EDUCATING ONE MILLION CLIMATE WARRIORS
Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions™ is a multifaceted education project initiated by the University of California with participation by all ten campuses of the UC system at: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Santa Cruz, San Francisco. The education is centered around a curriculum designed to empower a million climate champions across the world to solve the climate change problem. It draws inspiration from the report Bending the Curve: 10 Scalable Solutions; written by 50 University of California (UC) academics in natural sciences including engineering and technology, social sciences, and humanities. Bending the Curve is a spin-off from the Carbon Neutrality Initiative of the University of California.
The project began with a single for-credit hybrid undergraduate course taught at the UC. To scale it to rest of the nation and the world, it has expanded in scope to include an online version of the course, an open-source digital textbook available for download through the California Digital Library, and a massive open online course (MOOC). The education project provides students with the tools to develop climate change solutions in different disciplines: science pathways; societal transformation; governance; market instruments; technology measures; and ecosystem management.
To explore its portability, the hybrid course was piloted and is now being licensed at:
- Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
- National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- MiraCosta College, San Diego, CA
- Applachian State University, Boone, NC
MAKE REAL WORLD IMPACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE
ABOUT THE SERIES
Climate change is an urgent problem that affects everything from human health and food security to immigration patterns and water resources. The good news is that solutions to reduce the threat of climate change are within reach. This series of four short courses focuses on the multidimensional aspects of the climate change problem and presents a set of solutions, from technological innovation and ecosystem management to market mechanisms and behavior change, designed to disrupt the changes taking place. Learn how everyone, including individuals, communities, businesses, and religious leaders, can take action and bend the curve of climate change towards a more sustainable future.
COMPONENTS
Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions aims to engage students around the world in climate solutions. To do so, the following components are different instances of the education program with varying levels of engagement and accessibility.
Students of Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions are challenged to develop their own solutions through capstone projects. Since 2017, students have had the opportunity to digitally publish their capstones in the University of California's Open-Access California Digital Library. These student publications can be accessed below.
RESOURCES
Explore resources by Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions. Hover over the resource to learn more, and click to access the document.
OVERVIEW
This document provides an overview to the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions Hybrid Course.
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INSTRUCTOR'S GUIDE
This document provides a guide to instructors teaching the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions Hybrid Course.
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STUDENT'S GUIDE
This document provides a guide for students to the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions Hybrid Course.
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DIGITAL TEXTBOOK
The Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions Hybrid Course Digital Textbook is an open-access companion textbook to the different course versions.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document is the Executive Summary to the Bending the Curve report authored by 50 University of California faculty members on which Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions is built upon.
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COLLABRA CHAPTERS
These 10 chapters in this Collabra collection presents 10 scalable solutions for carbon neutrality and climate stability, and paths for achieving carbon neutrality and climate stability in California and beyond.
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CONTRIBUTORS
We are indebted to our colleagues at the University of California and beyond who have helped shape the education projects of Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions.
Fonna Forman (UC San Diego): Vice-Chair of the Bending the Curve Report; co-lead instructor in piloting the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions hybrid course and subsequent launch at UCSD; chapter contributor to the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook
Scott Friese (UC Office of the President): Program manager for Bending the Curve education initiatives; producer of Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook; UC liaison for universities outside of the UC system licensing the hybrid course
Hahrie Han (UC Santa Barbara; now at Johns Hopkins): Lead author of Bending the Curve report; co-chair for creating the hybrid course; chapter contributor to the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook
Astrid Hsu (UC San Diego): Production coordinator of the Bending the Curve hybrid course
Adam Millard-Ball (UC Santa Cruz): Co-editor of and chapter contributor to the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook
Michelle Niemann: Co-editor of and chapter contributor to the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook
Christine Pereira (UC San Diego): Lead assistant to the editor and the producer of the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutionsdigital textbook
Veerabhadran Ramanathan (UC San Diego): Chair of the Bending the Curve Report; PI and lead instructorof the Bending the Curve hybrid course; editor of Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook
Alan Roper (UC Office of the President): Instructional designer and producer of the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions hybrid and online courses; contributor to the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook
Other major contributors: The 23 lecturers who taped video lectures for the Bending the Curve course (see the course overview); the Educational Technology Service’s multimedia services studio at UCSD, wich provided executive production for course videos (with production support from seven additional campus studios);the 21 authors of chapters for the Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook (see textbook’s table of contents) ; and BookMatters for layout and production of the digital textbook; the California Digital Library for hosting Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook.
Funding: Hybrid and online course funding provided by the Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI) at UCOP and UCSD; production of Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions digital textbook funded through a Next Generation Learning Challenge grant from EDUCAUSE.