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Earth's Changing Climate
12 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture
6 Audio CDs
Course Lecture Titles
1. Is Earth Warming?
2. Butterflies, Glaciers, and Hurricanes
3. Ice Ages and Beyond
4. In the Greenhouse
5. A Tale of Three Planets
6. Global Recycling
7. The Human Factor
8. Computing the Future
9. Impacts of Climate Change
10. Energy and Climate
11. EnergyResources and Alternatives
12. Sustainable Futures?
In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that "warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level." Representing a consensus of hundreds of scientists, the report went on to note that human activity is "very likely" the cause.
This course of 12 half-hour lectures reviews the most up-to-date research on climate change, explaining the concepts, tools, data, and analysis that have led an overwhelming number of climate scientists to conclude that Earth is warming and that we humans are in great part responsible.
Behind the Consensus
Whatever your views on climate change, it's important to understand how the current scientific consensus on global warming evolved out of basic physical principles and a broad range of observations. In a lucid presentation designed for nonscientists, you will learn about:
The difference between climate and weather
The concept of energy balance, which governs the natural warming of the planet by the Sun and is the key to a stable climate
The greenhouse effect, which makes Earth warmer and more hospitable than it would otherwise be due to naturally occurring gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor
The carbon cycle, which controls the rate at which carbon dioxide released by fossil-fuel combustion accumulates in the atmosphere, and how long it remains to enhance the natural greenhouse effect.
Along with these and other concepts, you will investigate the "fingerprints" of global climate change, ranging from borehole temperatures to melting glaciers to the altered behavior of plant and animal species. These and other indicators show that Earth has been warming at an unprecedented rate in recent decades.
You will also explore the physical mechanisms behind these changes and their connections to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution. And you will look at the techniques for projecting future climates, along with the options for switching to alternative energy technologies to avoid the most disruptive scenarios that now seem possible.
Your Personal Scientific Briefing
Earth's Changing Climate addresses only scientific issues and makes no policy recommendations. Instead, this course is designed to serve as your personal scientific briefing to equip you to engage knowledgeably in one of the most important environmental issues of our time. In Lectures 1–6 you will focus on the scientific basis of climate; then in Lectures 7–12 you will come to understand the human role in climate change and explore projections of future climate.
Professor Richard Wolfson is no stranger to this subject. A physicist who has written and taught extensively about climate change, in 1996 he taped an earlier course for The Teaching Company titled, Energy and Climate: Science for Citizens in the Age of Global Warming. Professor Wolfson's new course is completely updated and represents the latest research and analysis in this fast-changing field.
A master at making difficult concepts understandable, Dr. Wolfson's other Teaching Company courses are Physics in Your Life, hailed by Library Journal as "a wonderful series of lectures that make learning physics fun and interesting," and Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution, which one listener said was "as exciting as a suspense thriller!"
In Earth's Changing Climate, Dr. Wolfson brings these educational gifts to bear on a subject that, at times, can be complex and controversial. You will find his presentation clear, objective, engaging, and illustrated with fascinating examples and analogies.
The Evidence Mounts
Like many scientific problems, the gradual assembly of a detailed picture of past, present, and future climates has involved creative detective work. For example, scientists traditionally test their theories by changing different variables, but this has not been possible with theories about climate change on Earth for two reasons: It's unwise to transform the planet just to see what will happen, and there are not multiple Earths to serve as test subjects.
However, researchers have identified cases where nature has done the experiments for us:
Mars: Mars's atmosphere has only about 1 percent the density of Earth's and provides a test for the theory of the greenhouse effect—in this case, for a planet with a thin atmosphere. As theory pr...
6 Audio CDs
Course Lecture Titles
1. Is Earth Warming?
2. Butterflies, Glaciers, and Hurricanes
3. Ice Ages and Beyond
4. In the Greenhouse
5. A Tale of Three Planets
6. Global Recycling
7. The Human Factor
8. Computing the Future
9. Impacts of Climate Change
10. Energy and Climate
11. EnergyResources and Alternatives
12. Sustainable Futures?
In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that "warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level." Representing a consensus of hundreds of scientists, the report went on to note that human activity is "very likely" the cause.
This course of 12 half-hour lectures reviews the most up-to-date research on climate change, explaining the concepts, tools, data, and analysis that have led an overwhelming number of climate scientists to conclude that Earth is warming and that we humans are in great part responsible.
Behind the Consensus
Whatever your views on climate change, it's important to understand how the current scientific consensus on global warming evolved out of basic physical principles and a broad range of observations. In a lucid presentation designed for nonscientists, you will learn about:
The difference between climate and weather
The concept of energy balance, which governs the natural warming of the planet by the Sun and is the key to a stable climate
The greenhouse effect, which makes Earth warmer and more hospitable than it would otherwise be due to naturally occurring gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor
The carbon cycle, which controls the rate at which carbon dioxide released by fossil-fuel combustion accumulates in the atmosphere, and how long it remains to enhance the natural greenhouse effect.
