence on-line audiences. One of the products of the course will be a web-page with articles created by course participants.