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General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
METD012.
Course Title (CB02)
Introduction to Climate Change
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This course is an introduction to the study of global climate change, including both natural and human-induced causes. Topics include interactions among Earth's various climate subsystems--the hydrosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere--and how exchanges of energy and matter between them govern Earth's climate. Students will also examine the methods used by climate scientists to construct past climates and to predict future climate changes. The impact that humans have had on the climate system and potential solutions to climate change will be woven throughout.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is at the introductory level of study for climate science and is fully transferable to any CSU or UC. This course provides the student with an overview of the physical sciences of global warming and climate change. This course meets a general education requirement for °®¶¹´«Ã½, CSUGE and IGETC.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
°®¶¹´«Ã½ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GBX°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area B - Natural SciencesApproved
2GES°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE - Environment Sustainability and Global CitizenshipApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGB1CSU GE Area B1 - Physical ScienceApproved
IGETCArea(s)StatusDetails
IG5AIGETC Area 5A - Physical ScienceApproved

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
5.0
Maximum Credit Units
5.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours5.010.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
60.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
60.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
120.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
120.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

  • ESL D272. and ESL D273., or ESL D472. and ESL D473., or eligibility for EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.
  • Pre-algebra or equivalent (or higher), or appropriate placement beyond pre-algebra

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Discussion of assigned reading

Discussion and problem solving performed in class

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Quiz and examination review performed in class

Homework and extended projects

Field observation and field trips

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Guest speakers

Assignments

  1. Required Readings from Textbook
  2. In class activities, discussions, and homework activites involving assessment of climate data.
  3. Field exercises involving proper weather measurement techniques.
  4. Collaborative course Project that assesses carbon footprint and energy use, and proposes ways to reduce them.
  5. Preparation for objective-type examinations including a comprehensive final examination.

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Participation in and contribution toward classroom discussion of climate science concepts covered in regular reading assignments.
  2. Practice and demonstration of critical thinking skills and problem solving techniques in class activities and homework assignments, assessed by depth of understanding and ability to synthesize information from known concepts.
  3. Field activities assessed based on completion and accuracy of measurements taken.
  4. Evaluation of course project based on explanation of carbon footprint and the implementation and reflection of plan to reduce carbon footprint.
  5. Objective-type quizzes and examinations including a comprehensive final examination which require students to summarize, integrate and analyze climatic concepts that have been introduced, studied and discussed throughout the quarter.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • Access to °®¶¹´«Ã½ College's Automated Weather Source Digital Weather Station located atop the Kirsch Center

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Ruddiman, William F. "Earth's Climate: Past and Future", 3rd Edition, W.H. Freeman and Co, New York, New York, 2016
Bloom, Arnold J. "Climate Change; Causes, Consequences and Solutions," 2nd Edition. 2018. Open Educational Resource, retrieved at https://indd.adobe.com/view/8f2ed4a1-a1b0-4f12-b5bb-5009bbbad0f3
Kauffman, Chad M. "Our Changing Climate: Introduction to Climate Science," 1st Edition. American Meteorological Society, 2015.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Ahrens, Donald C. "Essentials of Meteorology: An Introduction to the Atmosphere", 8th Edition, Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Publishers, 2018.
"National Science Foundation: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering | Arlington, VA | NSF 15-311 | January 2015
National Weather Service: Feb 7, 2011 - EEO/Diversity Management Program - NWS Diversity Workshop: Developing tomorrow's managers and leaders:
University Corporation for Atmospheric Science (UCAR): "Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science: A new approach to diversity in atmospheric science". 2016
"Exercises for Weather and Climate" by Gregory Carbone, 9th Edition, Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2016.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Explore the concepts of Climate and Climate change, and analyze the past and current state of Earth's Climate System
  • Explore the history and evolution of Climate Science, and assess the methods that Climate Scientists use to make their conclusions.
  • Discuss the roles Energy Transfer and Earth's Energy Balance have played in the evolution of Earth's Climate.
  • Investigate ways that the biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere influence the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the distribution of energy on earth's surface and atmosphere.
  • Explore how human actions have affected Earth's Climate System.
  • Analyze ways that Earth's Climate naturally changes.
  • Explore the future of Climate Change, including its consequences and impacts on society.
  • Analyze and Discuss potential solutions to Climate Change.

