BASIC COURSE INFORMATION
for GC/GEOS/HWR 107a
About the Introduction to Global Change course
The study of Global Change involves a new and exciting way of doing science within an
interdisciplinary framework. Therefore, the journey you are about to begin will unfold in a slightly different
way than that of a typical science course from a single discipline. Global Change encompasses the many ways
the global environmental system is changing both naturally and through the influence of human beings.
Understanding how the earth's climate changes in relationship to other earth system processes is a unifying
theme in Global Change studies. This course puts global environmental change problems -- such as climatic
change, global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation & desertification -- into a scientific context by
examining the essential components of the earth system (atmosphere, biosphere, and geosphere) and the
feedbacks that link these components. This scientific context provides the basis for a critical discussion of the
social, economic and political implications of global change.
Course Objectives
This course will introduce you to the language and methods used by scientists from a variety of fields to study
the nature of change in this complex and dynamic system that we call the Earth. We will introduce you to how
and why scientists go about their research and give you hands-on experience in the scientific process of
discovery. You will learn about the development of hypotheses on how and why change occurs in the earth-
atmosphere system and learn to critically evaluate the logic and evidence that underlie various theories about
the nature of Global Change, especially global climatic changes. Within the context of Global Change you
will also learn about the most basic concepts in natural science which serve to explain much of what we can
observe about the physical world. At the same time you will also learn about much that has yet to be
discovered and thoroughly understood. The ultimate goal of this course is to give you the skills to become
a knowledgeable citizen of Planet Earth so that you can make informed, scientifically based, decisions about
your personal role and responsibility as a human being who influences -- and is influenced by -- a globally
changing world.
FALL 1996 CLASS Information
[All information for the Fall 1996 semester will be updated soon.]
Prepared by Katie Hirschboeck -- katie@LTRR.arizona.edu -- Last updated September 3,
1996