ATMS 140 Climate and Global Change

COURSE OVERVIEW

Worldwide monitoring has provided concrete evidence that human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, agriculture development, waste generation, synthetic chemicals production, biomass burning, and changes in land use are significantly altering levels of radiatively and chemically active gases and aerosols in the atmosphere. These changes have resulted in three major global pollution problems of increasing difficulty to humanity: Global Climate Change, Ozone Depletion, and Acid Rain. This course addresses human modification of the atmosphere and the resulting effects on climate, on life and on our ability to sustain an ever-increasing human population.

The goal of this course is to provide students with the ability to understand the science behind these three key environmental issues. The course will not advocate a particular solution to these issues. Instead, the scientific understanding and critical analysis skills acquired in this course will enable the students to make their own assessments of the range of options available to respond to the environmental challenges of the future.