Syllabus: Our Earth’s Future

SYLLABUS
Our Earth’s Future is about the science of climate change and how to talk about it. You will learn
from scientists in the fields of climatology, oceanography, Earth science, and anthropology who
study how climate change is affecting people, populations, and ways of life. Explore the multiple
lines of evidence for the human-induced climate change that is happening today, and consider what
that means for the future of our planet. At the end of this course you will be able to understand key
scientific principles, identify and address misconceptions, and contribute confidently to conversations
about climate change.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

• Explain how the Earth’s systems are responsible for the climate.

• Identify the scientific processes that allow researchers to understand climate change.

• Identify popular misconceptions about climate science.

• Discuss how social policy is driven by evidence and data.

• Gain skills to access scientific articles and visualizations about the impact of climate change.

• Articulate current narratives about the impacts of climate change on human culture and survival.

• Assess proposals and arguments for future options to mitigate risks of climate change.

• Develop and gain fluency in the terminologies that accurately communicate scientific causes and
effects of climate change.

COURSE CONTENT

Module 1: Course Introduction & Climate Change is Happening: See It

Human-induced climate change is happening. But in order to explore the evidence for this claim, we
must first ask two questions: “What is science?” and “What is climate?” Once we understand how
science is done and the basic dynamics of the climate system, we’ll focus on how scientists study
ice cores, and see how evidence of climate change in the past is fundamental to understanding what
lies ahead.

Module 2: It All Comes Down to the Ocean

Both the ocean’s sheer size – it covers seventy percent of our planet’s surface – and the properties
of water make the ocean a major player in Earth’s climate system. An enormous reservoir of heat,
the ocean is an important mechanism of heat storage and exchange with the atmosphere, which has
important implications for climate change. We’ll focus on one of the consequences of warming:
melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. How might this melting lead to future sea level
rise? Scientists are studying geological records of past warming, and associated sea level rise, to
see what the future may bring.

Module 3: Climate Change is Happening: Model It

An important counterpart to observational evidence is computer modeling, an essential tool for

investigating how the climate system works and how it will respond to continued greenhouse gas
buildup in the atmosphere. How do we know that a model is accurate? One way is to consider a past
event, enter the historic climate data, and see if the model successfully “hindcasts” the event in
reasonable detail. Ever more detailed, today’s supercomputer models can even help identify the
potential causes of climate events on a regional scale, as climatologist Dr. Michela Biasutti explains
using her research on droughts in sub-Saharan Africa.

Module 4: Living with Climate Change

Climate change is often framed as a future phenomenon, but it’s clear that people are already
experiencing the consequences. What are the effects? It depends to some extent on where, and
how, you live. For example, in the Pacific Islands, where sea level rise is threatening entire ways of
life, communities have come together to prepare. What happens when there’s no place to go?
Coastal communities aren’t the only ones at risk; food insecurity may one day threaten us all. And of
course, humans are not the only species affected, and some will be at even greater risk in the future.

Module 5: Mitigate, Adapt, or Suffer? & Course Conclusion

What happens next? We don’t know, but the answer depends far less on scientific data than on
human action—or inaction. The major uncertainty is the future rate of greenhouse gas emissions,
which is impossible to predict because it depends on socioeconomic, technological, and political
developments. Furthermore, the risks posed by different kinds of natural phenomena vary widely,
and similar events can have very different consequences depending on where and even when they
occur. How will the effects be distributed, and how resilient are we? Hurricane Sandy provided
lessons about our willingness to accept and plan for a future where severe climate events happen
more frequently.
COURSE RESEARCH

The quizzes in this course will be analyzed by researchers at the American Museum of Natural
History and the City University of New York to understand and improve online learning. Your
answers will be kept confidential. Completing the quizzes is voluntary. Non-participation will not
result in any penalty. Submitting any part of the quizzes will be considered your consent.

This course was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under grant
number MA-10-13-0200-13.

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