Course:EOSC595 Climate
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Description:
Seminar course to survey the content of the IPCC AR6 Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis. Students will be expected to present at least one seminar during the term and to participate in the discussion of other seminars. In addition, students will translate small ‘bites’ of scientific content for a general audience, to be broadcast widely in the UBC community.
The IPCC is the Intergovernmental panel on Climate change, the United Nations body for assessing the science of climate change. The objective of the IPCC is to provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. Every 6-8 years, the IPCC publishes an “assessment report”, to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks. IPCC reports are also a key input into international climate change negotiations.
In this course, we will review the content of the Working Group 1 : The Physical Science Basis.
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/
Learning goals:
- Familiarity with the IPCC scientific assessment process and methodology
- Understand the state of the art in climate science, and master climate literacy objectives
- Learn how to conduct a review paper, and evaluate how various lines of evidence can be brought together to support a claim or hypothesis.
- Identify open questions in climate science.
- Be able to deliver a research-quality oral presentation.
- Be able to explain up-to-date climate science to a general audience.
- Be in a position to be a climate science expert for the UBC sustainability initiative.
Instructor: Anais Orsi [[1]]
Is this course for me?
- I am a science graduate student, but I know almost nothing about climate science:
Yes, this course is absolutely for you. Expect to do a lot of background reading when it is your time to present, but you should otherwise be able to read the IPCC, which was written for the world to read, not just experts, and participate actively in the discussions. You will get to choose the chapters of the IPCC that are most relevant to your work and interest.
- I know a lot about the science of climate change already:
Great, you’ll get an update on the latest results, maybe further from your field of expertise. You will gain a better understanding of the big questions that are moving the field forward. This course will strengthen your understanding of the “big picture” around your own research, and the inter-connectedness of various fields in Climate Science. You will also get practice at translating science for a general audience.
- I’m not a scientist, but very interested in climate change:
You are very welcome. This course will be the opportunity for you to dive into the scientific basis of climate change, understand more deeply how scientists investigate climate change, and how they communicate their findings. The readings will be taken out of the IPCC report, which was written for the world to read, not just experts. This is however not an introductory course, so be prepared to do some extra background reading about the fundamentals of climate science to get the most of the material discussed. You will get to choose the chapters that we cover, to match your own interests. Your perspective will be precious for the second goal of this course : translate our discussions for the general UBC population.
A word about diversity and inclusion :
Climate change is a large societal issue where many perspectives are necessary to move forward. In this course, a diversity of opinions, background and insights will be valued and encouraged.
Possible topics to choose from, as a class:
The IPCC report will be accessible here (published early August 2021):
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/
In each 1.5 hour seminar, we will cover only one or two sections of a chapter. The point is to understand each figure well, rather than covering too much too fast.
1: Framing, context, methods (Framing of the physical science information relevant for mitigation, adaptation, and risk assessment)
2: Changing state of the climate system (radiative forcing, observations of the global mean)
3: Human influence on the climate system
4: Future global climate: scenario-based projections and near-term information
5: Global carbon and other biogeochemical cycles and feedbacks
6: Short-lived climate forcers, Aerosols
7: The Earth’s energy budget, climate feedbacks, and climate sensitivity
8: Water cycle changes
9: Ocean, cryosphere, and sea level change
10: Linking global to regional climate change
11: Weather and climate extreme events in a changing climate
12: Climate change information for regional impact and for risk assessment
Organisation:
Schedule: 3 credits, 1.5hr weekly over both semesters.
The exact time will be discussed during an organisational meeting at the start of the term.
Each section will have a 30 min presentation by students, followed or mixed with 20 min of discussion. The last 20 min will be used to collectively draft and review content for a general audience: a Wikipedia page, a short video, a cartoon/concept map, a written blog post, or something else, depending on your inspiration.
Calendar registration: EOSC595B 002 ‘Directed studies’.
Instructor: Anais Orsi
Textbook:
We will progress through the AR6 working group 1, which is available here:
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/
Grading:
50% seminar presentation, 25% class participation and discussion, 25% general audience production.
| EOSC 595B
Climate Change 2021 | |
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| EOSC 595B: Climate Change 2021 | |
| Instructor: | A. Orsi |
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