Climate Crisis Classes at UCSD:
Fall 2019:
INTL 101 (Culture and Society in International Perspective). This class looks at ethical and political issues related to climate change.
Winter 2020:
ANTH106: (Climate and Civilization). An introductory course that questions the whole collapse narrative while teaching students about the ways in which it has and hasn’t impacted humans
ANTH270: (Archeology of Climate Change). This seminar studies the dynamics of climate change and human responses through time. Topics include research methods in socioecodynamics, human responses to change in different sociopolitical and economic contexts, and lessons from the past that can inform the present.
POLI117. (Bending the Curve: Climate Change). Climate change is an urgent global problem affecting the lives of hundreds of millions of people, now and for the foreseeable future. This course will empower students to confront climate change as critical actors to innovate creative cross-disciplinary solutions
ECON132 (Energy Economics). Energy from an economic perspective. Fuel cycles for coal, hydro, nuclear, oil, and solar energy. Emphasis on efficiency and control of pollution. Comparison of energy use across sectors and across countries. Global warming. Role of energy in the international economy.
MAE118 (Mechanical Engineering: Introduction to Energy and Environment). Overview of present-day primary energy sources and availability: fossil fuel, renewable, and nuclear; heat engines; energy conservation, transportation, air pollution, and climate change.
MAE119 (Mechanical Engineering: Introduction to Renewable Energy – Solar and Wind). Basic principles of solar radiation—diffuse and direct radiation; elementary solar energy engineering—solar thermal and solar photovoltaic; basic principles of wind dynamics—hydrodynamic laws, wind intermittency, Betz’s law; elementary wind energy engineering; solar and wind energy perspectives; operating the California power grid with 33 percent renewable energy sources.
SIO25 (Climate Change and Society). Climate change is one of the most complex and critical issues affecting societies today. This course will present the scientific evidence for climate change and its impacts and consider governmental policy responses and possible adaptation strategies.
SIO116 (Climate Change and Global Health). This course will introduce students to the public health effects of global climate change. The course will begin by understanding the climate change phenomena and explaining the direct and indirect links between climate change and human health, including the public health impacts of infectious diseases, atmospheric air pollution, and extreme weather events. The second part of the course will be dedicated to adaption and mitigation solutions with a particular focus on vulnerable populations.
Spring 2020 :
PSYC185 (Psychology of Climate Crisis). This course provides tools for the student to think about the escalating climate crisis. Urgent action is needed at a large societal scale to prevent the worst consequences of anthropogenic global heating. Better understanding the prospects for such action can come from human psychology. How do people arrive at their beliefs? What is the basis of denial and delay? How does belief flow to action? What kinds of actions can people take?
Next Academic Year:
History classes:
Anthropocene 1: The Neolithic. Examines the hypothesis that humans have had a significant impact on the Earth’s climate and ecosystems over the past 8,000 years by focusing on the origins of settled agriculture and its environmental implications, including its effects on greenhouse gas emissions.
Anthropocene 2: The Columbian Exchange, 1400-1750. Examines the re-integration of the eastern and western hemispheres following 1492, tracking the movements of peoples, foodstuffs, livestock, and diseases, and assessing the environmental and social impact of these transformations.
Anthropocene 3: Industrial Revolutions, 1750-1945. Explores the fossil fuel age from the steam engine to aerial warfare, exploring the economics of coal and oil, the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture, deep-pit mining, and extractive imperialism, and the building of the electrical grid.
Anthropocene 4: The Great Acceleration, 1945-present. Explores the environmental impact of massively intensified industrialization, urbanization, and monoculture farming, including skyrocketing greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, soil depletion, and deforestation. Also analyzes different environmentalisms and imagines futures distinct from climate catastrophe.
Other information:
Further list of classes – some to be taught later in 2020:
2019: Warren College writing program, WCWP 10A “Climate Change Communication“
Climate Change Studies Minor has a list of many classes in climate science, economics, ethnic studies and policy, although few outside of climate science are currently being taught.