Class by Class Schedule

including Learning Objectives, Readings, Webpages, and Podcasts that will be on weekly Quizzes

Present-day Climate week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5
Past Climate week 6 week 7 week 8 week 9
Future Climate week 10 week 11 week 12 week 13 week 14

Present-day Climate: Week 1 - Getting started and Global Energy Balance

from:https://www.englishblog.com/2014/04/cartoon-climate-change-selfie.html
Reading: Ruddiman Ch. 1, Mann Ch. 2 AND make sure to pick up both textbooks and your iclicker
Webpage: Climate science on the web by scientists Click here to visit realclimate.org
Podcast: 2018 and its extreme weather Click here to listen

Learning Objectives - Class 1 (Getting Started)

  • Understand the broad outline of the course (1)
  • Understand difference between 095 and 195 (1)
  • Assess your knowledge of climate in the past, present and future (1,2)
  • Learn something about us all – teachers and students (1)

    • Powerpoint (class 1) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives - Class 2 (Global Energy Balance)

  • List the ways in which energy enters and leaves the Earth
  • Identify the three primary controls on global average temperature and explain how they work
  • Explain why and predict how a simple calculation of Earth's equilibrium temperature using data on solar energy input does not equal Earth's actual average temperature
  • Identify the fallacy underlying claims that increasing atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentrations cannot cause global warming

    • Powerpoint (class 2) Click here to download PDF


    Present-day Climate: Week 2, Atmosphere, Oceans, and the Carbon Cycle

    from:https://www.americangeosciences.org/education/ec3/chapter4/section6
    Readings (there are 2):

    Ruddiman Ch. 2, Mann Ch. 2 and make sure you have clicker or reef
    Webpage A Pulitzer Prize-winning, non-profit, non-partisan news organization dedicated to covering climate change, energy and the environment     Click here to visit realclimate.org

    Learning Objectives - Class 3 (Fundamentals of atmospheric circulation)

  • Explain why air moves in predictable patterns across the globe
  • Explain how atmospheric circulation results in the observed global distribution of climates
  • Identify dry or wet regions on Earth based on the characteristics of air movement and pressure in those areas

    • Powerpoint (class 3) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives - Class 4 (Fundamentals of ocean circulation)

  • Draw a sketch of major ocean circulation patterns including overturning
  • Predict what would happen if ocean circulation were perturbed, specifically if overturning were to slow or cease
  • Explain how ocean currents result in the observed global distribution of climates
  • Describe how the ocean affects atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and temperature

    • Powerpoint (class 4) Click here to download PDF

    Present-day Climate: Week 3, The Cryosphere and Sea Level: forcings and feedbacks


    from:https://www.theinvadingsea.com/2019/04/02/the-invading-sea-wins-national-journalism-award-for-editorial-leadership/

    Video: How Do Glaciers Move?
    Click here to play
    Readings (there are 3):

    1. Glaciers, Ice Sheets, and More: A Primer on the Different Types of Polar Ice
    Click here to access webpage
    Click here to access PDF

    2. The "Unstable" West Antarctic Ice Sheet: A Primer
    Click here to access webpage
    Click here to access PDF

    3. Ruddiman Chapter 8

    Learning Objectives Class 5 (Cryosphere and Sea Level)

  • Understand ice physics sufficiently to explain why ice sheets are not simply static bodies of ice, but are complex and dynamic
  • Describe the processes that will lead to melting, others forms of mass loss, and/or destabilization of Earth’s two large ice sheets
  • Explain why predictions of sea level rise contain so much uncertainty
  • Understand why rising sea level is not a slowly building threat, but could create large impacts in the near future

    • Powerpoint (class 5) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives Class 6 (Climate Forcings and Feedbacks)

  • Understand how the three “knobs” of global climate (incoming solar radiation, albedo, the greenhouse effect) change over time and with human influence
  • Understand and be able to provide specific examples of how feedback systems can amplify or diminish a climate system forcing
  • Explain why a large, short-term perturbation to the climate system could create long-lasting effects
  • Describe Earth’s orbital cycles and be able to explain how they influence climate over geologic time scales of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years

    • Powerpoint (class 6) Click here to download PDF


    Present-day Climate: Week 4, The Carbon Cycle and Causes of Recent Warming

    from https://www.inkcinct.com.au/web-pages/global/global-environmental/2016--global-environmental.htm

    Readings (there are 2):

    1. Carbon and Climate (read all 6 subsections)
    Click here to access webpage
    Click here to access PDF

    2. Ruddiman, Chapter 19

    Learning Objectives Class 7 (The Carbon Cycle)

  • Identify Earth’s carbon sinks, sources, and reservoirs
  • Explain why atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations fluctuate in a consistent manner throughout the year
  • Identify and explain some of the feedback systems inherent in the carbon cycle due to climate change
  • Diagram the interactions over time between various stocks and flows of carbon cycle

