Why Minor in Climate Change?
There is a growing national need for qualified personnel who have a working knowledge of climate science, potential impacts, and strategies for adapting and mitigating these potential impacts. The Climate Change Minor will prepare students at the University of Idaho to meet current and future workforce needs across the state, as well as nationally, preparing students for an expanding job market in the areas of climate science, as well with the growing workforce in climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. In addition, the Climate Change Minor is designed to better inform students on the multifaceted aspects of climate science, adaptation and policy - a field that is expected to greatly increase over the next decade. Finally, the climate change minor is also in direct alignment with the land-grant mission of the University of Idaho in that it will prepare students to understand the causes and ramifications of climate change on agriculture, natural resources, communities and society.
What Will I Learn?
The U.S. Global Change Research Program has outlined specific educational goals for training the next generation of scientists and decision makers in climate literacy across a disciplines. The curriculum required for the climate change minor builds in the flexibility for students across colleges while adhering to the following "climate literacy" goals:
- understand the essential principles of Earth’s climate system,
- know how to assess scientifically credible information about climate,
- communicate about climate and climate change in a meaningful way, and
- be able to make informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate.
Thus, the minor is intended to prepare students in many fields to understand the scientific drivers and impacts of climate change, as well as the necessary knowledge base to become active participants in planning mitigation strategies and necessary community/societal adaptations.
What are the requirements?
A total of 20 credits are required for the minor including required courses from list A-C below and elective credits chosen from list D.
Courses required for minor:
LIST A
- Geog 202 - Global Climate Change
LIST B Choose 2 of 3
- Geog 401 - Climatology
- Geog 435 - Mitigation of Climate Change
- Geog 455 - Societal Resilience & Adaptation to Climate Change
LIST C Choose 1 of 3
- Geog 493 – Senior Capstone in Geography
- Geog/REM 450 - Global Environmental Change
- Envs 497 – Senior thesis
LIST D Additional credits (3 classes) from list of electives:
- AgEc 477 – Law, Ethics, and the Environment
- AgEc451 – Applied Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
- EDCI 329 – Education Curriculum and Instruction
- EDCI 433 – Secondary Science Ed Methods
- ECON 385 – Environmental Economics
- ENVS 101 – Intro to Env Sciences
- ENVS 225 – International Env Issues Seminar
- ENVS 438 – Western US Water Resource Policy and Env Equity
- FOR 235 – Society and Natural Resources
- FOR 330 – Forest Ecosystem Processes
- FOR 426 – Fire Ecology and Management
- Geog 100 – Physical Geography
- Geog 301 – Meteorology
- Geog 310 – Biogeography
- Geog 350 – Rural Development
- Geog 411 – Natural Hazards and Society
- JAMM 341 – Mass Media Ethics
- JAMM 428 – Environmental Journalism
