Climate Change Studies Minor

This cross-disciplinary minor focuses on complex global issues related to minimizing and adapting to climate change beyond technical and scientific considerations.

It is designed to foster an examination of climate change from perspectives in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, science and engineering. It complements the Environmental Science, Policy and Engineering Program as well as several departments across campus that offer climate studies courses.

The minor is organized so that students ideally take GEO 109 (Global Climate Change) or GEO 114 (Extreme Weather & Climate Change) as the introduction to the minor, but we will allow students to also count the upper-level GEO 209 (Paleoclimatology) or GEO-214 Meteorology in lieu of the introductory course. Then, take four electives in the main categories of the minor: 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. The sixth course is chosen from among the four categories depending on their interests and in consultation with their advisor.

Learning Objectives: Students will gain a deep understanding of the science of climate change, learn the tools climate scientists use to understand past and present climate change, and study climate change impacts and solutions in various systems such as water resources, ecology, and the built environment. Students will focus on the changing relationships between people and their natural environments and will learn about how climate change and related policies are drafted and implemented.

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

The Climate Change Minor - Requirements for the minor

Introduction to Climate Change Studies (take 1)

• GEO 109 Global Climate Change
• GEO 114 Extreme Weather & Climate Change
• GEO 209 Paleoclimatology
• GEO 214 Meteorology

Ways of Knowing (take 1)

• CEE 260 Thermofluids
• CHM 245 Environmental Chemistry
• ENS 215 Exploring Environmental Data
• GEO 203 Lakes and Environmental Change
• GEO 204 Modeling the Earth
• GEO 207 Stable Isotopes in Environmental Science
• GEO 208 Paleontology, Paleobiology, and Paleoecology
• GEO 209 Paleoclimatology
• GEO 214 Meteorology
• GEO 300 Glacial and Quaternary Geology
• GEO 305 Global Biogeochemical Cycles
• MER 231 Thermodynamics 1

Impacts and Solutions (take 1)

• BIO-320 Ecology
• BIO-324 Plant Ecology
• BIO-353 Plant Ecophysiology
• CEE 207 Transport, Health and Equity
• CEE 208 Water, Sanitation, & Health
• CEE 350 Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering
• ENS 210 Groundwater Hydrology
• ENS 247 Sustainable Infrastructure
• ENS 253 Environmentally Friendly Buildings
• GEO 160 Environmental Challenges in the Mohawk Watershed
• MER 471 Solar Energy Analysis and Design

Climate and Society (take 1)

• ECO 228 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
• EGL 280 Nature & Environmental Writing
• HST 109 History of Sustainability
• HST 138: Big History
• HST 206 Environmental Histories of Empire
• HST 225 American Environmental History
• HST 229 The Adirondacks and American Environmental History
• MLT 300 Environmental History of Siberia

Climate Policy (take 1)

• ENS 242 Comparative Climate Change Politics
• ENS 263 US Environmental Policy
• ENS 302 Energy Policy
• ENS 264: Climate Communication and Public Opinion
• ENS TBD Climate Misinformation

One additional course from one of the four categories above chosen in consultation with your Climate Change Studies advisor.

Please email Professor Rodbell (rodbelld@union.edu) or Professor Benegal (benegals@union.edu) with any questions