Climate change impacts everyone 鈥� from record-breaking heat waves, to physical and mental health impacts, to food shortages. Understanding the science behind climate change provides you with the foundational knowledge necessary for taking action in your community and enhancing your career. No matter your age, job, goals, or interests, this course will enable you to meaningfully engage with one of the defining challenges facing humanity today. What is the evidence for climate change? What key concepts describe the physical science of climate change? And are there ways to predict how the climate could change in the future? This short course provides everyone an entry-level overview of climate change science, with no science background needed! By the end of the course, you should be able to explain the causes of climate change and its impacts. Along the way, you鈥檒l be given opportunities to consider how to apply this knowledge in your own life or career. Learning about climate science is the first step in your journey to becoming a more engaged global citizen as you help determine our planet鈥檚 future.
Inside the Global Energy Budget
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Skills You'll Learn
climate fluency, Climate Analysis, Science Education, Climate Policy, environmental science
From the lesson
The Climate System
This week, you will learn about the energy balance of the earth system and how the increase in global average temperature since the pre-industrial era can be explained in terms of changes in this energy balance.
Taught By
Prasad Kasibhatla
Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Senior Associate Dean of Research and Doctoral Programs