Along with these and other concepts, you will investigate the "fingerprints" of global climate change, ranging from borehole temperatures to melting glaciers to the altered behavior of plant and animal species. These and other indicators show that Earth has been warming at an unprecedented rate in recent decades.
You will also explore the physical mechanisms behind these changes and their connections to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution. And you will look at the techniques for projecting future climates, along with the options for switching to alternative energy technologies to avoid the most disruptive scenarios that now seem possible.
Your Personal Scientific Briefing
Earth's Changing Climate addresses only scientific issues and makes no policy recommendations. Instead, this course is designed to serve as your personal scientific briefing to equip you to engage knowledgeably in one of the most important environmental issues of our time. In Lectures 1–6 you will focus on the scientific basis of climate; then in Lectures 7–12 you will come to understand the human role in climate change and explore projections of future climate.
Professor Richard Wolfson is no stranger to this subject. A physicist who has written and taught extensively about climate change, in 1996 he taped an earlier course for The Teaching Company titled, Energy and Climate: Science for Citizens in the Age of Global Warming. Professor Wolfson's new course is completely updated and represents the latest research and analysis in this fast-changing field.
A master at making difficult concepts understandable, Dr. Wolfson's other Teaching Company courses are Physics in Your Life, hailed by Library Journal as "a wonderful series of lectures that make learning physics fun and interesting," and Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution, which one listener said was "as exciting as a suspense thriller!"
In Earth's Changing Climate, Dr. Wolfson brings these educational gifts to bear on a subject that, at times, can be complex and controversial. You will find his presentation clear, objective, engaging, and illustrated with fascinating examples and analogies.
The Evidence Mounts
Like many scientific problems, the gradual assembly of a detailed picture of past, present, and future climates has involved creative detective work. For example, scientists traditionally test their theories by changing different variables, but this has not been possible with theories about climate change on Earth for two reasons: It's unwise to transform the planet just to see what will happen, and there are not multiple Earths to serve as test subjects.
However, researchers have identified cases where nature has done the experiments for us:
Mars: Mars's atmosphere has only about 1 percent the density of Earth's and provides a test for the theory of the greenhouse effect—in this case, for a planet with a thin atmosphere. As theory pr...
87 pages, Audio CD
First published January 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
December 18, 2021
Most of my life I’ve been hearing about changes in the earth’s climate. It started out with fears of a new ice age which transformed into global warming which transformed to climate change. When I started studying history—especially the ancient and medieval worlds—I learned that the earth’s climate has been changing quite regularly for all of its history. There are a lot of cycles interacting with each other creating the Little Ice Age and the Roman Warming Period and many, many, others. As reports about modern changes to the climate became more prevalent in the press I would look for any recognition that this happens as part of nature and looked for reports that help to identify what parts of what is happening are caused by human activity. Such assistance was rare.
Richard Wolfson’s course finally answered those questions for me in a way that felt grounded in reason and science and not in a new—take it on faith—religion. If you’re a skeptic, this will give you some reasons to credit the global warming narrative. If you’re a true believer, this will help you to understand some of those handy phrases that activists throw around. I strongly recommend it for anyone striving to understand why warming trends are troubling and how we know that these trends are different than those that have gone before. I wish I had discovered this book much earlier.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
Richard Wolfson’s course finally answered those questions for me in a way that felt grounded in reason and science and not in a new—take it on faith—religion. If you’re a skeptic, this will give you some reasons to credit the global warming narrative. If you’re a true believer, this will help you to understand some of those handy phrases that activists throw around. I strongly recommend it for anyone striving to understand why warming trends are troubling and how we know that these trends are different than those that have gone before. I wish I had discovered this book much earlier.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
May 30, 2020
The takeaways from the course were pretty much what one might get from general reading on climate change. While there’s some natural variation over thousands of years, the human contribution to climate change since 1750 (industrial age) has been huge, risking the earth’s health and ours. Figure 12 (from the course guidebook) displays the “human influence on climate,” which shows an especially dramatic increase since the mid-1960s. Wolfson estimates that the danger zone for the earth is “a doubling of pre-industrial atmospheric carbon dioxide. The pre-industrial concentration was about 280 parts per million; therefore, a doubling would be 560 parts per million. Today, we’re at around 390 ppm, climbing by about 2 ppm per year.”
By far, the human impact on global climate (the addition of greenhouse gases, primarily CO2, and the resultant heating of the Earth) comes from fossil fuels (“stored sunlight”), 85% of which comes from coal, oil and natural gas.* In the United States, energy consumption is expended in four main sectors (transportation, industry, household, and commercial). Each person on earth, Wolfson says, consumes about 20 times more energy than what is required to maintain the body, but this energy consumption is spread unevenly over the globe. Heavily industrialized countries use more than “undeveloped” countries; and some industrial countries are more efficient energy users than others.
