Students at 첥Ƶ are using the same climate models as scientists to explore how human behaviour could shape the planet’s future through an experiential learning approach developed by Joshua Thienpont, assistant professor in the .
Thienpont teaches , a first-year course focused on Earth’s weather systems and the drivers of past and current climatic change. Through the course's learning lab activities, students conduct climate modelling to assess how human influence may contribute to different climate scenarios – and how those scenarios could impact biodiversity.
“I think it’s critical to understand the nuances of how the planet is going to change in the not-too-distant future as a result of anthropogenic activities, so I try to expose them to what is under the hood of computer models,” says Thienpont, noting each course iteration operates about five lab sections for a total of about 200 students.
To forecast how global warming will manifest by 2100, Thienpont’s students use the same sophisticated computer modelling as climate scientists, which draws on the laws of physics (conservation of mass, energy, momentum), fluid dynamics and chemistry and considers variables such as temperature, wind and humidity.
Using five CO2 emissions scenarios from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, students examine outcomes for each scenario, ranging from aggressive emissions cuts to high fossil fuel use. This data is used to analyze resulting risks, such as heatwaves, sea-level rise and species extinction.
“It’s a good way of taking things that are fairly theoretical and putting them into a real-world perspective,” Thienpont says. “Students see just how variable the climate really is … if we can manage our emission activities to the point where we’re getting closer to more conservative scenarios, then the outcomes are much less drastic.”
In another lab assignment, Thienpont asks students to consider how climate change might impact them directly by examining how a warming planet may affect one of the world’s most popular agricultural products: arabica coffee.
The bean grows best in a cool, stable tropical climate at a moderate to high altitude and needs plenty of rain and light shade. Global warming is causing dry spells and irregular rainfall, which diminishes the yield and quality of Arabica crops. Farmers must keep planting further upslope – but mountains only go so high.
Thienpont’s students map how the land suitable for growing the beans could shift under diverse climate scenarios in countries such as Brazil, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Honduras and Nicaragua.
“They learn how some of these countries, where coffee is one of their main domestic exports, have quite small land areas for cultivation, and that land size is expected to keep shrinking – in some cases significantly,” Thienpont says. “It demonstrates that the impacts of climate change are global. Everyone who enjoys a cup of coffee in the morning may feel this outcome.”
Thienpont says a nuanced understanding of climate change processes, outcomes and human influence helps prepare students for a range of science-related careers.
“The goal is to give them information that they’ll be able to use, whether they go on to do further scientific exploration or work in environmental policy or city planning,” he says. “They have a foundational understanding of the broad-scale environmental processes that impact us.”
With files from Sharon Aschaiek