Climate Change Studies Minor

No more than three courses may count toward another major or minor housed in ESPE.

The minor starts with an introductory course (GEO 109 or GEO 114), but students who already fulfilled an introductory geoscience course may substitute the upper-level GEO 209 or GEO 215 in lieu of the introductory course. The minor then focuses on four main categories: ways of knowing, impacts and solutions, climate and society, and climate policy. Ways of knowing includes courses covering the physical and chemical records used to measure past and present climate change. Impacts and solutions courses cover ecological and human built systems that are impacted by climate change. Climate and society includes themes of climate and environmental change driving human history and economics. Finally, climate policy contains courses that examine different dimensions of climate change (and policies to address it such as clean energy transitions) as political and policy problems, in which students learn about how political institutions or interests guide or constrain climate outcomes. A sixth course is chosen from among the four categories depending on your interests and in consultation with your advisor.