Institute Course: May 24 – June 10, 2011 - CTU, Limassol, Cyprus

Timothy C. Weiskel, DPhil
Harvard University Extension School
Research Director

Cambridge Climate Research Associates
Principal Teaching Assistant
| Zachary Zevitas |Phone: USA 617-395-4304

Printed Syllabus

 
   
 

Course Description:

     This introductory course will give students an integrated overview of the science of climate change and an analysis of the implications of this change for patterns of daily life in their own circumstance and around the world.

     Humankind is facing an unprecedented environmental crisis of global proportions. Scientists from across the world have issued stark warnings about the potential disruption and destabilization that changes in Earth’s climate will most likely cause in the near future for the life systems upon which modern civilization depends. The social and political implications of climate change have begun to become apparent as local communities in widely different parts of the world struggle to adapt to new patterns of excessive rainfall, prolonged droughts and severe weather events. Internationally, nation states have endeavored to forge diplomatic agreements to help humankind cope with both the causes and consequences of global climate change.

     This course has three principal objectives. First, it will introduce students to the science of climate change, drawing attention to the latest research and evolving pattern of scientific data that has emerged on climate in recent years. Second, emphasis will be given to analyzing the social changes and adaptations that human communities have already made and those they will most likely to have to make as the Earth’s climate continues to change in the coming years. Finally, specific attention will be given to the diplomatic efforts that have been launched since the creation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) during the first world-wide Earth Summit on the environment in Rio de Janeiro in June of 1992.

 

Course Schedule

Session Date Topic
   
 

 
1

24 May 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

Introduction and Overview: Climate Change in the Past and Future World

To begin, please...

   
  1) Register for the Cyprus Climate Workshop by signing up for a password, filling out the profile material and uploading a portrait JPG.
  2) Download and install a copy of "Google Earth."
and 3) Click on and install to your Google Earth the introductory "Places." we will be discussing in Google Earth
   
Further support material for Session 1
 
 
 
2

25 May 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

The Science of Climate History & The History of Climate Science
    Further support material for Session 2
     
 
 
3

26 May 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

The Social Perception (and Misperception) of Scientific Knowledge
    Further support material for Session 3
     
 
 
4

27 May 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

The Organization and Evolution of the IPCC Scientific Review Process

   
Quiz - Based on Sessions 1-4 – The Basics of global climate change and the institutional response to it. Short essay answers – 1 hour.
  N.B. Quiz will be distributed on Monday, 30 May and must be completed by Wednesday, 1 June at 12:00 noon and submitted to Mr. Zach Zevitas, the course TA.
    Further support material for Session 4
     
 
 
5

30 May 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

"Northern" and "Southern" Perspectives on Global Climate Changes
    Further support material for Session 5
    Text of Quiz 1 To Be Submitted by 12:00noon 1 June
 
 
6

31 May 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

Monitoring the Ongoing Climate Evidence and Debates
    Further support material for Session 6
     
 
 
7

1 June 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

The Global Backlash to Climate Change Science
    Further support material for Session 7
     
 
 
8

2 June 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

The Cryosphere and Polar Transformations: Global Implications for Sea Level and Abrupt Climate Change
    Further support material for Session 8
     
 
 
9

3 June 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

The Environmental Impact of Climate Change - Global and Local Water Issues
   
Quiz 2 - Based on Sessions 5-9 – Short essay answers – 1 hour.
  N.B. Quiz must be completed by Wednesday, 8 June at 12:00 noon and submitted to Mr. Zach Zevitas, the course TA.
First draft presentation of VoiceThread research narratives with Google Earth locations – in class, 2nd hour (postponed until Monday)
   
    Further support material for Session 9
     
 
 
10

6 June 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

Climate Change and the Evolution of Global Agriculture
    Further support material for Session 10
     
 
 
11

7 June 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

Climate Change and Environmental Justice Concerns
    Further support material for Session 11
     
 
 
12

8 June 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

Climate Change: Emerging Concerns for Public Health
    Further support material for Session 12
     
 
 
13

9 June 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

Localized Climate Changes: The Middle East & the Mediterranean
    Further support material for Session 13
     
 
 
14

10 June 2011

5:30-7:30 PM

Adaptation Strategies & Alternatives to a Carbon-Fueled Future

   

 Final Quiz – 1 hour exam + Posting and Presentation of Individual Research Materials

   
    Further support material for Session 14
     


Core Course Reading Material

Particular material appropriate for each individual session
will be placed on the web page for each appropriate Session
(See "Further support material" links for Sessions 1 through 14 above)

Assigned Reading for the individual sessions indicated above will be drawn from but not limited to:

 

Spencer Weart

 

 

2008

The Discovery of Global Warming (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2008 [with online support material.].

 

 

 

 

 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

 

 

2007

Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis: Summary for Policymakers [Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (This Summary for Policymakers was formally approved at the 10th Session of Working Group I of the IPCC, Paris, February 2007.)], (Geneva, Switzerland, IPCC, 2 February 2007), especially:  Summary for Policymakers & Technical Summary

 

 

 

 

 

 

2007

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report—Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report— Synthesis Report for Policymakers. UNFCCC. (17 November 2007)

 

 

 

 

 

Allison, et. al.

 

 

2009

The Copenhagen Diagnosis, 2009: Updating the world on the Latest Climate Science

 

 

 

and     

 

National Research Council

 

 

2011

America's Climate Choices, 2011 (National Academy of Sciences, 2011)

 

The Unassigned, Required Reading & Listening/Viewing