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Climate Change: Science and Society

Module description

In this module, you will develop your skills in the analysis of global climate change and decarbonisation, using perspectives from physical and human geography, economics, and politics. You will get a strong grounding in climate and society relations, the governance, policy, and politics of climate change, climate action, and decarbonisation. You will be challenged to think about the interlinked human and physical geographic dimensions of climate change and by the end of the module, you will be able to articulate key information about climate change impacts and proposed solutions.

The assessment is designed to stimulate interest in the module content beyond the taught material. It is designed to support your development in the analysis and evaluation of policy and practice related to climate action and decarbonisation and key employability skills related to communicating complex issues to a professional audience, project management, and report writing.

The assessment is a written report that allows you an opportunity to examine and critique decarbonisation policy or practical climate action at a chosen scale (e.g. city, national, international) and propose alternative solutions. Your chosen topic (for example, energy, agriculture, or transportation) will be supported by contemporary academic debates and examples from current policy and practice and by staff who have experience of working with policy makers and business leaders.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module will:

• Critically engage with the causes and consequences of local and global scale changes in environment and environmental futures;
• analyse the interaction of human behaviour and policies on greenhouse gas emissions  and proposed social and technical solutions to decarbonise the economy and society;
• explore alternative perspectives, theories and methods for investigating climate change as a social phenomenon and environmental reality, as embedded in current research on climate change risks and on emissions reduction and climate action at different geographical and policy scales.

Through the module you will develop the following graduate attributes:

• interpersonal skills through in-class discussions and digital discussion boards;
• confidence in assessing the robustness of scientific evidence and climate policy;
• project management skills through the design and delivery of a written report;
• communicating complex concepts and evidence with confidence through enquiry-led research.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Describe how the main scientific and social concepts of climate change and action have developed
• 2. Outline the concepts and principles of policy analysis applied to climate change issues at various scales, from energy choices to global environmental agreements

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Adopt a cross-disciplinary perspective for the development of knowledge and understanding of climate change
• 4. Analyse and evaluate proposed solutions at different geographical and policy scales

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Communicate ideas, principles and theories effectively and fluently through written means
• 6. Develop a sustained and reasoned argument and identify, evaluate and synthesise data from a range of appropriate sources

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content varies from year to year (partly so it can respond to the current geopolitical environment; e.g. the COPs, national policy changes), it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Human causes and impacts of climate change
• Political, practical, and personal spheres of transformation
• Decarbonising the economy and reducing climate change
• Key areas for climate action and decarbonising society (e.g. agriculture, transport, waste, energy, production and consumption)
• Communicating climate change impacts and solutions
• Climate policy and governance at local, national, and international scale
• Contemporary frameworks for decarbonisation and climate action (e.g. circular economy, doughnut economics)
• Engagement with climate change and decarbonisation by publics, policy makers, and industry
• Social and climate justice in relation to impacts and proposed solutions

The assessment will consider pertinent contemporary debates regarding the interdisciplinary and contested nature of climate change science, action and policy. 

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Leichenko, R. and O’Brien, K. (2019) Climate and Society: Transforming the Future, Wiley.
• Dryzek, J., Norgaard, R. and Schlossberg, D. (eds.) (2011) Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Oxford University Press.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page
  

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Climate Brief is a useful web resource and newsletter for topics related to climate policy and action www.climatebrief.org
• The UK Climate Change Committee (UKCCC) has useful policy recommendations and sector briefings in their 3^rd Assessment Report theccc.org.uk

Two important journal resources are:

• Nature Climate Change http://www.nature.com/nclimate/index.html
• Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change http://wires.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WiresJournal/wisId-WCC.html

Key words search

Climate change, climate action, decarbonisation, climate policy, sustainability