Description
Understanding how the planet works has never been more important as a topic in tertiary education. A practical understanding of that and how it can affect humanity is vital. This knowledge will be required to combat climate change through all career structures. Understanding climate change is now as important as learning how the economy, the legal system and how our national and international society works because it will affect all of these in the future. This subject is an introduction to climate change through Earth and Global Systems, climate mechanisms, ocean and atmospheric interactions and changes in the future world. In this subject, the climate change complexity is explained within the realm of general undergraduate knowledge. Current and future outcomes of climate change are discussed together with climate processes, human activity, impacts on biodiversity, the oceans and biological extinction. Major issues arising include drought, desertification, rising heat, natural disasters and loss of habitats and habitable and agricultural areas. Increasing sea levels and severe weather events will impact human habitation, cause forced migration, food production and the loss of animals, fish, and their habitats. All these issues will challenge the world’s economic systems, political boundaries, global communities, international law, geopolitical boundaries and our philosophy towards others and the natural world. Forced population movement and migrations caused by sea level rise as well as changes in disease patterns will compound these problems, particularly with a growing world population. The subject will provide students with the ability to filter out misinformation about the causes and consequences of climate change, and how they can face their future with a greater understanding of how to tackle a changing world.
