Climate change is arguably the greatest challenge of human history. Human activity has already warmed the planet by 1° Celsius relative to pre-industrial times. The effects are felt through record heat waves, droughts, wildfires and flooding. If fossil fuels continue to be burnt at the current rate, the planet will reach two degrees of warming by 2050 the threshold that many scientists have identified as a dangerous tipping point. What is the science behind these projections?
Join climate science expert Michael Mann to learn about the basic scientific principles behind climate change and global warming. The science needs to be understood in order to solve the broader environmental, societal and economic changes that climate change is bringing.
By the end of this course, participants will:
Develop a deep scientific understanding of HOW the climate system has been changing;
Articulate WHY the climate system is changing;
Understand the nature of these changes;
Develop a systems thinking approach to analyzing the impacts of climate change on both natural and human systems.
The course covers the basic principles of atmospheric science and methods of climate data collection and interpretation. It introduces basic climate modeling and explores the impact of various greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. Finally, it outlines the impacts of climate change on social, economic, cultural, urban and human systems.