Our Earth's Future

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/earth-climate-change

Introduction

## Course Review: Our Earth’s Future ### Overview In an era where climate change is one of the most pressing issues we face, Coursera’s course *Our Earth’s Future* provides an invaluable resource for anyone looking to understand the scientific underpinnings of this phenomenon and how it affects our planet and communities. Offered by a collaborative of experts from diverse fields such as climatology, oceanography, and anthropology, this course aims to not only shed light on the reality of human-induced climate change but also empower learners with the knowledge to communicate about it effectively. ### Course Syllabus Breakdown The course is structured into five enriching modules that progressively build your understanding of climate change: 1. **Climate Change Is Happening: See It** - The module kicks off with fundamental questions: “What is science?” and “What is climate?” It provides a backdrop for understanding scientific inquiry and the climate system. The exploration of historical climate evidence through ice cores highlights the gravity of present-day changes. 2. **It All Comes Down to the Ocean** - Diving into the role of oceans, this section details how they act as a massive heat reservoir and influence climate systems globally. Learners will investigate the consequences of warming—including the melting of ice sheets and sea-level rise—by studying geological records, strengthening their grasp of the intricate balance within our planet's climate. 3. **Climate Change is Happening: Model It** - This module focuses on computer modeling as an essential method for predicting climate behavior. Through real historical climate data, you'll learn what makes a model reliable and discover how scientists apply these models to understand regional climate events, offering insight into significant phenomena like droughts. 4. **Living with Climate Change** - Going beyond theory, this module addresses the lived realities of climate change, emphasizing the immediate impacts on various communities, particularly in vulnerable regions like the Pacific Islands. It sets a human context to the science, making the information more relatable and urgent. 5. **Mitigate, Adapt, or Suffer?** - The final module confronts the uncertainties of the future, framing climate change as a challenge dependent on human actions. It examines socioeconomic and political influences on greenhouse gas emissions and facilitates discussions on resilience and preparedness in the face of natural disasters, using Hurricane Sandy as a case study. ### Recommendations *Our Earth’s Future* is particularly beneficial for: - **Students and Professionals:** Those studying environmental science, social sciences, or related fields will find this course enhances their academic and professional repertoire. It equips learners with a broad understanding and critical thinking skills necessary for future careers in these areas. - **Activists and Advocates:** Anyone interested in climate justice or advocacy will gain the knowledge needed to articulate the challenges and solutions related to climate change compellingly. - **General Learners:** For anyone curious about the environment, this course demystifies complex scientific concepts and offers practical insights that could shape informed opinions and discussions. ### Conclusion In conclusion, *Our Earth’s Future* is a pivotal course for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of climate change and its implications. It beautifully melds scientific theory with real-world applications, making it accessible and relevant to a wide audience. With an engaging curriculum and experts guiding you through the complexities of climate science, this course is not just an academic exercise—it's a call to action to engage with the most significant issue of our times. I highly recommend taking this course to gain a comprehensive view of how climate change is shaping our world and what we can do about it.

Syllabus

Climate Change Is Happening: See It

Human-induced climate change is happening. But in order to explore the evidence for this claim, we must first ask two questions: “What is science?” and “What is climate?” Once we understand how science is done and the basic dynamics of the climate system, we’ll focus on how scientists study ice cores, and see how evidence of climate change in the past is fundamental to understanding what lies ahead.

Both the ocean’s sheer size – it covers seventy percent of our planet’s surface – and the properties of water make the ocean a major player in Earth’s climate system. An enormous reservoir of heat, the ocean is an important mechanism of heat storage and exchange with the atmosphere, which has important implications for climate change. We’ll focus on one of the consequences of warming: melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. How might this melting lead to future sea level rise? Scientists are studying geological records of past warming, and associated sea level rise, to see what the future may bring.

An important counterpart to observational evidence is computer modeling, an essential tool for investigating how the climate system works and how it will respond to continued greenhouse gas buildup in the atmosphere. How do we know that a model is accurate? One way is to consider a past event, enter the historic climate data, and see if the model successfully “hindcasts” the event in reasonable detail. Ever more detailed, today’s supercomputer models can even help identify the potential causes of climate events on a regional scale, as climatologist Dr. Michela Biasutti explains using her research on droughts in sub-Saharan Africa.

Climate change is often framed as a future phenomenon, but it’s clear that people are already experiencing the consequences. What are the effects? It depends to some extent on where, and how, you live. For example, in the Pacific Islands, where sea level rise is threatening entire ways of life, communities have come together to prepare. What happens when there’s no place to go? Coastal communities aren’t the only ones at risk; food insecurity may one day threaten us all. And of course, humans are not the only species affected, and some will be at even greater risk in the future.

What happens next? We don’t know, but the answer depends far less on scientific data than on human action—or inaction. The major uncertainty is the future rate of greenhouse gas emissions, which is impossible to predict because it depends on socioeconomic, technological, and political developments. Furthermore, the risks posed by different kinds of natural phenomena vary widely, and similar events can have very different consequences depending on where and even when they occur. How will the effects be distributed, and how resilient are we? Hurricane Sandy provided lessons about our willingness to accept and plan for a future where severe climate events happen more frequently.