Wolfson notes that, compared to natural processes that add greenhouse gases, the human contribution is relatively small. But that small amount has dramatic effects because the human-added carbon to the atmosphere is not recycled (via a “heat” pump effect – energy from the sun is absorbed mainly by water or reflected away from the earth), and thus remains in the atmosphere for a very long period of time.**
Wolfson draws on ice-core information to make the statement that “the present-day CO2 concentration is unprecedented over hundreds of thousands of years. Indirect evidence suggests that it is unprecedented in 20 million years. Quantitatively, today’s CO2 concentration is some 30% higher than anything the planet has seen in such long times.” He refers to Figure 11, which shows a graph that displays CO2 concentrations over the last 400,000 years. How that matches up with his statement that CO2 is “unprecedented over hundreds of thousands of years” or “unprecedented in 20 million years” is not clear. What that figure does show is a dramatic spike in CO2, but only since 1750.*** Wolfson adds elsewhere that “Today’s atmospheric CO2 concentration is nearly 40% above its pre-industrial value and is far above anything the planet has seen for nearly a million years and probably longer.” Though he tempers 20 million years by a factor of 20, Wolfson seems to be going beyond the data, at least as presented in this course. And, later, he again refers to a 30% rise in CO2 that is “higher than anything the planet has seen in hundreds of thousands to perhaps millions of years.” So Wolfson’s range here runs from “hundreds of thousands” to 20 million years, which suggests some amount of speculation.
What is interesting about Wolfson’s Figure 11 is that it shows significant spikes in temperature-CO2 over the last 400k years. Figure 5 indicates these are five “interglacial periods” involving a significant warming in what could be viewed as an aberration from significant “ice age” events. We are in one of those interglacial periods now and have been since 12-14,000 years ago, just as humans began their long emergence from their hunter-gatherer days and, eventually, to the post-1750 industrial revolution. It’s been said by other experts that given the pattern over the last 400,000 years this interglacial period is due to end and another cold spell will take its place. (In the 1950s, experts were warning of a global cooling.) Presumably, a cooling will have a more than significant impact on the Earth’s climate. How it impacts human life, which has taken off only during the last interglacial period, would be a main concern.****
The main reason for my interest in this course was an answer to this question: What is the relationship between anthropogenic effects on climate when seen in the context of recent geological time and these patterns of ice-age events?***** Surprisingly, Wolfson skirts over this question. These glacial ages have something to do with the earth’s tilt and its orbit around the sun. Wolfson only notes that “These records show a cyclic pattern of brief (10,000- to 20,000-year) warm spells called interglacials, separated by longer cold spells (ice ages). For the past half million years, this cycle has repeated on roughly 100,000-year intervals. This pattern results from subtle changes in Earth’s orbit and tilt, along with complex feedback effects in the climate system.” This is pretty much it. A key question regarding climate change is left unanswered.
This is my second Wolfson course. He is far too detailed for my taste. It’s easy to get lost in the weeds.
* Wolfson notes that 8% of Earth’s energy comes from nuclear power and 3% comes from hydro power; solar, wind and thermal power is less than 1%. These figures may be dated from this 2007 course.
**Wolfson writes: “The carbon cycle involves rapid cycling of carbon between atmospheric carbon dioxide and the biosphere, soils, and ocean surface waters. Carbon added to this system stays there for centuries to millennia and adds to the atmospheric carbon content.”
***And, interestingly, figure 12 shows that between 1900-1965, the natural and anthropogenic contributions to temperature rise were roughly parallel. It's only since 1965 that the human contribution splits off and starts to spike.
****See, for example, Brian Fagan's "The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization."
*****Beyond the cyclic ice ages and interglacials, Wolfson adds that there "is also evidence of as many as four snowball Earth phases, when the planet may have frozen solid. These occurred between 750 and 580 million years ago and were followed by rapid thawing associated with changes in the atmosphere due to gaseous emissions from volcanoes." This type of scenario is less likely to repeat, I presume, than the ice age and interglacials that Wolfson references.
By far, the human impact on global climate (the addition of greenhouse gases, primarily CO2, and the resultant heating of the Earth) comes from fossil fuels (“stored sunlight”), 85% of which comes from coal, oil and natural gas.* In the United States, energy consumption is expended in four main sectors (transportation, industry, household, and commercial). Each person on earth, Wolfson says, consumes about 20 times more energy than what is required to maintain the body, but this energy consumption is spread unevenly over the globe. Heavily industrialized countries use more than “undeveloped” countries; and some industrial countries are more efficient energy users than others.
Wolfson notes that, compared to natural processes that add greenhouse gases, the human contribution is relatively small. But that small amount has dramatic effects because the human-added carbon to the atmosphere is not recycled (via a “heat” pump effect – energy from the sun is absorbed mainly by water or reflected away from the earth), and thus remains in the atmosphere for a very long period of time.**
Wolfson draws on ice-core information to make the statement that “the present-day CO2 concentration is unprecedented over hundreds of thousands of years. Indirect evidence suggests that it is unprecedented in 20 million years. Quantitatively, today’s CO2 concentration is some 30% higher than anything the planet has seen in such long times.” He refers to Figure 11, which shows a graph that displays CO2 concentrations over the last 400,000 years. How that matches up with his statement that CO2 is “unprecedented over hundreds of thousands of years” or “unprecedented in 20 million years” is not clear. What that figure does show is a dramatic spike in CO2, but only since 1750.*** Wolfson adds elsewhere that “Today’s atmospheric CO2 concentration is nearly 40% above its pre-industrial value and is far above anything the planet has seen for nearly a million years and probably longer.” Though he tempers 20 million years by a factor of 20, Wolfson seems to be going beyond the data, at least as presented in this course. And, later, he again refers to a 30% rise in CO2 that is “higher than anything the planet has seen in hundreds of thousands to perhaps millions of years.” So Wolfson’s range here runs from “hundreds of thousands” to 20 million years, which suggests some amount of speculation.
