Climate Studies
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our world today; it is the defining crisis of our time. With Climate Studies minor students examine the global crisis of climate change through a diverse range of courses while developing the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to help develop solutions.
The Climate Studies minor invites students to focus specifically on the topic of climate change through a diverse range of disciplinary lenses in ways that complement their interests and their major, whatever those might be. Understanding climate change, and seeking solutions to the global climate crisis, is a quintessentially interdisciplinary field that complements any major or future career plan. Through an interdisciplinary approach, students have the opportunity to explore courses not only in environmental studies, but also art, nutrition, economics, education, sociology, chemistry, political science, global business, communication and other fields, all with a focus on climate and climate solutions.
Hands-on experience also defines our approach to climate studies: each year CSB+SJU sends one of the largest delegations of undergraduate students from the U.S. to the annual United Nations global climate conference—the “COP.” Student participants conduct original research at the COP and share their research with the community afterward. Similarly, classes in the minor regularly include applied work that explores and develops possible solutions for the real-world challenges of our changing climate.