    • Powerpoint (class 7) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives Class 8 (Recent Warming, Causes and Evidence)

  • Understand and be able to plot the trend of temperature observations over the last ~100 years
  • Identify what climatic indicators have been used to support the conclusion that climate change is occurring on decadal time scales and how these indicators work
  • Explain the details of one method used to identify the source of recent atmospheric CO2 increases as caused by human activities
  • Describe three pieces of evidence that demonstrate how anthropogenic CO2 emissions are directly increasing the greenhouse effect

    • Powerpoint (class 8) Click here to download PDF


    EXAM TIME: Week 5, First Exam

    Past Climate: Week 6, Paleoclimate and our best Proxies & Archives


    from: http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/122425/

    Readings (there are 2):

    1. Ruddiman Chapters 3, 17, and Appendices 1 & 2
    2. Ice Memory - Does a glacier hold the secret of how civilization began—and how it may end - by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker
    Click here to access the Kolbert reading

    Learning Objectives Class 9 (Paleoclimate Proxies & Archives)

  • Understand the concept of how proxy data are used to reconstruct past climates
  • Understand the concept of a climate-proxy archives
  • Explain the process by which oxygen isotopes are used to discover information about pastclimates
  • Be able to interpret an oxygen-isotope record for past temperatures
  • Identify and provide specific examples of the challenges confronted in retrieving and analyzing climate archives

    • Powerpoint (class 9) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives Class 10 (Paleoclimate I - Industrial & Holocene records)

  • Understand and be able to sketch the history of global temperatures over the last ~11,000 years
  • Describe one hypothesized instance of changing climate influencing an early human civilization
  • Describe one hypothesized instance of early humans influencing climate
  • Be able to construct a rational argument in defense of or opposition to the hypothesis of anthropogenic climate change starting before the beginning of the industrial revolution around 1850 AD

    • Powerpoint (class 10) Click here to download PDF


    Past Climate: Week 7, Mike Mann and the Hockey Stick


    from https://twitter.com/MichaelEMann/status/863899446744162304

    Readings (there is one in the text and two on line):

    Ruddiman Chapter 18
    Webpages: Mike's personal web page
    Click here to access
    An op-ed of Mike's in the Washington Post
    Click here to access

    No class on Tuesday

    Double class on Thursday, regular class and Mike's talk to UVM at 430 pm, Ira Allen Chapel

    Learning Objectives Class 11 (Paleoclimate II - The Hockey Stick)

  • Understand how the Hockey Stick graph was developed and the data underlying it
  • Describe why this one graph became so controversial
  • Articulate why the recent rise in temperature shown by the graph is so important to understanding climate change
  • Describe how a scientist was harassed for his inconvenient findings

    • Powerpoint (class 11) Click here to download PDF


    Past Climate: Week 8, Glacial/Interglacial Paleoclimates


    from:http://www2.ocean.washington.edu/oc540/lec01-23/99.540.17.figs/99.540.17.c.gif

    Readings (there are 2):

    Ruddiman Chapters 7 and 14

    Learning Objectives Class 12 (Paleoclimate II – Pleistocene)

  • Understand the differences in global climate 25,000 years ago compared to the present day
  • Explain the ‘sawtooth’ climate pattern that dominated the Pleistocene, the last 2.7 My
  • Explain why orbital cycles and natural climate variability cannot explain the last 100 years of climate change

    • Powerpoint (class 12) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives Class 13 (Paleoclimate III – Greenhouse to icehouse)

  • Sketch and describe the global temperature record over the last ~50 million years
  • Describe the tools used to reconstruct this record and how each works
  • Identify and explain one hypothesis about the causes of global temperature change over the last 50 million years
  • Explain why information about climate over the last 50 million years is relevant to climate change today

    • Powerpoint (class 13) Click here to download PDF


    Past Climate: Week 9, Paleoclimate IV – Deep Time


    from https://xkcd.com/1379/

    Readings:

    Ruddiman Chapter 6

    Learning Objectives Class 14 (Paleoclimate Deep Time)

  • Understand what geologic processes modulate global climate over long geologic time scales
  • Describe the general global temperature trend before 50 million years ago
  • Identify and explain one hypothesis about the Greenhouse climate of the Cretaceous
  • Explain what runaway feedback system may have led to an ‘icebox’ world otherwise known as the snowball Earth

    • Powerpoint (class 14) Click here to download PDF


    Future Climate: Week 10, Climate models and Projections


    from: https://www.ocregister.com/2014/01/06/todays-cartoons-global-warming/

    Learning Objectives Class 15 (Climate Models)

  • Understand the general components of mathematical climate models and how they are constructed
  • Understand what is meant by ‘Model Calibration’ and ‘Model Validation’
  • Understand the tradeoffs that climate modelers face when designing models at high resolution, over large areas, and over long time scales
  • Explain how data about past climates are used for model validation

