New Program Spotlight: A.A. with Emphasis in Climate Change Studies
Eiman Haile
Eiman Haile
Interdisciplinary curriculum teaches critical thinking and can be customized for STEM, public policy, social sciences, and more
Inver Hills Community College is offering a new 60-credit Associate of Arts (A.A.) with Emphasis in Climate Change Studies starting fall semester 2025. The new program provides a broad introduction to scientific mechanisms and social drivers of climate change. Coursework applies critical-thinking skills to the exploration of the social, political, and moral challenges and solutions linked to long-term shifts in global temperatures and weather patterns.
The A.A. with Emphasis in Climate Change Studies prepares you for an entry-level position on a career path focused on climate change while also giving you the option to transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a variety of related majors, including environmental science, environmental engineering, sustainability studies, public policy, public administration, and other fields in the natural and social sciences. All courses in the current 16-credit Climate Change certificate can be applied to the new A.A. degree.
NOTE: You can complete the A.A. with Emphasis degree and certificate entirely online.
Why Study Climate Change at Inver Hills?
Climate change education is essential.
Many high schools are no longer requiring Earth Science or other sciences relevant to climate, which means student exposure to climate science could be minimal.
We need to comprehend the scope of the challenge.
Humans make positive changes when they understand the problem. We can’t change what we don’t acknowledge. Our hope is students come away with a better understanding of the natural and human causes of climate change and how to improve the lives of all humans.
Strong policy shifts are a big step.
Major change happens at the policy level. Good policy involves good scientists and a trust of climate science.
Oceans do their own thing.
Oceans don’t care about people’s political persuasions. All they know how to do is rise. Warmer oceans do not absorb carbon from the atmosphere, unlike cold oceans, and the result is more greenhouse gases. Warmer oceans increase in volume and the result is sea-level rise.
Think beyond our borders.
The climate changes we’re seeing in Minnesota are the tip of the iceberg. In the new course, Introduction to Climate Change Studies, we’ll explore what is happening globally. Who is seeing the most changes and why? How are these changes affecting people’s everyday lives? What changes are people having to make to survive?
Polar warming is a red alert.
Cold (polar) regions are seeing far greater warming than warmer (equatorial) regions. We’ll explore Indigenous observations of the Arctic and the vast amount of changes they have seen, including thinning sea ice, changes in ice and snow characteristics, poor body condition of many animals, permafrost melt, greater frequency of extreme weather events, and other issues.
The refugee crisis will touch everyone.
If climate change is the shark, the hydrologic cycle is the teeth. Changes in the hydrologic cycle are what is going to bite people in the end. Climate refugees are fleeing to other countries or even within the United States. Minnesota is one of the locations where climate refugees are coming, and we’ll explore the reasons why.
Climate change is an urgent global challenge.
Green Citizen lists 21 rewarding jobs that fuel climate change solutions, including urban grower, brownfield restorer, invasive species controller, weatherization expert, sustainability consultant, environmental lawyer, conservation scientist, climatologist, power grid modernization expert, and disaster preparedness trainer.
Why do you feel strongly about finding ways to combat climate change?
I fight for climate action because I have to. As a young person, I know the coming decades are no longer the far-flung future: they’re my life. I’m going to be 26 when the Earth is projected to hit 2 °C of warming compared to preindustrial levels, a known tipping point where even more disastrous effects are going to be felt.
I’m barely going to be 40 when all the coral reefs in the world will be dead, and the ocean ecosystem collapses. Within my lifetime, well over half of the world’s population will be displaced—or dead—due to sea level rise. Right now, as we speak, the planet that I’m going to have to live on is undergoing an extinction comparable to what killed the dinosaurs.
When I look toward my future, I want to think about my college plans, career plans, family plans. But I can’t think of that because my future is going to be spent running from fires, droughts, floods. I fight for climate action because I want to have a future.
What advice would you give people who are unconcerned about climate change?
The following is directed at people who understand that climate change is a crisis, but don’t take action, not people that deny the science put forth by the IPCC and thousands of climate scientists.
Humans have evolved to put their immediate concerns first, to copy their peers to avoid social ostracization, and to avoid investing extra energy in solving problems when it appears that others are solving it for them. These are built into our DNA, and it makes it incredibly difficult to care about climate change.
Humans have also evolved to listen to what their brains are telling them: when your brain tells you not to care about something and you care about it anyways, that’s usually called irrationality or panic. But this situation is different: this is a crisis that could plausibly lead to the fall of human civilization, and to solve it, we have to find a way to push our brains aside and act now.
It’s not easy. But when you look at the most successful climate activists, you’re seeing people who have managed to push through the uncaring. Greta Thunberg credits her autism for having allowed her to swim against the flow of society.
Many top activists say that they have very little hope for humanity, but fight on because they have to. I myself suspect that I was able to start this journey of activism because my young brain hadn’t completely developed the structures that would have inhibited me from doing so.
Why do you feel strongly about finding ways to combat climate change?
I want the planet to be healthy for my children, grandchildren, and many generations to come. I learned from this course that a lot of young people don’t have the same hope I have. Perhaps I’m a bit Panglossian, but we need a lot of hope if future generations are going to enjoy many of the things that we take for granted today.
Things like clean water, delicious and nourishing foods, safe homes, and all the freedoms we enjoy. If we don’t make changes, those future generations can expect more famines, more wars, more climate migration, and other stressors and tragedies that can be avoided with careful planning and interventions. We need to adapt now.
What advice would you give people who are unconcerned about climate change?
I’d encourage them to ask a lot of questions, and not be satisfied with simple assumptions they’ve heard from others about climate change. Ask for data. Ask for science that supports the data. And then they need to listen carefully to the answers given by those who understand climate change.
And after hearing those answers, they need to ask more questions. Climate scientist, Katharine Hayhoe, says we’ve already wasted too much time by not talking enough about climate change. We need to talk about it with everyone, all the time. Eventually, more people will understand the truth about climate change. More talk will result in more action.
Rachel Wood with her dog, Panini
Rachel F. Wood 2022 Inver Hills Graduate Climate Change Activist
Why do you feel strongly about finding ways to combat climate change?
I feel strongly because humans are rushing toward our own mass extinction, faster than in any other primordial time. Earth doesn’t need us and can persist through extreme climates and events. Humans can’t live without a hospitable climate on Earth.
What advice would you give people who are unconcerned about climate change?
I would encourage them to look at the science (not cherry-picked). Data tells no lies. The data shows that climate change is everyone’s problem.
Conduct research or perform investigation for the purpose of identifying, abating, or eliminating sources of pollutants or hazards that affect either the environment or public health. Using knowledge of various scientific disciplines, may collect, synthesize, study, report, and recommend action based on data derived from measurements or observations of air, food, soil, water, and other sources.
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