180.653.81
Climate Change: Avoiding Conflict and Improving Public Health
Location
Internet
Term
4th Term
Department
Environmental Health and Engineering
Credit(s)
3
Academic Year
2017 - 2018
Instruction Method
TBD
Auditors Allowed
Yes, with instructor consent
Available to Undergraduate
No
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Cindy Parker
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Resources
Prerequisite
One of the following:
The Global Environment, Climate Change and Public Health (180.611.01),
Climate Change and Public Health (180.607.81), or
Consent of instructor
This course explores the potential for a changing climate to cause food and water shortages, forced migration, and conflict. Through a series of case studies of climate change-relevant crisis events around the world, we will examine the factors that led to the communities in question mustering resilience to survive and recover from the crisis vs. the factors that led to conflict. Through this analysis, we will identify a suite of resilience factors and strategies, such as community cohesion, ecosystem restoration, agricultural and water capture and storage, that could be built into policies to assist high risk areas in avoiding conflict.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
- Identify the most important risk factors for forced migration and conflict
- Explain the role of climate change in the most important risk factors for conflict
- Analyze case studies to determine common factors that increased or decreased the risk of conflict
- Characterize the role of science and technology in adaptation to climate change
- Develop a suite of strategies that could help at-risk communities avoid conflict