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Email: david.courard-hauri@drake.edu Phone: 515-271-3812 Fax: 515-271-3702 |
(ENSP 135-401) Spring 2004 Syllabus Office: Olin 132 Office Hours: M 9-10 am; T-F 9:30-10:30, or by app't |
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Email: david.courard-hauri@drake.edu Phone: 515-271-3812 Fax: 515-271-3702 |
(ENSP 135-401) Spring 2004 Syllabus Office: Olin 132 Office Hours: M 9-10 am; T-F 9:30-10:30, or by app't |
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Overview: This course will be an interdisciplinary investigation of anthropogenic global change, using global warming as a semester-long case study. In this course, it is hoped that students will learn an effective approach to investigating a major environmental issue by first obtaining a strong scientific background in the issue, then applying methods of policy analysis, and finally advocating for effective governmental decision making. During this study, students are also expected to gain a strong appreciation for the complexity and gravity of the climate change issue.
Reading: To be completed during or before the week listed on the syllabus. The course text is:
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There will be some additional readings on reserve at Cowles Library. You may also want to read the class notes. They are included as links below. Simply click on the week for which you want notes. In some cases it made sense to consolidate weeks, so some weeks are not linked to a set of notes.
Literature Reports: One of my main objectives in this course will be to demonstrate some of the tools available for the analysis of a complex environmental issue. Among the most powerful of these tools is the primary literature. Students will be expected to find, read, and understand one paper from the literature each week, and to turn in a brief (about one page) summary of the main points of the paper. Summaries will be due each Wednesday beginning on January 28. These summaries should differ significantly from the published abstracts.
Students will have wide latitude in their paper selection. They may use any of the following journals which are found in Cowles or in my office:
Be sure to look briefly at the paper before choosing it, as some assume a rigorous and specialized mathematical background. Please do not chose news articles from Science or Nature, though Letters to Nature are fine (letters in Science are not). I will also have a set of classic or interesting papers from which to choose for no more than four of the weeks when you might have trouble finding something on your own. I will expect students to choose at least some papers from science and some from policy, though it is OK if they are heavily weighted one way or the other. I will discuss this at more length in class.
For grading I will give up to ten points for each summary. I will take the highest ten grades -- if you wish to read more than ten I will drop the lowest scores.
Grading: Your final grade will be made up of two short take-home exams (50 pts each), ten literature summaries (10 pts each), a role-play performance score (50 pts), two mid-term papers (50 pts each), and a final paper (100 pts).
Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty is any form of representing another's ideas as your own. During take-home exams, any form of communication about the test with other students would be considered academic dishonesty. On papers, using someone else's ideas without citation, or using their words without quotation marks is academic dishonesty. Any form of academic dishonesty will be treated harshly by the professor, resulting in at the least a 0 on the assignment, and possibly a failing grade for the class. All incidents of suspected academic dishonesty must be reported to the dean. For more information on academic dishonesty and how to avoid it, please see the plagiarism links on the FYS web page.
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>=90% = A |
>=80% = B |
>=70% = C |
>=60% = D |
<60% = F |
Page numbers without author name refer to the Spray and McGlothlin Book. Others are on reserve in the Library:
Week One: (1/12-1/16) 1-30
T: Introduction/Overview
R: Radiation: scattering, absorption, emission
Week Two: (1/19-1/23) 31-55
T: Blackbody radiation
R: The Greenhouse Effect
Week Three: (1/26-1/30)
T: Atmospheric Structure and Clouds
R: Paleoclimatology and feedbacks I First Literature Report Due
Week Four: (2/2-2/6) NRC 19-72
T: Paleoclimatology and feedbacks II
R: Putting it all together: Whiz-bang intro to atmospheric science
Week Five: (2/9-2/13) 59-77, NRC 107-117
T: CO2 and the Carbon CycleTake-home exam I
R: Impacts I: ecosystems
Week Six: (2/16-2/20) Houghton 101-140
T: Impacts II: sea-level
R: Impacts III: weather and crops
Week Seven: (2/23-2/27) NRC 118-152
T: Impacts IV: health/developing nations
R: Discussion Research Paper Due: Is Global Warming Real? (8 pages)
Week Eight: (3/1-3/5) 81-99
T: Uncertainty
R: Economics I: intro
Week Nine: (3/8-3/12) 101-119
T: Economics II: future discounting -- it all comes down to this
R: Economics III: cost-benefit analysis
Week Ten: (3/15-3/19) Toman 99-119
T: Discussion: what's cost got to do with it? Take-home exam II
R: Tax or Trade?
Week Eleven: (3/22-3/26)
No Class -- Spring Recess
Week Twelve: (3/29-4/2) Toman 11-24
T: Energy I: current energy use and fossil fuels
R: Energy II: future of fossil fuels Opinion Paper Due: The place of quantitative methods in policy (5 pages)
Week Thirteen: (4/5-4/9) Toman 205-226
T: Energy III: CO2-free fuels
R: Prospects for international cooperation
Week Fourteen (4/12-4/16) 121-144
T: Joint Implementation and Political prospects in developed world
R: Can (will) the US act? Set up Role Play
Week Fifteen: (4/19-4/23) 145-156
T: International Climate Treaty Role Play
R: International Climate Treaty Role Play
Week Sixteen: (4/26-4/30)
T: International Climate Treaty Role Play
R: Class Discussion Final Paper Due: Implementable Climate Policy (10 pages)
Dr. David Courard-Hauri
Environmental Science and Policy Program
Drake University
Phone: 515-271-3812
Fax: 515-271-3702
Email: david.couard-hauri@drake.edu