GEOG 447 - Energy, Climate and Society

Units: 4 ; Breadth Area: GE-UDB; Sustainability
The science and technology of societal energy choices as they affect global environmental sustainability, national security, equity, and social justice.

Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Areas B1-B3.
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 with grade C- (CR) or better.
Possible Instructional Methods: Entirely On-ground.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UDB - Upper Division Science Inquiry and Quantitative Reasoning, Overlay - Sustainability
Cross-listed: ENVT 447
Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Articulate an understanding of energy options and technologies, their social and environmental implications, using the vocabulary from the appropriate related disciplines;
Explain the scientific basis of our understanding of climates impacts of energy use including understanding of data and trends, models and theories, uncertainties and their significance;
Identify credible sources of scientific information on energy and its environmental impacts and understand what makes them credible;
Evaluate controversial energy claims using quantitative and qualitative arguments;
Substantiate the significance of sustainable and socially just energy resource management for the welfare of current and future generations.

UD-B. Upper-division Science Inquiry and Quantitative Reasoning Learning Outcomes

demonstrate advanced and/or focused science or quantitative content knowledge in a specific scientific field, using appropriate vocabulary and referencing appropriate concepts (such as models, uncertainties, hypotheses, theories, and technologies);
apply advanced quantitative skills (such as statistics, algebraic solutions, interpretation of graphical data) to scientific problems and evaluate scientific claims;
demonstrate understanding of the nature of science and scientific inquiry and the experimental and empirical methodologies used in science to investigate a scientific question or issue; and
apply science content knowledge to contemporary scientific issues (e.g., global warming) and technologies (e.g., cloning), where appropriate.

Sustainability Overlay Learning Outcomes

identify the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability, either in general or in relation to a specific problem;
analyze interactions between human activities and natural systems;
describe key threats to environmental sustainability; and
explain how individual and societal choices affect prospects for sustainability at the local, regional, and/or global levels.