    • Powerpoint (class 15) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives Class 16 (Projections I – Temperature, weather, sea level)

  • Know the range of possible CO2 emission scenarios between now and 2100 used by climate scientists
  • Explain how the pulse of CO2 emitted by humans will be distributed among Earth’s carbon reservoirs
  • Identify and describe two decadal Earth system responses to the pulse of atmospheric CO2 we are currently emitting
  • Explain two Earth system responses that will take place over the next ~100 years and how they will affect society

    • Powerpoint (class 16) Click here to download PDF
    Readings:
    Mann, Chapter 3
    Ruddiman, Chapter 20
    Webpage: What Are Climate Models and How Accurate Are They? Click here to read

    Future Climate: Week 11, Projections


    from:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/515732594809455728/

    Readings:
    Alaska permafrost tipping point
    Click here to access
    Greenland melt tipping point
    Click here to access
    West Antarctic collapse
    Click here to access

    Learning Objectives Class 17 (Projections II - Tipping Points)

  • Understand the concept of runaway feedbacks and system hysteresis
  • Define a tipping point and identify how two ‘major tipping points’ in the climate system work
  • Explain how and why Greenland Ice Sheet melt is or is not an irreversible tipping point system
  • Explain why Arctic Sea Ice loss is or is not an irreversible tipping point system

    • Powerpoint (class 17) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives Class 18 (Projections III - Long Term climate changes)

  • Understand and explain the processes by which slow feedbacks may cause long-term (1,000-10,000 year) climate responses long after carbon emissions have declined or stopped
  • Identify and describe two predicted slow (1,000-10,000 year) climate responses to the pulse of atmospheric CO2 we are currently emitting
  • Explain the process by which two of the predicted long-term climate responses will affect human societies

    • Powerpoint (class 18) Click here to download PDF


    Future Climate: Week 12, Climate Mitigation, Adaptation, and Geoengineering Strategies



    from https://twitter.com/tveitdal/status/1114404861817311232

    Readings:
    Carbon Trends
    Click here to access
    Natural climate solutions are not enough
    Click here to access
    Solar Geoengineering
    Click here to access
    Glacial Geoengineering
    Click here to access

    Learning Objectives Class 19 (Climate Mitigation Strategies I, Mitigation and Adaptation

  • List 2 climate adaption strategies that have so-far been proposed
  • List 2 climate mitigation strategies that have so-far been proposed
  • Predict two challenges (physical, social, or economic) facing a proposed climate adaption or mitigation strategy
  • Explain the difference between climate adaption and mitigation strategies

    • Powerpoint (class 19) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives Class 20 (Climate Mitigation Strategies II, Geoengineering)

  • List 4 geoengineering strategies that have so-far been proposed
  • Explain the process by which two of these geoengineering strategies would address the effects of climate change
  • Predict how a geoengineering strategy could go wrong relying on your understanding of the process by which it works
  • Argue for or against climate adaption, mitigation and geoengineering strategies as a way of addressing climate change

    • Powerpoint (class 20) Click here to download PDF


    Future Climate: Week 13, Projections, Economics and social impacts


    from https://conservationbytes.com/tag/holocene/

    Readings:
    Mann Chapters 7 and 8 Beer prices and climate change
    Click here to access
    The value of snow
    Click here to access
    Fisherman and big oil
    Click here to access

    Learning Objectives Class 21 (Projections, Climate change economics and social impacts/treaties)

  • Explain the costs of addressing climate change now versus delaying response including various adaptations
  • Be able to explain three broad social impacts of climate change
  • Understand the approaches that have been taken so far to attempt to slow climate change
  • Identify how two economic sectors will be impacted by climate change

    • Powerpoint (class 21) Click here to download PDF

    EXAM TIME: Third (and last) exam! Thursday, class time

    Future Climate: Week 14, Climate Communication


    from https://www.turnerconsultinggroup.ca/blog-tana-turner/time-for-an-adult-conversation-about-employment-equity

    Readings:
    Mann Ch. 4-6, 9

    Learning Objectives Class 22 (Climate change denial: why is it a phenomenon and what can we do about it?)

  • Be able to debunk on the basis of science you have learned in this class at least two of the most often repeated denialist claims
  • Explain the influence that media can have on opinions/understanding of climate change
  • Identify and explain one purposeful disinformation campaign targeted at climate change science

    • Powerpoint (class 22) Click here to download PDF

    Learning Objectives Class 23 (Finding your voice and making positive change)

  • Understand the three most important skills for communicating your opinions (not only about climate)
  • Get prepared for the final paper; hints to do as well as possible
  • Get tips on how to do the best final paper from Guest Speaker, Josh Brown, UVM's Environmental reporter
  • Tell us how to make this class better for next year!

    • Powerpoint (class 23) Click here to download PDF