Author Archives: Steve

Here’s a list of suggested titles for your final essay. Feel free to propose a title of your own if none of these grab you: Should we trust what a climate model tells us about the future? “The structure of … Continue reading →

The third assignment for the course is to write a succinct briefing for a (real!) politician on a specific policy issue related to climate change. You’ll need to pick a specific politician (e.g. a city councillor, mayor, MPP, MP, PM, foreign leader, … Continue reading →

Welcome everyone to the fall 2012 class for PMU199 Climate Change:  Software Science and Society. The students taking this year’s course will be blogging here soon. In the meantime, I mentioned in class today an excellent new movie called “Chasing … Continue reading →

For the assignment 2 presentations, here’s the rubric I mentioned in class. There are five key elements we’re looking for in grading the presentations: Summary of original article. E.g. Did you give the audience a good sense of what the … Continue reading →

I’ve added a new feature to the blog that allows you to upload a photo of yourself (an avatar) that will then appear next to each of your comments. To upload your photo, go to your profile page (by clicking … Continue reading →

For your final assignment, you are asked to write a 1500 word (approximately!) essay that addresses the question “Do computer models matter in the challenge of tackling climate change?”. You can tackle this question in any of a number of … Continue reading →

This week we’ll be looking at running some experiments with climate models. Before we get started, it’s helpful to understand the different types of models that are created for different purposes. In a paper published last year in Nature, Moss … Continue reading →

For assignment 3, you are to work in teams of four or five people. You are asked to design a scientific experiment that is relevant to tackling climate change. You won’t be expected to perform the experiment, but you will … Continue reading →

Folks – here’s the schedule for your presentations over the next few weeks: Thursday 10 March 2:10pm Dustin, Jessica — Al Gore’s new thoughts on climate change 2:25pm Lindsay, Mateo — Climate change threatens Europe’s living standards 2:40pm Aron, Kalkidan … Continue reading →