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3 credits
Course Content: Climate change has been in the forefront of world-wide discussion. This class will introduce you to how climate has changed on the Earth over geologic time. We’ll start by looking at the climate of early Earth, learn the roles that plate tectonics, orbital cycles, greenhouse gases, and other factors have played in influencing climate, and focus closely on climate change since the last ice age. We’ll discuss the role that humans play in current and future climate changes on Earth. The goal of this class is to learn the factors involved in the causes of climate change so that you can become informed citizens.
Required Textbook: Introduction to Modern Climate Change, 2nd Ed., by Andrew Dessler, Cambridge, 2017.
Interesting Books:
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars by Michael Mann, 2012
The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and our Future by Richard Alley, 2000
Earth: The Operators' Manual by Richard Alley, 2011
What We Know About Climate Change by Kerry Emanuel, 2007
Storms of My Grandchildren by James Hansen, 2009.
The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth's Climate by David Archer, 2009.
Course Topics:
Climate archives
Climate models
Earth’s ancient climate
Greenhouse effect
Plate tectonics and climate
Greenhouse climate
Earth’s orbit and climate
Ice cores
Ice Age climate
Modern climate
Human effects on climate
Future climate scenarios (Global and for our region)
Other topics as time allows
The Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley migrate across the ancient bed of Lake Manly, a testament to the wetter climate of the last Ice Age.
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