What is interesting about Wolfson’s Figure 11 is that it shows significant spikes in temperature-CO2 over the last 400k years. Figure 5 indicates these are five “interglacial periods” involving a significant warming in what could be viewed as an aberration from significant “ice age” events. We are in one of those interglacial periods now and have been since 12-14,000 years ago, just as humans began their long emergence from their hunter-gatherer days and, eventually, to the post-1750 industrial revolution. It’s been said by other experts that given the pattern over the last 400,000 years this interglacial period is due to end and another cold spell will take its place. (In the 1950s, experts were warning of a global cooling.) Presumably, a cooling will have a more than significant impact on the Earth’s climate. How it impacts human life, which has taken off only during the last interglacial period, would be a main concern.****
The main reason for my interest in this course was an answer to this question: What is the relationship between anthropogenic effects on climate when seen in the context of recent geological time and these patterns of ice-age events?***** Surprisingly, Wolfson skirts over this question. These glacial ages have something to do with the earth’s tilt and its orbit around the sun. Wolfson only notes that “These records show a cyclic pattern of brief (10,000- to 20,000-year) warm spells called interglacials, separated by longer cold spells (ice ages). For the past half million years, this cycle has repeated on roughly 100,000-year intervals. This pattern results from subtle changes in Earth’s orbit and tilt, along with complex feedback effects in the climate system.” This is pretty much it. A key question regarding climate change is left unanswered.
This is my second Wolfson course. He is far too detailed for my taste. It’s easy to get lost in the weeds.
* Wolfson notes that 8% of Earth’s energy comes from nuclear power and 3% comes from hydro power; solar, wind and thermal power is less than 1%. These figures may be dated from this 2007 course.
**Wolfson writes: “The carbon cycle involves rapid cycling of carbon between atmospheric carbon dioxide and the biosphere, soils, and ocean surface waters. Carbon added to this system stays there for centuries to millennia and adds to the atmospheric carbon content.”
***And, interestingly, figure 12 shows that between 1900-1965, the natural and anthropogenic contributions to temperature rise were roughly parallel. It's only since 1965 that the human contribution splits off and starts to spike.
****See, for example, Brian Fagan's "The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization."
*****Beyond the cyclic ice ages and interglacials, Wolfson adds that there "is also evidence of as many as four snowball Earth phases, when the planet may have frozen solid. These occurred between 750 and 580 million years ago and were followed by rapid thawing associated with changes in the atmosphere due to gaseous emissions from volcanoes." This type of scenario is less likely to repeat, I presume, than the ice age and interglacials that Wolfson references.
October 20, 2016
This skeptic is now less skeptical...about anthropomorphic climate change (or ACC, aka AGW = anthropomorphic global warming).
Prior to listening (yes, I listened to the audio download) I was not a proponent of ACC, in fact I doubted its scientific validity (the man-made parts). Due to my background in earth science, I believed that the earth's climate can change...sometimes rapidly and drastically... and has changed countless times in the past. I have witnessed geologic evidence in a variety of environments, from 2.2 billion year-old rocks in the upper peninsula of Michigan to the breathtaking valleys of Yosemite. While not denying that global temperatures are rising, I doubted that it was man-made.
I bought this set of lectures to reinforce my beliefs by learning more about what 'the other side' believed.
Unfortunately, Dr Wolfson's lectures caused me to rethink my position and drill down a little deeper into the subject and check into the more current thinking of this controversy. The first six lectures examine the scientific methods by which the ACC theory is based (and the IPCC)...particularly in the measurement of CO2 in the atmosphere, and how it can be 'fingerprinted' back to a source using 13C/12C ratios (Lecture 7). That particular point triggered my curiosity, and pushed me onto the internet and beyond the scant notes and graphs included in the lectures.
Here's what I found: http://www.skepticalscience.com/argum...
This site provide the student with a list of points made by climate change skeptics accompanied by explanations and data supporting the ACC/AGW point of view. These arguments pick up where Wolfson leaves off, and updates and confirms his conclusions with data.
Thank you Dr Wolfson for a stimulating set of lectures, presented in a high-energy, rapid-fire way. I'm glad I found this set on sale and with a generous coupon (it cost under $0.50/lecture).
Recommended for all those who might be interested in learning.
Prior to listening (yes, I listened to the audio download) I was not a proponent of ACC, in fact I doubted its scientific validity (the man-made parts). Due to my background in earth science, I believed that the earth's climate can change...sometimes rapidly and drastically... and has changed countless times in the past. I have witnessed geologic evidence in a variety of environments, from 2.2 billion year-old rocks in the upper peninsula of Michigan to the breathtaking valleys of Yosemite. While not denying that global temperatures are rising, I doubted that it was man-made.
