The Climate Change: Science and Practice minor offers students the opportunity to study climate change through a multidisciplinary foundation of applied, health, natural, and urban science. The minor offers students the opportunity to understand how professional practices from public health to engineering and from sustainable design to environmental management converge to support climate action that reduces greenhouse gases and climate-related natural hazards risk, preserves biodiversity, advances public health, and supports adaptations to climate impacts. This interdisciplinary climate change minor is designed to be complementary to students’ existing majors insofar as nearly all future professional practices—regardless of vocation—will be shaped by the challenges and opportunities of climate change.

This minor is structured in three parts: Foundations, Explorations, and Practices, which together amount to a minimum of 15 credit hours. The Foundations curricular section of the minor requires that students take core courses in at least two of the three home schools that host this minor (School of Architecture and Built Environment, School of Science and Engineering, and School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine) in order to ensure the attainment of a qualifiable literacy in the science of climate change. Here, climate literacy is defined by a basic understanding of the causes, impacts, and solutions that shape our common understanding of the manifestations of anthropogenic climate change. By taking courses across schools, students gain a diverse perspective on the convergence of science and practice. The Explorations curricular section of the minor reinforces this perspective by allowing students to select from a wide range of courses with varying specializations that open the door to a new range of the methodologies and forms of analysis that are unique to the problem-solution nexus in climate change. The goal is to allow students to explore the convergence of common issues that often defy the knowledge and capabilities of a singular academic discipline or professional practice. The Practices curricular section of the minor offers students the opportunity to synthetically apply their knowledge in dialogue with students and faculty from across the respective schools in order to simulate the complexities of engaging a variety of stakeholders and conditions in advancing climate action. 

Foundations (select two (2) courses across at least two (2) different schools; Total Minimum Credit Hours: 6)

Course List

Course ID	Title	Credits
EENS 2070	Weather and Climate	3
EENS 2400	Global Climate Change	3
SPHU 2420	Health Challenges and Climate Change	3
SRED 4505	Climate Change & the Built Environment	3

Explorations (select two (2) courses across at least two (2) different schools; Total Minimum Credit Hours: 6)

Course List

Course ID	Title	Credits
ARCH 3233	Energy Modeling	3
CENG 4760	Energy and Sustainability	3
EBIO 2050	Global Change Biology	3
EENS 2120	Climate and Extinction	4
EENS 3050	Natural Hazards & Mitigation	3
EENS 3600	Climate Data and Analysis	3
EENS 4480	Natural Climate Solutions	3
RCSE 1040	The Gulf Coast in 2100: Sustaining Healthy Ecosystems and Vibrant Community	3
SPHU 2420	Health Challenges and Climate Change	3
SPHU 3330	Disasters & Environmental Health	3
SPHU 4210	Health & Environmental Risk	3
SRED 4505	Climate Change & the Built Environment	3
SRED 4510	Climate Change Resilience & Adaptation	3
SURB 2710	Introduction to Sustainable Urbanism	3
Any Approved Climate Change Themed Special Topics Course		3

Practices (select any of the following; Total Minimum Credit Hours: 3)^*

Course List

Course ID	Title	Credits
Independent Study		3
Undergraduate Thesis		3
Senior Seminar or Capstone Course		3
Any Climate Change Themed Architecture or Landscape Architecture Studio		3
Any Climate Change Themed Field Course		3

*

Requires prior approval from Program Director and Steering Committee.

^{Field of Study: CLIM}

For more information, visit https://college.tulane.edu/academics/climate-minor.