CSLOs

  • Distinguish Science from Pseudoscience.

  • Assess the tools and procedures used by climate scientists to reconstruct earth's previous climate and to predict future climate shifts.

  • Explain the terms and concepts of climate science and use those terms and concepts to communicate local and global issues of climate concern.

Outline

  1. Explore the concepts of Climate and Climate change, and analyze the past and current state of Earth's Climate System
    1. Distinguish Weather from Climate
    2. Distinguish Global Warming from Climate Change
      1. Identify which locations on Earth are warming the most, such as polar regions in the Northern Hemisphere.
      2. Identify locations on Earth that have been cooling, such as coastal regions and the North Atlantic.
    3. Identify and explain key events in Earth's past such as Snowball Earth, Hothouse Earth, and recent Ice Ages.
      1. Identify key changes in Temperature and Carbon Dioxide over the past 400,000 years and assess potential relationships between the two variables.
      2. Investigate recent climate events, such as the Younger-Dryas, Holocene Maximum, and the Little Ice Age.
      3. Explain the potential effects that short-term calamities such as asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions may have on Earth's climate.
      4. Assess the role that greenhouse gasses have played in previous climates.
    4. Investigate key indicators of recent Climate Change
      1. Analyze key changes in Global Average Mean temperature since 1880
        1. Identify possible reasons for observed mid 20th Century Cooling
        2. Compare the rate of warming in Early 20th century to recent warming since 1980.
        3. Analyze the primary causes of observed recent warming since 1880.
      2. Identify trends in observed Sea Level changes since 1880, and predict future sea levels.
      3. Identify recent trends in global sea and land ice coverage.
      4. Analyze recent changes in Carbon Dioxide concentrations measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory and graphed on the Keeling Curve.
        1. Identify reasons for seasonal variation in Carbon Dioxide
        2. Identify overall trend in Carbon Dioxide concentrations
        3. Compare observations at Mauna Loa Observatory to observations made at other locations such as Barrow, Alaska and American Samoa.
        4. Calculate the average annual rate of change of Carbon Dioxide and assess how the rate has increased over time.
      5. Assess recent Changes in other key Greenhouse Gasses such as Methane and Nitrous Oxide.
      6. Explore the key findings of the most recent IPCC report on Climate Change.
  2. Explore the history and evolution of Climate Science, and assess the methods that Climate Scientists use to make their conclusions.
    1. Assess how scientists draw their conclusions.
      1. Define the steps in the scientific method, and apply the method to a simple climate experiment.
      2. Differentiate Theory from Hypothesis and Law from Fact.
      3. Distinguish examples of Science from examples of Psudeoscience.
    2. Outline the historical development of Climate Science
      1. Assess the earliest studies that suggested global warming was occurring, such as those done by Guy Stewart Callendar, Hans Ahlmann, and Helmut Landsberg.
      2. Identify key contributions made by scientists from a diverse background such as Warren Washington, Akrio Kashara, Roger Wakamato, and Marshall Shepard.
      3. Explore the impact that various women, such as Heidi Cullen, Joanne Simpson, and Jennifer Francis have had in Climate Science.
    3. Explore proxy methods that Paleoclimatologists use to reconstruct previous climate, such as ice cores, sediment samples, and tree rings.
      1. Investigate the relationship between oxygen isotopic ratios and previous global temperatures
      2. Assess the usefulness of various radiometric dating techniques
    4. Analyze ways that scientists are observing current Climate Changes.
      1. Describe accurate methods of measuring key atmospheric properties, such as temperature and humidity.
      2. Explore the distribution of weather stations and buoys across the world.
      3. Investigate the usefulness of remote sensing techniques such as satellite temperature measurements in filling in the gaps between weather stations.
    5. Assess and develop counterarguments to commonly stated arguments against Climate Change.
  3. Discuss the roles Energy Transfer and Earth's Energy Balance have played in the evolution of Earth's Climate.
    1. Define the concepts of temperature and thermal equilibrium, and explore the role that heat plays in achieving thermal equilibrium.
      1. Investigate and compare the three main temperature scales: Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin.
      2. Describe examples of temperature imbalance present in everyday life.
