Geographic Adventures in Climate Change
GEOG 220 / EVRN 220 Course Flyer
Instructor: Professor Shannon O’Lear olear@ku.edu
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What is this course about?
This course considers how climate change is altering particular things such as coffee and chocolate production, the electricity grid and nuclear energy, wild salmon and sharks, rare earth minerals and ice shelves, and many other aspects of life on earth.
This course looks at how environmental processes and human systems interact at different spatial scales. A geographic framework is applied to a range of topics to assess climate change impacts as well as approaches to longstanding and emerging problems.
Course details
3 Credits
No prerequisites
No textbook - daily course material will draw from The Sweaty Penguin podcast.
The class will be in person supported by Canvas
Twice a week lecture with a flipped-classroom dynamic
The course is currently cross-listed as GEOG 220 / EVRN 220, and you may enroll in either one.
What is The Sweaty Penguin podcast?
The Sweaty Penguin podcast is an environmental comedy podcast that believes sometimes, climate change IS a laughing matter.
Students are strongly encouraged to purchase a subscription to the podcast, at any available level, for the semester of the course. Although the episodes assigned in class may be downloaded for free, a subscription acknowledges the labor of the podcast creator.
Subscriptions may be purchased for as little as $5/month
More information about The Sweaty Penguin podcast, a central resource for this class, may be found at: https://thesweatypenguin.com/
GEOG 220 / EVRN 220 Frequently Asked Questions
In this class, students will:
Student learning outcomes emphasize the demonstration of geographic systems thinking and critical analysis towards solution options.
Identify human systems (cultural, political, economic, justice, technology, etc.) and physical systems (biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, ecosystems, etc.).
Assess how human and environmental systems interact and the various spatial scales of these interactions.
Analyze how climate change is interacting with these systems, their interactions, and spatial implications.
Demonstrate critical thinking to create possible responses to specific contexts where human-environment interactions are altered by climate change and evaluate the impact of those responses.
What kind of work will students do in this class?
The class is structured around lecture (twice a week) and a flipped-classroom dynamic in which students prepare before class to engage in small group activities, discussion and problem solving that will vary by topic.
There is no textbook. Instead, daily course material will draw from The Sweaty Penguin podcast. In preparation for class, students will listen to assigned podcast episodes, take notes, and complete a short review quiz on each episode.
In class assignments may take the form of written responses and reflections; data collection and fact checking; and small group problem solving.
Each week, students will complete a worksheet centered on a “Systems and Spaces” diagram. This graphic template of geographic thinking will provide a foundation for assignments in which students will gather and organize information, assess how human and environmental systems interact, and explain how those interactions at multiple spatial scales are altered within a changing climate.
Who are the most likely students to take this class?
Students interested in geography, environmental studies, global studies, and various area studies.
Students who have taken GEOG 100, 102, 104/105, or EVRN 140 or 142, or students who are interested in environmental issues and social and technological responses to those issues.
Students interested in journalism, strategic communication, and visual communication.
Students who are undecided about their major and want a course where they will learn broadly about the world.
Students who are interested in developing their geographic literacy and interpretation of how current events are connected to the changing climate.
This is a new course developed with a grant from the University of Kansas Center for Teaching Excellence.
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