Could we control our climate?: Online Course from OpenLearn

Climate crisis is one of the grand challenges we face as a society, but it can be hard to approach as a subject. Not only can the science at times seem dauntingly complex, but the solutions are ...

Syllabus

- Introduction and guidance
- Introduction and guidance
- What is a badged course?
- How to get a badge
- Acknowledgements
- Session1Session 1: What is ‘engineering the climate’?
- Introduction
- 1 An engineered world
- 1.1 What do we really mean by climate engineering?
- 1.2 Modifying the Earth’s energy budget
- 2 What is climate?
- 2.1 Frequency of different types of weather
- 2.2 Probability of different types of weather
- Climate is a distribution of different types of weather
- 2.2 Climate is more than just weather
- 3 How certain can we be?
- 3.1 Climate dice
- 4 What are the challenges?
- 4.1 Identifying change
- 4.2 The complexity of climate
- 5 End-of-session quiz
- 6 Session 1 summary
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Session2Session 2: The planet is changing
- Introduction
- 1 Trusting sources of information
- 2 Taking Earth’s temperature
- 2.1 Global warming through time
- 2.2 Changes in local and extreme temperatures
- 3 Changes in Earth’s water
- 3.1 Rain
- 3.2 Ice sheets
- 3.3 Sea ice and snow
- 3.4 Sea level rise
- 4 Effects on life
- 4.1 Natural systems
- 4.2 Ocean acidification
- 4.3 Humans – extreme weather
- 4.4 Humans – climate shifts
- 5 End-of-session quiz
- 6 Session 2 summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Session3Session 3: We are causing change
- Introduction
- 1 Deducing the causes of climate change
- 1.1 The global whodunnit
- 1.2 Forcing the global thermostat
- 2 Radiative forcings – increasing temperature
- 2.1 The Sun
- 2.2 Greenhouse gases
- 3 Radiative forcings – cooling temperatures
- 3.1 Industrial sulfates
- 3.2 Volcanic sulfates
- 4 Internal variability
- 5 Putting it all together
- 5.1 Climate models
- 5.2 Deducing the culprits
- 6 End-of-session quiz
- 7 Session 3 summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Session4Session 4: Future of the planet
- Introduction
- 1 The climate forecast
- 2 Different possible futures
- 2.1 Representative Concentration Pathways
- 2.2 The world’s climate models
- 3 Predictions for the planet
- 3.1 Global warming
- 3.2 Rain, ice and snow
- 3.3 Sea level rise
- 4 Predictions for life: Natural systems
- 4.1 Ocean acidification
- 5 Predictions for humans
- 6 End-of-session quiz
- 7 Session 4 summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Session5Session 5: Ways to engineer the climate
- Introduction
- 1 Tipping the energy balance scales
- 2 Energy from the Sun
- Energy reaching the Earth
- 3 Reducing energy in
- 3.1 A solar shield
- 3.2 Earth’s albedo
- 3.3 Bright cities
- 3.4 Fake volcanoes
- 3.5 Ocean spray
- 3.6 Other possibilities
- 4 Increasing energy out
- 4.2 Ocean fertilisation
- 4.3 Other possibilities
- 5 End-of-session quiz
- 6 Session 5 summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Session6Session 6: Design and implementation
- Introduction
- 1 Climate models
- 2 Geoengineering scenarios
- 2.1 Change in surface air temperature
- 2.2 Rainfall
- 3 Field experiments
- 3.1 Field experiments in SRM
- 3.2 Field experiments in CDR
- 4 Geoengineering in the real world
- 4.1 Real world trials in SRM
- 4.2 Real world trials in CDR
- 4.3 Governance and law
- 5 End-of-session quiz
- 6 Session 6 summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Session7Session 7: Should we engineer the climate?
- Introduction
- 1 Choose wisely
- 1.1 Most effective
- 1.2 Fastest
- 1.3 Local effects
- 1.4 Other aspects of climate change
- 1.5 Monitoring and control
- 2 Uncertainties
- 2.1 Uncertainty in predictions
- 2.2 Science is not like sausage-making
- 3 What are the risks?
- 3.1 Dialling down the sun
- 3.2 Ozone loss
- 3.3 Air pollution
- 3.4 Harmful algal blooms
- 3.5 Social risks
- 4 Climate predictions and the media
- 5 End-of-session quiz
- 6 Session 7 summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Session8Session 8: Will we engineer the climate?
- Introduction
- 1 Are climate models wrong?
- 2 Public opinion
- 2.1 Culture and risk
- 2.2 Lukewarmers
- 2.3 Chemtrailers
- 3 Climate targets
- 3.1 Paris Agreement
- 3.2 Our current path
- 4 Decision time
- 4.1 Climate design tool
- 4.2 Actions
- 4.3 Consequences
- 4.4 Your designs
- 4.5 Your values
- 5 End-of-session quiz
- 6 Session 8 summary
- Where next?
- Tell us what you think
- References
- Acknowledgements

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