Global Warming Seminar Component
“Global Warming, Jersey Response”
Global warming has been called the defining problem of our time, and it is one which will directly impact our quality of life and that of our children. The study of global warming can be tied to every subject and discipline taught at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and thus to every academic major or career you could choose to pursue. Whether you want to be a doctor, a farmer, a lawyer, a policy maker, a scientist, an engineer, global warming is connected. Simply to live in our changing world, it is advantageous to understand such a defining problem.
Global warming is more than just an environmental problem—it is tied directly to economics, human health, safety, and culture. Global warming is also a symptom and indicator of a number of other problems basic to our society today—including over consumption of resources and failure to reuse or recycle them, the unequal distribution of resources among the peoples of the world, and the tendency of the rich peoples of the world to impose environmental problems more firmly on the poor.
The Global Warming Seminar for Summer and Fall 2008 is your opportunity not only to experience a multidisciplinary approach to one problem—something that you will need to learn in order to solve problems once you leave college and are no longer studying things one subject at a time--but also to learn effective teamwork techniques which you will use both here and in your career.
Rutgers University and the State of New Jersey have some of the experts who shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year with Al Gore for their work on global warming. The summer and fall seminar will give you an opportunity to hear presentations by these and other experts, and to see how policy is made and people take action to reduce global warming and protect our quality of life. You will have the opportunity to debate on the issues and take your own turn at drafting a policy, using the teamwork, writing and thinking skills which you will learn at the same time.