Climate Change: Science and Practice Minor
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 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 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 |
| EVST 3500 | Climate Fact/Climate Fiction | 3 |
| EVST 4410 | Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies | 3 or 4 |
| POLI 4620 | Global Envirnmnt Politcs | 3 to 4 |
| 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 | Foundations of Urban Theory | 3 |
| Any Approved Climate Change Themed Special Topics Course | 3 | |
Practices (select any of the following; Total Minimum Credit Hours: 3)*
| 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.
Only one course from this minor may overlap as a requirement with a student’s major. No course from this minor may overlap with a requirement for any other minor.
Field of Study: CLIM
For more information, visit https://college.tulane.edu/academics/climate-minor.