GEOG206 - Climate Change: Past, Present and Future

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges we face in the twenty-first century. The aim of this unit is to introduce students to our planet's climate system, and examines what is driving current and future climate changes. The first half of this unit focuses on understanding climate, including Earth's atmospheric system, the greenhouse effect, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, monsoon activity, climate feedbacks, 'tipping points' and rapid climate change. Recent developments in climate change, based on paleo, historical and modelling research, is presented and critically evaluated. The second half of this unit focuses on the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and society, including biodiversity, island communities, health, economics, geopolitics, and the human dimensions of vulnerability and resilience. Finally, this unit will consider a range of responses to climate change, focusing on international environmental treaties, international and Australian policy approaches to global warming, and mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Show an awareness of the social, political and economic contexts of climate change and its impacts (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4)

LO2 - Understand the basic scientific concepts underpinning climate change, climate change impacts and responses to climate change (GA8)

LO3 - Evaluate information on climate change and its impacts from a variety of sources (GA6, GA8)  

LO4 - Demonstrate competence in the use of information technology, data interpretation and communication (GA9, GA10). 

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:  

• Earth’s climate system including atmospheric and oceanic processes and interactions 
• Major climate phenomena: Monsoon systems, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, storm systems, ice sheets and ocean currents 
• Climate of the Holocene: the long-term record of human-climate interactions 
• ‘Greenhouse Gases’ and changing climates 
• Sea-level rise and coastal and island impacts 
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other World Indigenous perspectives and stories of climate change, and adaptation and resilience in changing climates 
• Economic, political and security impacts of climate change 
• Climate change and the developing world 
• Climate impacts on health and disease 
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation and policy responses 
• The moral challenge of climate change 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit is delivered online, and students will participate in learning activities via online approaches from across ACU’s Melbourne, Strathfield and Brisbane campuses. The on-line lecture component is used to convey new material and offer students the chance to engage and ask questions in person. The tutorial portion of the course is to be used as a resource to offer students the opportunity to put their knowledge learned in lectures to use and gain hands-on experience and learn and practice Geographical skills. This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy. The learning and teaching and assessment strategies include a range of approaches to support your learning such as reading, reflection, discussion, webinars, podcasts, video etc. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. The assessment strategy allows students to engage in a variety of tasks, each aligned to their own learning outcomes. The first assessment is an online quiz, where students will evaluate aspects of the climate system, major climate phenomena, and past and predicted climate changes using a range of information sources gained in the first four weeks of the unit. This task serves as an important tool for students and teaching staff to evaluate your learning in the first third of the unit, and provides for an opportunity of early and rapid feedback to students to guide further learning. The second assessment task, due near the end of the unit, is a research report is where students will apply their understanding of climate change to a research report on the impacts of climate change in a region and context of their choice. The final assessment in this unit, an examination (take-home format) provides students an opportunity to (a) demonstrate an understanding of the basic scientific concepts underpinning climate change, climate change impacts and responses to climate change, and (b) communicate an awareness of the social, political and economic contexts of climate change and its impacts, all concepts that have been progressively developed through the duration of the unit and by earlier assessment tasks.  

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Bryant-Tokalau, J. 2018. Indigenous Pacific Approaches to Climate Change (Palgrave Studies in Disaster Anthropology). Cham: Springer International Publishing. 

Dessler, A.E. 2015. Introduction to Modern Climate Change (2nd edition). CUP, Cambridge.  

Head, L., Adams, M., McGregor, H.V. and Toole, S. 2014. Climate Change and Australia. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: WIREs Climate Change, 5 (2), 175-197 

Houghton, J. 2015. Global Warming: the Complete Briefing (5th edition). CUP, Cambridge. 

Incropera, F. 2016. Climate change : A wicked problem: Complexity and uncertainty at the intersection of science, economics, politics and human behavior. CUP, Cambridge. 

Levy, B. and Patz, J. 2015. Climate Change and Public Health. Oxford University Press. 

Mann, M., Kump, L., & Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, sponsoring body. (2015). Dire predictions: Understanding climate change (Second American ed.).  Pearson Higher Education, USA. 

McNamara, K., Westoby, R., & Smithers, S. 2017. Identification of limits and barriers to climate change adaptation: Case study of two islands in Torres Strait, Australia. Geographical Research, 55(4), 438-455. 

Murphy, C., Gardoni, P., McKim, R. 2018. Climate Change and Its Impacts (Climate Change Management). Cham: Springer International Publishing. 

O’Brian, K. et al. 2014. Climate Change, Ethics and Human Security. CUP, Cambridge.