The Policy Implications of Global Climate Change

The course will review the science underlying global climate change and then examine the impacts on the land, the oceans, the atmosphere, and on human life on the planet. Economic, political and foreign policy implications will be addressed, along with the adequacy of the international response, including the Paris Climate Agreement. Current efforts to ameliorate the rapidly increasing effects of global warming will be assessed, including infrastructure protection and resilience. The pros and cons of global, macro-engineered solutions also will be discussed. The course will conclude with a consideration of what is to be done if all such efforts prove inadequate and the 2° C. limit on global warming is exceeded. This course is open to all graduate students at Baruch College.