I bought this set of lectures to reinforce my beliefs by learning more about what 'the other side' believed.
Unfortunately, Dr Wolfson's lectures caused me to rethink my position and drill down a little deeper into the subject and check into the more current thinking of this controversy. The first six lectures examine the scientific methods by which the ACC theory is based (and the IPCC)...particularly in the measurement of CO2 in the atmosphere, and how it can be 'fingerprinted' back to a source using 13C/12C ratios (Lecture 7). That particular point triggered my curiosity, and pushed me onto the internet and beyond the scant notes and graphs included in the lectures.
Here's what I found: http://www.skepticalscience.com/argum...
This site provide the student with a list of points made by climate change skeptics accompanied by explanations and data supporting the ACC/AGW point of view. These arguments pick up where Wolfson leaves off, and updates and confirms his conclusions with data.
Thank you Dr Wolfson for a stimulating set of lectures, presented in a high-energy, rapid-fire way. I'm glad I found this set on sale and with a generous coupon (it cost under $0.50/lecture).
Recommended for all those who might be interested in learning.
February 25, 2017
Very informative but doesn't really work as an audiobook. I'll have to download the study guide and review the charts Richard Wolfson constantly makes reference to.
I appreciated the dispassionate tone and focus on science rather than propaganda. The last two chapters on sources of energy and solutions to warming were especially well done.
I appreciated the dispassionate tone and focus on science rather than propaganda. The last two chapters on sources of energy and solutions to warming were especially well done.
March 9, 2022
"I liked it." - 3 out of 5 star rating.
The last 50-100% of this Great Course would absolutely be a 4-4.5. However a very rough start, where the content creator I feel like greatly veers off course numerous times. On top of that, I felt like he backpedals throughout the entire presentation. He doesn't hold his ground in anyway, rather makes a statement and what-if's it to the point where all confidence is lost.
However, towards the back half... he does an amazing job with the concept of "Energy Servants" (very cool), land ice slipping into the ocean, energy source usage around the world, and the cherry on top was an excellent lecture on nuclear energy.
This is probably the shortest Great Course I've seen, at only around 6 hours. Due to its length and how strong the end material is, I would still recommend this.
The last 50-100% of this Great Course would absolutely be a 4-4.5. However a very rough start, where the content creator I feel like greatly veers off course numerous times. On top of that, I felt like he backpedals throughout the entire presentation. He doesn't hold his ground in anyway, rather makes a statement and what-if's it to the point where all confidence is lost.
However, towards the back half... he does an amazing job with the concept of "Energy Servants" (very cool), land ice slipping into the ocean, energy source usage around the world, and the cherry on top was an excellent lecture on nuclear energy.
This is probably the shortest Great Course I've seen, at only around 6 hours. Due to its length and how strong the end material is, I would still recommend this.
October 20, 2021
A good science-based overview outlining clear reasons why the earth's climate is warming and some things we can do about it.
The lectures were given 14 years ago and some of the science needs to be updated...but overall you can learn a lot about the mess we are in.
The lectures were given 14 years ago and some of the science needs to be updated...but overall you can learn a lot about the mess we are in.
January 8, 2023
Very scientific book on climate change. A nice focus on the probable science and what we can't prove. It avoids the politics for the most part which is refreshing. Could have been more into real solutions but it is a bit dated now which shows we have made some strides
May 17, 2021
I really like The Great Courses audio lectures format - short 30min lectures by proper university professors, but on accessible simplified level easy enough to listen while driving or doing other things. This lecture series was nice and short as well - 12 lectures, 6h in total. Very good for an intro course.
This lecture series introduced the basic concepts of what is climate, how do we measure global temperature, how has climate changed in the past and how is it changing now, due to greenhouse gas emissions.
There was a fascinating lecture about energy consumption per person - that on average, we use 2kW of energy per living person. Since the human body itself is running at 0.1kW, we can imagine that an average person has 20 "energy servants" - running transportation, services, heating, etc for them.
The lecture about where does energy come from and what kinds of energy do we have available was also eye-opening. Helped put the orders of magnitude into context - that we're using a pretty large proportion of hydro-power already, for example.
I would have liked to hear more about 2 things:
1. "So what" - what are the predicted consequences of a 2 or 3 degree global average temperature rise. He talked about it, but it was difficult to put it in context or feel it. "Higher likelihood of extreme weather events". Does it mean that my grass gets more yellow than usual in the summer or does a hurricane blow my house away in Tallinn?
2. What can we do about it? Can he imagine a world running on technology available today that is able to be "climate-neutral". What would that world look like?
I understand that he was mostly focusing on science and not conjecture and speculation. So maybe it's good that he did not go into the "so what" and "what can we do about it" topics. It's just that it feels quite a lot of the basic climate change information is now common knowledge - it's the "so what" and "what can we do about it" that are worth analysing and debating about.
