Minor in Climate Change
Climate change is arguably the most pressing concern of our times. The impacts of climate change touch nearly every aspect of nature and society. Climate change is producing increasingly frequent and intense disturbances to natural resources and the environment, including droughts, flooding, wildfire, cyclones and heat waves. These impacts disrupt nearly every human endeavor, including public health and safety, environmental management and conservation, transportation, settlement patterns, food production, economics, migration, water resources and conflict. The climate change minor will help prepare students for this monumental challenge of global citizenship, and to prepare them for nearly all major fields of employment.
The minor offers a broad and integrated perspective on the intersections of society, nature, and our changing climate systems. Students will learn about the environmental science driving climate change through three foundational courses. Students will also learn about the impacts and vulnerabilities of the scientific and human dimensions of climate change, and methods for researching and presenting findings on climate.
Requirements
In addition to the program requirements listed below, students must:
- take at least nine hours of their minor “core” requirements at UNC–Chapel Hill
- earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000 in the minor core requirements. Some programs may require higher standards for minor or specific course.
| Core Requirements | CH | |
| ENVR 275 | Global Climate Change: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (spring semester) | 1 |
| One course from the following list: | 3 | |
 The Blue Planet: An Introduction to Earth’s Environmental Systems H |
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| Weather and Climate |
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| Global Environmental Change | ||
| Climate Science and Methods (select two courses from the following list): | 6 | |
| Data Analysis for Earth, Marine, and Environmental Sciences |
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| Paleoclimatology | ||
| Blue Carbon and Coastal Environments | ||
| Principles of Climate Modeling | ||
| Environmental Conservation and Global Change |
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| Modeling of Environmental Systems |
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| Synoptic Meteorology | ||
| Climate Change |
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| Applied Climatology: The Impacts of Climate and Weather on Environmental and Social Systems |
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| Introduction to Remote Sensing of the Environment |
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| Climate and Energy Transitions: Understanding the Forecasts | ||
| Human Impacts or Additional Climate Perspectives (select two courses from the following list): | 6 | |
| Rising Waters: Strategies for Resilience to the Challenges of Climate and the Built Environment H |
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| Communicating Water Challenges of Climate Change with the Visual and Performing Arts | ||
| From the Equator to the Poles: Case Studies in Global Environmental Change | ||
| International Environmental Politics | ||
| Principles of Sustainability | ||
| Confronting Climate Change in the Anthropocene | ||
| Policy Analysis of Global Climate Change | ||
| Global Climate Change: Science, Impacts, Solutions | ||
| Agriculture, Food, and Society |
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| Governance, Institutions, and Global Environmental Change | ||
| Social Vulnerability to Climate Change |
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| Socialist and Decolonial Ecologies |
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| Global Environmental Histories: People, Climate, and Landscapes | ||
| Planning for Natural Hazards and Climate Risk | ||
| Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation |
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| Confronting Climate Change in the Anthropocene | ||
| Total Hours | 16 | |