      3. Demonstrate proper methods of measuring and evaluating air temperature.
    2. Identify the key methods of sensible heat transfer, such as conduction, convection and radiation.
    3. Explore the electromagnetic spectrum, and describe how temperature affects the type and amount of radiation an object emits.
      1. Investigate the concept of Blackbody Radiation and how the temperature of an object affects the type and amount of radiation the object emits.
      2. Apply Wein's Law to determine the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation an object most commonly emits.
      3. Apply the Stefan-Boltzmann law to determine the amount of electromagnetic radiation an object emits.
      4. Distinguish Shortwave from Longwave Radiation.
    4. Assess the role that Earth's energy budget plays in maintaining Earth's temperature and ways that the energy budget is being altered by changes in land cover and atmospheric chemistry.
      1. Assess Earth's albedo and investigate how changes in albedo affect surface temperature
      2. Investigate the role that selective absorbers, such as Greenhouse Gasses affect Earth's surface temperature.
      3. Define the Greenhouse Effect and Identify which Greenhouse Gasses are most concerning.
  4. Investigate ways that the biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere influence the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the distribution of energy on earth's surface and atmosphere.
    1. Describe the key components of the Earth System, such as the Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere and Atmosphere.
      1. Distinguish the Biosphere from the Anthrosphere
      2. Investigate the key components of the Hydrosphere, such as the oceans and the cryosphere.
    2. Explore the Carbon Cycle, and distinguish short term processes from long term processes.
      1. Distinguish carbon sources from carbon sinks
      2. Assess the role that each of Earth's systems plays in the Carbon Cycle
      3. Investigate important carbon reservoirs such as the ocean and buried organic material.
    3. Assess the role that life has played in changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere through processes such as photosynthesis and respiration.
      1. Determine which processes are short term and which are long term.
      2. Assess the response that numerous species on Earth have had to increased human activity, and how that has impacted their role in the carbon cycle.
    4. Investigate the impacts that the ocean has made on the key physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere, and how increased carbon dioxide concentrations have damaged the ocean.
  5. Explore how human actions have affected Earth's Climate System.
    1. Assess what human activities are responsible for increased emissions of Greenhouse Gasses.
      1. Investigate how burning of fossil fuels has sped up the carbon cycle.
      2. Investigate how increasing agricultural demand has increased emissions of Greenhouse Gasses.
      3. Determine the primary Greenhouse Gasses emitted by human activities.
    2. Investigate the ways that humans have changed Earth's surface and the potential impact these changes may have on the various physical properties of Earth's atmosphere.
      1. Assess the role that increased deforestation has disrupted the Carbon Cycle.
      2. Assess the impacts that urbanization has on local and regional climates.
      3. Explore the key components of Earth's surface energy budget and specifically determine which components have been affected by human activities.
    3. Discern what everyday human activities (such as food consumption) lead to additional Greenhouse Gas emissions.
      1. Investigate the carbon footprint of certain foods (such as lamb and beef) and determine simple ways to incorporate more energy efficient foods into an individual's diet.
      2. Calculate individual carbon footprints and propose ways to decrease the carbon footprint.
      3. Investigate energy usage and propose simple solutions to reduce energy usage.
  6. Analyze ways that Earth's Climate naturally changes.
    1. Investigate Earth's seasonal cycle and determine how natural planetary motions such as the Milankovitch cycles affect seasonal variation.
      1. Determine what, if any changes in greenhouse gas concentrations are influenced by seasonal cycles.
      2. Assess how Milankovitch cycles affect the intensity Earth's seasons.
    2. Investigate previous extremes in sunspot activity such as the Maunder and Dalton minimums and asses the impacts that such extremes had on global climate.
      1. Assess the amount of temperature variation caused by the solar cycle.
      2. Assess how sunspot activity affects the amount of incoming solar radiation and global average temperatures.
    3. Explore ways that Earth's land/ocean distribution has changed over time and how this may influence global average temperatures.