This lecture series introduced the basic concepts of what is climate, how do we measure global temperature, how has climate changed in the past and how is it changing now, due to greenhouse gas emissions.
There was a fascinating lecture about energy consumption per person - that on average, we use 2kW of energy per living person. Since the human body itself is running at 0.1kW, we can imagine that an average person has 20 "energy servants" - running transportation, services, heating, etc for them.
The lecture about where does energy come from and what kinds of energy do we have available was also eye-opening. Helped put the orders of magnitude into context - that we're using a pretty large proportion of hydro-power already, for example.
I would have liked to hear more about 2 things:
1. "So what" - what are the predicted consequences of a 2 or 3 degree global average temperature rise. He talked about it, but it was difficult to put it in context or feel it. "Higher likelihood of extreme weather events". Does it mean that my grass gets more yellow than usual in the summer or does a hurricane blow my house away in Tallinn?
2. What can we do about it? Can he imagine a world running on technology available today that is able to be "climate-neutral". What would that world look like?
I understand that he was mostly focusing on science and not conjecture and speculation. So maybe it's good that he did not go into the "so what" and "what can we do about it" topics. It's just that it feels quite a lot of the basic climate change information is now common knowledge - it's the "so what" and "what can we do about it" that are worth analysing and debating about.
May 30, 2018
In Earth's Changing Climate, Professor Richard Wolfson presents a clear and concise explanation of how (and why) our planet's climate is changing. To those who say, "the Earth's climate is always changing, and has changed many times in the past", he explains that those past changes occurred due to natural causes over hundreds of thousands or millions of years, and today's changes are occurring hundreds of times more rapidly than past "natural" changes. He explains how past "natural" changes have occurred, and explains how anthropogenic changes are unlike the past, and why these rapid changes present severe challenges to our now heavily populated planet.
The information is presented in a series of twelve "lectures", each of which is clear and understandable to the non-scientist. The data provides the accepted technical information from scientific organizations across the globe, and is refreshing in that it's not done in a partisan way as one might hear from ideologues on either side of the argument trying to make political points.
If there's a downside to the book, it's mainly in format I selected. I listened to the book, which is great for a daily commute in an automobile, but doesn't lend itself to easily reference the graphs and slide the author sometimes refers to when making his points. To truly understand the information, seeing the graphs really drives the message home. The graphs and charts are available with the audiobook, however if one chooses to listen to the audiobook in the car, as I did, the strength of the arguments being made might not be fully appreciated. However, if the reader has access to the graphs, or already has a fairly good understanding of the information, the need to see the graphs as Professor Woldson discusses the information is not as important.
One other very minor critique is that the information in the book no longer is the most current.
The book is about five years old, and the science and knowledge of climate change continues to evolve at a rapid pace. The information in the book is still valid, of course, however the most recent data available only makes Professor Wolfson's points all the more poignant.
The information is presented in a series of twelve "lectures", each of which is clear and understandable to the non-scientist. The data provides the accepted technical information from scientific organizations across the globe, and is refreshing in that it's not done in a partisan way as one might hear from ideologues on either side of the argument trying to make political points.
If there's a downside to the book, it's mainly in format I selected. I listened to the book, which is great for a daily commute in an automobile, but doesn't lend itself to easily reference the graphs and slide the author sometimes refers to when making his points. To truly understand the information, seeing the graphs really drives the message home. The graphs and charts are available with the audiobook, however if one chooses to listen to the audiobook in the car, as I did, the strength of the arguments being made might not be fully appreciated. However, if the reader has access to the graphs, or already has a fairly good understanding of the information, the need to see the graphs as Professor Woldson discusses the information is not as important.
One other very minor critique is that the information in the book no longer is the most current.
The book is about five years old, and the science and knowledge of climate change continues to evolve at a rapid pace. The information in the book is still valid, of course, however the most recent data available only makes Professor Wolfson's points all the more poignant.
November 1, 2024
This is an all science, all facts, methods, measurements, evidence, treatment of global warming. It leaves public policy, political opinions, dogmas, and fabricated controversies out of the conversation. With no B.S. or fluff, it comes fast. There are only twelve lectures—the shortest available from The Great Courses—but each one is packed with information delivered at a rapid pace. The lecturer has authored multiple college and popular texts on physics and climate. He starts with a basic question: Is the Earth warming? (Yes.) Are humans the cause? (Yes.) Has Earth warmed and cooled in the past? (Yes. We know why it happened then, too, and here’s how.) The professor does a fine job of explaining positive feedbacks that amplify global warming, the natural (e.g., astronomical, orbital, etc.) contributors, and characterizes many of the phenomena numerically, something most avoid, adding hardness to the facts and a baseline for further investigation.
This is a really fine series, but for me, listening as I walk the dogs, it’s a stretch to track all the facts presented in a lecture without scribbling notes as I walk and manage pups. I’ll get so much more out of this series when I sit down with a pad and paper to absorb all the tremendous details the professor puts so conveniently in one place. Class notes with charts covering the history of global temperature, CO2, sea ice, hurricane intensity, volcanic effects, and Earth’s energy budget are also good.
