A Prototype Undergraduate Climate Change Curriculum
[Compiled by Andrew Friedman, Dept of Geography]
While UC Berkeley does not have a major or minor in climate change, we
offer many upper division courses on various aspects of global climate
change. We provide a list of these
courses below so that the interested student can design his or her own
curriculum.
This list is still evolving, and we welcome comments that would help
this process along. If successful, it
may become the basis of a climate change minor on campus. Comments can be sent to Andrew Friedman (andfried AT atmos.berkeley.edu) and Prof. John
Chiang (jchiang AT atmos.berkeley.edu)
A lower division course, “Global Warming” (Letters and Science 70B),
provides a broad introduction into various aspects of the physical and social
dimensions of climate change. The upper-level courses address different aspects
of climate change in greater detail. The courses are grouped into three broad
categories: the climate system, impacts, and mitigation/adaptation.
The Climate System
Geography 142: Climate Dynamics
This course examines how various components of the
climate system--the atmosphere, ocean, land, and cryosphere--interact in
determining its observed state. Covered topics: observations of the climate
system; the earth's energy balance; atmospheric radiative transfer; the surface
energy balance; the hydrologic cycle; atmospheric circulation and its relation
to the energy balance; the role of the ocean and the cryosphere. Additional
topics, as time permits, will cover climate change, natural and anthropogenic;
and computer modeling of climate.
Geography C139/ Earth and Planetary Science C181: Atmospheric
Physics and Dynamics
This course examines the processes that determine the structure and
circulation of the Earth's atmosphere. The approach is deductive rather than
descriptive: to figure out the properties and behavior of the Earth's
atmosphere based on the laws of physics and fluid dynamics. Topics will include
interaction between radiation and atmospheric composition; the role of water in
the energy and radiation balance; governing equations for atmospheric motion,
mass conservation, and thermodynamic energy balance; geostrophic flow, quasigeostrophic
motion, baroclinic instability and dynamics of extratropical cyclones.
Geography/ Earth and Planetary Science C141:
Paleoclimatology
Earth's climatic changes have been substantial throughout geologic
history, and these changes constitute fascinating natural experiments that
reveal much about the earth's climate systems and their capacity for change. In
this course we will review important methods for past climate reconstruction
and also current knowledge of past climate changes throughout earth's history,
with an emphasis on those of the Quaternary. Methods to be explored include
analyses of physical, geochemical, and paleontologic characteristics of marine
sediments, coral reefs, coastal sediments, lake sediments, tree rings, and ice
cores.
Earth and Planetary Science/ Chemistry C182:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Laboratory
Fluid dynamics, radiative transfer, and the kinetics, spectroscopy,
and measurement of atmospherically relevant species are explored through
laboratory experiments, numerical simulations, and field observations. The
course is intended for Earth and Planetary Science majors and minors, and for
chemistry, physics, astronomy, biology, and engineering majors whose interests
may lie in science applied to the atmosphere of Earth and other planets.
Energy and Resources C102:
Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems
Transport and fate of environmental pollutants, impact of human activities on climate, acid precipitation and other interventions in biogeochemical cycles, environmental consequences of nuclear war.
Earth And Planetary Science 103: Introduction to
Marine Geochemistry
Introduction to marine geochemistry: the global water cycle; major
processes governing the distribution of chemical species within the
hydrosphere; mass balances, fluxes, and reactions in the marine environment
from global to submicron scales; relationships to physical, biological, and
geological processes; geochemical tracers and tools.
Earth and Planetary Science/ Environmental Science,
Policy and Management C180: Atmospheric Chemistry
An introduction to air pollution and the chemistry of
earth's atmosphere. The fundamental natural processes controlling trace gas
concentrations in the atmosphere, and how anthropogenic activity has affected
those processes at the local, regional, and global scales. Specific topics
include stratospheric ozone depletion, increasing concentrations of greenhouse
gases, smog, and changes in the oxidation capacity of the troposphere.
Impacts
Energy and Resources 290: Climate Change Impacts and
Adaptation
An intensive seminar with case studies on climate change
predictions; impact scenarios; adaptation options, and the interrelationships
among impacts, adaptation, and mitigation.
(Emphasis will be on natural systems and natural sciences, but not
exclusively. It will be taught every other year. The course matter will evolve
during the first few times it is taught but then should settle into a formal
class.)
Integrative Biology 106A: Physical and Chemical
Environment of the Ocean
The biological implications of marine physics and
chemistry. History and properties of seawater. Geophysical fluids. Currents and
circulations. Deep sea. Waves, tides, and bottom boundary layers. The coastal
ocean; estuaries. Air/sea interaction. Mixing. Formation of water masses.
Modeling biological and geochemical processes. Ocean and climate change.
