Introduction

Context

Climate Science Milestones Two Centuries

A warm welcome to the first module of the Becoming a Climate Champion course. This module covers the science behind climate change. If you have studied climate change science in school, then this will be a review for you. Otherwise, you have, no doubt, heard about climate change in the news, and it frequently comes up in discussions at national, regional and international conferences and conventions. You may also have heard about local climate change research initiatives, new policies or community action. All of these are necessitated or compounded by the urgent need to combat the life-threatening impacts of climate change at individual, local, national and international levels.

To be able to understand climate change, we first need to understand the science behind climate change. This will also help clear up the misconceptions that delay humanity from taking appropriate action to save life and planet Earth.

The science of climate change looks at the causes of the Earth’s climate over the years, as well as the possible future changes that could result from human interference with the climate system. As a climate champion, it is also important for you to appreciate the basic underlying science so that you are in a better position to explain and describe climate change, especially for the purpose of awareness. Many people are convinced once they understand the facts, evidence and proof.

Module Outcomes

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Show your understanding of the science of climate change.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the basic scientific processes that lead to climate change.
• Distinguish the factors governing natural climate variability from human-caused climate change.

Learning Approach

Module 1 is divided into three lessons:

• Lesson 1: Climate System Change
• Lesson 2: Causes and Effects of Climate Change
• Lesson 3: Climate Change: Measuring, Monitoring and Observing Trends

All the lessons have in-text activities that are meant to help you understand important climate change concepts and enable you to interact with the lesson. You are advised to do these exercises before proceeding to the next lesson, as they will help you check to see if you really understand what you have read.

Activity

Watch the video Earth’s Climate System (14:02) to get an overview of this module.

Note: “Noble” gases (mentioned in the video), such as argon and helium, are odourless and colourless inert (stable) gases with very low chemical reactivity.

Earth’s Climate System

This video provides an overview of Earth’s climate system.

If you had any trouble playing the video, you can access a written summary below.

Work in progress, expect frequent changes. Help and feedback is welcome. See discussion page.

Becoming a Climate Champion: A Climate Emergency Course for Young People has been produced by the Commonwealth of Learning in collaboration with several of its open schooling partners. The curriculum at the schooling level is slow to change but as you will learn, climate change is a very real and very important challenge, perhaps the MOST important challenge. As an open scholar and a young adult, you have a vested interest in seeking to understand and to mitigate the impact of climate change since it affects your present and also your future. As an open scholar, you also get to choose what you want to learn, when you want to learnt and how you want to learn.

You can work through the course content alone or with others with whom you can share ideas.

You can work entirely offline or entirely online or in blended mode if your local open school provides such an option.

Modules are structured in the same way, as outlined below.