This is a really fine series, but for me, listening as I walk the dogs, it’s a stretch to track all the facts presented in a lecture without scribbling notes as I walk and manage pups. I’ll get so much more out of this series when I sit down with a pad and paper to absorb all the tremendous details the professor puts so conveniently in one place. Class notes with charts covering the history of global temperature, CO2, sea ice, hurricane intensity, volcanic effects, and Earth’s energy budget are also good.
September 4, 2021
This series of lectures by The Great Courses called "Earth's Changing Climate" is a great introduction to climate science by a well-spoken professor. Dr. Richard Wolfson especially spends good time on how different energy transfers and natural resources are used by the planet and anthropogenic influences to move energy throughout Earth's system.
Wolfson purposefully avoids talking too much about climate policy in order to focus on explaining how the science works, but he does discuss some ways in which resource use could be reduced, made more efficient, and transferred to more renewable sources. His lecture on how climate models are developed, specialized to answer different queries, and improved over time was especially useful to not only explain how complicated Earth's climate is, but also how climate scientists synthesize tons of data in order to confidently represent and project how the climate will behave under different scenarios.
This was a great listen to have on in the background to intellectually engage my mind while I underwent other tasks such as cooking, driving, folding laundry, and conducting molecular laboratory work. I recommend to those interested in The Great Courses, climate science, energy, resource management, climate policy, model generation, paleo-climate, climate change, climate change scenarios, geology, and atmospheric chemistry.
Wolfson purposefully avoids talking too much about climate policy in order to focus on explaining how the science works, but he does discuss some ways in which resource use could be reduced, made more efficient, and transferred to more renewable sources. His lecture on how climate models are developed, specialized to answer different queries, and improved over time was especially useful to not only explain how complicated Earth's climate is, but also how climate scientists synthesize tons of data in order to confidently represent and project how the climate will behave under different scenarios.
This was a great listen to have on in the background to intellectually engage my mind while I underwent other tasks such as cooking, driving, folding laundry, and conducting molecular laboratory work. I recommend to those interested in The Great Courses, climate science, energy, resource management, climate policy, model generation, paleo-climate, climate change, climate change scenarios, geology, and atmospheric chemistry.
June 19, 2019
This lecture series (recorded in 2007) is, of course, a bit dated by now (2019). For instance, I’m not sure if CO2-levels of 560 ppm would be considered the threshold for dangerous climate change on the basis of current knowledge. It is probably quite a bit lower.
Nevertheless, I would definitely recommend it as a good primer for the uninitiated. Lively, balanced, well-edited and fairly comprehensive.
So-called “skeptics” probably won’t like it (despite Wolfson’s careful politically neutral approach) - but that crowd isn’t into real knowledge anyway, so that’s a foregone conclusion.
Nevertheless, I would definitely recommend it as a good primer for the uninitiated. Lively, balanced, well-edited and fairly comprehensive.
So-called “skeptics” probably won’t like it (despite Wolfson’s careful politically neutral approach) - but that crowd isn’t into real knowledge anyway, so that’s a foregone conclusion.
November 25, 2019
Relatively unbiased look at current climate science.
Very informative and fact based.
Greenhouse gases and evidence that rising levels are anthropogenic (human caused).
Worldwide temperatures through earth's history.
I particularly liked the discussion on energy consumption, rates, sources and future.
Tens of years left of oil, hundreds of years left of coal.
Wolfson doesn't foresee any cataclysmic climate events.
He estimates dangerous levels of CO2 by 2100.
Thinks renewable energy will slowly take over fossil fuels.
Admits there's a lot we don't know.
Very informative and fact based.
Greenhouse gases and evidence that rising levels are anthropogenic (human caused).
Worldwide temperatures through earth's history.
I particularly liked the discussion on energy consumption, rates, sources and future.
Tens of years left of oil, hundreds of years left of coal.
Wolfson doesn't foresee any cataclysmic climate events.
He estimates dangerous levels of CO2 by 2100.
Thinks renewable energy will slowly take over fossil fuels.
Admits there's a lot we don't know.
September 14, 2021
Excellent listen and a mandatory course both for the climate change deniers and for those who want to understand the big picture of climate change as clearly as possible.
I picked up this course because it was referenced in Bill Gates` book, and it was a great recommendation as always.
The only minor thing is that prof. Wolfson speaks way too fast, it is a rare case where I had to slow down the book to 0.8-0.9
I picked up this course because it was referenced in Bill Gates` book, and it was a great recommendation as always.
The only minor thing is that prof. Wolfson speaks way too fast, it is a rare case where I had to slow down the book to 0.8-0.9
September 14, 2017
I really liked this series. It clearly explains the scientific information on global warming, the different models, and much of the background one needs to understand the science. I particularly like the way that he explains each of the topics in detail. Great if you're trying to learn more about the science of global warming.
June 21, 2022
A very balanced and scientific summary of climate change and the evidence we have that it’s anthropogenic. There is no ‘this will cause our extinction’ fear mongering here.
I would recommend this to anyone who’s sceptical of the role human’s are playing in changing the Earth’s climate. Wolfson addresses each one of the common objections you hear.