Environmental Science, Policy and Management 143:
Watershed Hydrology
This course provides an introduction to watershed
hydrology. We take a detailed look at the hydrologic cycle, with a focus on the
occurrence, movement, distribution, and storage of water. Topics covered
include water budgets, precipitation, evaporation, surface runoff, groundwater
flow, and connections to water quality and biogeochemistry. The focus is on
developing both a qualitative understanding of hydrological processes and the
ability to acquire and analyze hydrologic data.
Integrative Biology 166: Evolutionary Biogeography
The goals of the course are to (a) examine how
geographically-linked characteristics of species influence their potential for
evolution and extinction; and (b) provide an overview of the analytical
techniques and applications for studying the interplay between geographic
ranges, environment, evolution, and extinction. Accordingly, the course begins
by examining what geographic ranges of species are and what controls them. We
then will explore how geographic-range characteristics influence and interact
with speciation and extinction processes. With that foundation, we will examine
how species assemble into communities and how ecological processes govern
distributions at the community and landscape levels, touching on such topics as
community energetics, scaling issues, and the influences of humans on
"natural" ecosystems. The last third of the course will be devoted to
an overview of quantitative analytical techniques that commonly are used to
study interactions between biogeogeographic ranges, evolutionary processes,
extinction, and environmental change.
Mitigation/
Adaptation
Environmental Economics and Policy/ International Area
Studies C175: The Economics of Climate Change
The course will start with a brief introduction and
evaluation of the scientific aspects behind climate change. Economic models
will be developed to analyze the impacts of climate change and provide and
critique existing and proposed policy tools. Specific topics studied are
impacts on water resources and agriculture, economic evaluation of impacts,
optimal control of greenhouse gases, benefit cost analysis, international
treaty formation, discounting, uncertainty, irreversibility, and extreme
events.
Civil and Environmental Engineering 107: Climate
Change Mitigation
Assessment of technological
options for responding to the threat of climate change. Overview of
climate-change science: sources, sinks, and atmospheric dynamics of greenhouse
gases. Current systems for energy supply and use. Renewable energy resources,
transport, storage, and transformation technologies. Technological
opportunities for improving end-use energy efficiency. Recovery, sequestration,
and disposal of greenhouse gases from fossil-fuel combustion. Societal context
for implementing engineered responses.
Public Policy 190/ 290: Special Topics in Public
Policy, "Environment and Technology from the Policy and Business
Perspectives"
The natural environment and
technology are inextricably linked. The
natural environment provides both the initial inputs as well as the ultimate
disposal locations for the technologies that drive today's economy. As a result of the close relationship
between the environment and human technology, technology has at times been cast
as both the ultimate villain and the
ultimate hero in environmental policy circles. This class introduces students
to many features of the relationship
between technology and the natural environment over time. It explores past (for the most part)
environmental policy issues, such as
acid rain and ozone depletion, through the lens of specific technologies that
were important to both policy and
business interests. It introduces some
of the environmental strategies that are being used by both policy-makers
and business to affect technology
development and adoption today (e.g., Energy Star, TQEM). And it delves into the climate change
debate, an ongoing issue on the environmental policy agenda in which harnessing
the forces of technological innovation
will be crucial to environmental progress.
Law 272.3 sec. 1: Climate Change: Law and Policy
Climate change will be a core concern that will
influence policy and economic activity for years to come. It raises classic
issues of distributional justice, law and science, risk, uncertainty and
precaution, federalism, technology policy, and international relations.
Students will leave this course with an understanding of the sources and
impacts of climate change, the key state, national and international policies,
and the role of law.
City and Regional Planning 254: Sustainable
Communities
Description: This course examines and explores the concept
of sustainable development at the community level. The course has three
sections: (1) an introduction to the discourse on sustainable development; (2)
an exploration of several leading attempts to incorporate sustainability
principles into plans, planning, and urban design; (3) an examination of
European attempts to establish metropolitan patterns and urban designs for a
more sustainable "green urbanism."
Energy and Resources Group 100/ 200: Energy and
Society
Energy sources, uses, and impacts: an introduction to
the technology, politics, economics, and environmental effects of energy in
contemporary society. Energy and well-being; energy in international
perspective, origins, and character of energy crisis.
Energy And Resources Group 275: Water and Development
This class is an interdisciplinary graduate seminar for
students of water policy in developing countries. It is not a seminar on
theories and practices of development through the "lens" of water.
Rather, it is a seminar motivated by the fact that over 1 billion people in
developing countries have no access to safe drinking water, 3 billion don't
have sanitation facilities and many millions of small farmers do not have
reliable water supplies to ensure a healthy crop. Readings and discussions will
cover: the problems of water access and use in developing countries; the
potential for technological, social, and economic solutions to these problems;
the role of institutions in access to water and sanitation; and the pitfalls of
and assumptions behind some of today's popular "solutions."
