Climate Change: Chemistry, International Assessment and Policy

The seminar focuses on the underlying chemistry associated with climate change: sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, and how these gases trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere. Information will be drawn from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC Fifth Assessment, Physical Science Basis), chemistry textbooks, and publicly accessible databases of greenhouse gas emissions, including a breakdown by country, and the global temperature record. Impacts on the environment to date, including melting ice caps and rising sea levels, and future predictions of climate change will be explored. The environmental and energy policies proposed by presidential and congressional candidates, along with what individuals can do to reduce their carbon footprint, will be discussed and debated.