I would recommend this to anyone who’s sceptical of the role human’s are playing in changing the Earth’s climate. Wolfson addresses each one of the common objections you hear.
November 18, 2022
Impressed with his knowledge and balance. He's not an alarmist, but he lays out the very serious issue of climate change, how it works, and what our options are for engaging with it. This was very science-based and he referred to a lot of charts, so I'd recommend referring to the pdf for those otherwise you'll miss a lot.
January 17, 2018
Well done Great Courses Class on Climate change.
August 12, 2018
Content is fine but relies too heavily on graphs you’d have to pull up. For a primarily auditory experience this should have been produced differently.
November 4, 2019
Very good, data-driven info. However, this didn't include the data/slides that he referenced (this was a library Overdrive audiobook).
May 16, 2020
A decent, but not particularly stand out, short overview of how Earth's climate has changed over its long history, how we know this, and how mankind has changed it in recent times.
August 7, 2020
Not well suited for a audio book, too many charts that are hard to find
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September 6, 2021Love Great Courses
May 2, 2022
Balanced account of a contentious subject.
November 30, 2023
I came to understand how earth's climate is changing and learned more about this amazing planet we live on.
February 17, 2017
I finally have more knowledge to fight back with climate change deniers thanks to Prof. Richard Wolfson.
These 12 half hour courses are fairly easy to understand, (some of it I know I will forget) and show the various reasons scientists have concluded that man since the industrial revolution has been upsetting the balance of the ozone layer which helps maintain our climate.
The 12 Lectures are:
1 Is Earth Warming?
2Butterflies, Glaciers, and Hurricanes
3Ice Ages and Beyond
4In the Greenhouse
5A Tale of Three Planets
6Global Recycling
7The Human Factor
8Computing the Future
9Impacts of Climate Change
10Energy and Climate
11Energy—Resources and Alternatives
12Sustainable Futures?
What I liked about the classes and this professor (from Middlebury College) is that he stayed away from the politics of the issues and relied on the facts. He also said he believed that mankind could survive climate change because it was happening slowly enough that we would adapt. However, if we stopped relying on fossil fuels for our main source of energy we could stabilize the climate around 2100. At this point, that is the best we can do. The earth will not be the same as now but we should be able to survive in this warmer world.
I recommend this course for anyone interested in the science of climate change and wanting to learn. The audible course does not have his charts or maps but with a little google searching you can find the majority at NASA or the EPA.
These 12 half hour courses are fairly easy to understand, (some of it I know I will forget) and show the various reasons scientists have concluded that man since the industrial revolution has been upsetting the balance of the ozone layer which helps maintain our climate.
The 12 Lectures are:
1 Is Earth Warming?
2Butterflies, Glaciers, and Hurricanes
3Ice Ages and Beyond
4In the Greenhouse
5A Tale of Three Planets
6Global Recycling
7The Human Factor
8Computing the Future
9Impacts of Climate Change
10Energy and Climate
11Energy—Resources and Alternatives
12Sustainable Futures?
What I liked about the classes and this professor (from Middlebury College) is that he stayed away from the politics of the issues and relied on the facts. He also said he believed that mankind could survive climate change because it was happening slowly enough that we would adapt. However, if we stopped relying on fossil fuels for our main source of energy we could stabilize the climate around 2100. At this point, that is the best we can do. The earth will not be the same as now but we should be able to survive in this warmer world.
I recommend this course for anyone interested in the science of climate change and wanting to learn. The audible course does not have his charts or maps but with a little google searching you can find the majority at NASA or the EPA.
November 22, 2008
I am not a science person, and generally am not interested in learning more about scientific topics, but I thought I should know more about global warming, so I gave this lecture series a chance. Information was presented in an engaging accessible manner, and the connections between different topics were clearly drawn. Granted, at times I had to work to understand the chemistry behind climate changes, but putting in that effort led me to a real intellectual high. I learned so much, and feel much more equipped to participate in the national debate about global warming, climate change, and energy conservation. I've already put another "Great Course" from the Teaching Company on hold at the library.
November 11, 2014
I just finished this lecture series and am very impressed with the quality and quantity of science-based information the Professor Wolfson shared. While it is difficult to refute anthropogenic climate change (i.e., human-influenced climate change), these lectures really bring the argument into focus. Wolfson has a great ability to emphasize the impact of human influence on climate change without "preaching the panic." This is a great read for anyone interested in seeing what current research and computer models predict about global climate change. The final lecture ends with the bottom line that we are influencing the climate and, while the effects of such influence may not be as bad as a nuclear war or an impact from a comet, the effects will be drastic.
June 30, 2015
This book left me with a lot to think about. I listened to the audio book and feel that there was a lot that was missing with not being able to view the graphs and charts that the professor referred to throughout the lecture. I would have preferred to watch this lecture as a video instead of an audio book.
October 4, 2011
Prof. Wolfson does a great service by presenting the state of scientific knowledge about climate change. He's showing what is known to date and leaves it up to us to decide what to do about it. Another great Teaching Company course.
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