Earth
System Science Colloquium: Global Warming
11:015:401:01
Liz Sikes and Jim Miller, Department of Marine
and Coastal Sciences
IMCS Room 111D, 932-6555 ext. 545, miller@marine.rutgers.edu
IMCS Room 114C, 932-6555 ext. 518, sikes@marine.rutgers.edu
Note Classroom
change as of March 1: class meets in Marine Sciences Room 105
Interim
Syllabus as of April
18, 2007
Class Schedule
Jan.
18 Introduction and organization
What is Earth System
Science?
Jan.
25 Reading:
The science of climate change (Firor and Jacobsen, Chs. 1, 5, 6, 7)
Discussion: assigned reading
and Impacts of Climate change
Class assignment: prepare a
list of three impacts and be prepared to discuss them.
Feb. 1
Climate Change Overview, Lecture, Jim Miller
Short Paper due:
(write a one-page single spaced paper that makes direct links between your major field of study and climate change
Kevin Lyons (facilities) - Rutgers energy footprint
Discussion: Team Projects
Feb. 8
Quiz 1 (5% of total grade, Firor and Jacobsen, Chs. 1-7 )
Reading: Firor and Jacobsen,
Chs. 2, 3, 4
Discussion: Population and
Climate Change
Discussion: Team Projects
Feb 15 Reading assignment: The recently
released IPCC report (http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf)
Attend (if at all possible) the:
Rutgers event on the IPCC report on
Tuesday evening (2/13) in the Nicholas Music Center.
Click
here to see flyer
Come to class prepared to talk about a specific topic that you read in the IPCC
report or that you heard at the evening event.
Feb 22 Reading: Chapter 8 World Population,
Development, and Resource Consumption pp 225-240
in F. Mackenzie, Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to
Earth System Science and Global Environmental Change, Prentice Hall, 2003
on Reserve in Chang Library
Discussion: World population
and gender issues
Note Classroom
change as of March 1: class meets in Marine Sciences Room 105
Mar
1 Guest Speaker for the day Les Small
There are 3 readings and an
assignment for the day:
Click here for second assigned reading
Click here for additional readings and
assigned questions
to hand in on the day of class.
Les Small, discussion on the economics of climate change
Discussion: The different
viewpoints on population and resource consumption
Mar 8 Discussion: Global versus local issues
Initial
presentations on team projects due. Be prepared to give a ~10-15
minute talk on work to date and plans…
Topics: energy efficiency in transportation
Topics: energy
efficiency in transportation
Waste stream
management
Mar
15 No Class Spring Break
Mar
22 Reading: E. Kolbert, The Darkening
Sea, The New Yorker, Nov 20, 2006, pp
66-75
“Assignment
due”: Short quiz on
reading.
Discussion: The ocean’s influence and interaction with climate and
green house gasses.
Mar
29 Media and the Climate Change debate
Assignment
due: find 2 recent articles in the popular media (last 5
years). One one supporting or
documenting an aspect of climate change and one “anti” climate change.
Note: “anti” views can include advocating “business as usual”
strategies and advocate “no change” economic solutions to global change issues
Write a paragraph comparing
and contrasting the 2 articles. Use
information you have learned in class where appropriate.
Apr
5 Gaia hypothesis/feedbacks and the earth system
Scientists Debate Gaia: The Next Century (P. 1-25) Schneider et al. On electronic Reserve at CHANG
Click on link
below for PDF of article:
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/eres/spr07/millerj_11_015_401_01_schneider_scientists.pdf
Assignment
due: Write a paragraph describing how the Gaia hypothesis
informs the scientific and human dimensions of global warming.
Apr
12 Climate change impacts
Assignments
due:
1)
Bring in
an article, or equivalent documentation of a potential climate change impact
that has not been heavily discussed in class.
For example, good possibilities are: water resources, health and disease,
agriculture, specifics of sea level rise, biodiversity issues, mountain
glaciers. An example of a poor topic is
global temperature increases.
2)
Write
one paragraph critiquing the article – keep in mind – the sources and the
evidence presented in the article.
Discussion: Impacts climate change may have on the average person’s
life in the next 50-100 yrs.
Apr
19 Presentation of team projects.
Click here for guidelines and requirements for
presentations
Apr
26 Discussion /summary session
Assignment:
In class quiz on previous readings
Course evaluations
_________________________________________________________________
Assigned Textbook:
The
Crowded Greenhouse: Population, Climate Change, and Creating a Sustainable
World, John Firor and Judith Jacobsen.
Short presentations on articles found in the popular literature should be 3-5 minutes long. For the presentation, both summarize the article and put it into context by providing additional information or resources.
Reminder: 2-3 of these are required by each student by the end of the semester!
_____________________________________________________________
Suggested
supplemental information:
The
science on global change:
American Geological Society Annual meeting (Philiadelphia October 2006) public forum on Climate Change.
http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/2006/ePublicForum.htm
This site has lectures designed for the general public given by two well respected climate scientists on the topic of climate change today, Richard Alley and Robert Jackson. You can also view questions and answers.
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 report is due out shortly. However, the 2001 report is on line:
On line publications from IPCC cover many areas and are available on line at the web site below:
http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/
Official report 2001 The Scientific Basis:
http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/index.htm
The national
center for Atmpspheric Research’s summary of the science of that report (much
shorter!!) is at:
http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/GLOB_CHANGE/ipcc2001.html
_________________________________________________________________________
Information on population control:
The sites below are either UN sponsored or reaearch based NGO’s.
The Population Council’s web page has information about population and efforts to slow population growth:
http://www.popcouncil.org/index.html
The UN has a site that called the Population Information Network (UNPOPIN) that serves as a guide to international groups addressing population
http://www.un.org/popin/other4.htm
The United nations population fund (UNPF) also has a web page
http://www.unfpa.org/about/index.htm