      1. Explore Earth's network of ocean currents and describe how continental drift has changed them over time.
      2. Investigate specific heat and how the differences in the specific heat between land and ocean greatly influence a location's climate.
    4. Investigate numerous catastrophic events that altered Earth's climate in the short term, including volcanic eruptions such as the Yellowstone eruptions and asteroid impacts such as the Chicxulub asteroid.
      1. Compare the timescales of such events to the timescales of other natural cycles, such as the Milankovitch cycles.
      2. Compare the longevity of catastrophic events to recent increases in global average temperatures.
    5. Compare climate changes caused by natural cycles and catastrophic events to recent observed warming and determine what, if any, impacts natural cycles have on recent warming.
  7. Explore the future of Climate Change, including its consequences and impacts on society.
    1. Assess the role that climate change may be playing in recent natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey and Sandy, the 2010's California Drought, and the increase of record cold events in the Eastern United States.
      1. Explore the Koppen system of climates and determine which natural disasters are common in each climate.
      2. Explore the global circulation of the atmosphere and assess how global warming may be affecting it.
      3. Assess if phases in the global circulation, such as El Nino and La Nina are becoming more common, and how the impacts of such phases are changing.
    2. Investigate what feedback mechanisms may either amplify or diminish recent observed warming.
      1. Describe positive feedback mechanisms and explore the role they may play in intensifying future warming.
      2. Identify potential negative feedback mechanisms that may temper future warming, including the Cloud Albedo Feedback and the Chemical Weathering Feedback.
      3. Investigate the potential net effect of positive and negative feedback mechanisms on the climate system.
    3. Investigate ways that Climate Scientists are predicting future climate changes.
      1. Explore they key components of a climate model and how they differ from a typical weather forecast model.
      2. Evaluate the emissions scenarios proposed by the IPCC's 2014 report.
      3. Explore how a warmer world may look like in 2050 and 2100.
    4. Uncover the role that current and future climate changes may play in shaping society.
      1. Explore the ways that weather and climate currently affect society.
      2. Investigate some of the current humanitarian crises related to Climate Change, such as the threat that is currently facing Kiribati due to sea level rise, and assess how additional warming could create other similar crises.
      3. Explore the role that climate change is playing on indigenous people groups such as Amazonian tribes and Tibetan monks.
      4. Compare current and potential future Climate Refugee crises to current and previous Political Refugee crises.
  8. Analyze and Discuss potential solutions to Climate Change.
    1. Investigate many of the current social and educational movements that are geared towards conservation efforts.
      1. Explore many of the conservation movements and organizations, such as Greenpeace and The Sierra Club.
      2. Explore current Climate Education initiatives such as the Green Ninja project.
    2. Assess the effectiveness of climate policies.
      1. Investigate the components of the Paris Agreement and compare it to previous climate policies such as the Kyoto Protocol.
      2. Assess the effectiveness to other international climate policies such as the Washington Declaration.
      3. Explore and assess key national and state policies such as California Assembly Bill 32.
      4. Explore policies and initiatives that local governments in Silicon Valley have proposed such as the San Jose Green Vision.
    3. Explore how technology may help with the prevention, mitigation, and adaptation of future climate changes.
      1. Investigate and assess the potential that alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind power has in curtailing greenhouse gas emissions.
      2. Investigate current technologies such as electric and hybrid cars and nuclear generators.
      3. Explore potential future technologies such as carbon harvesters, fusion reactors, and improved solar technologies and assess how these technologies could be integrated in the near future.
      4. Assess the development and usefulness of biofuels as a solution to fossil fuel usage.
    4. Discuss ways that individuals can reduce their carbon footprint, become better educated, and share the science and solutions of climate change in their communities.
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