Video/Microlecture: Teaching Climate Change in the Sociology Classroom

A video lecture by Andrew Szasz, University of California, Santa Cruz titled ‘A Sociology of Climate Change’ that discusses how climate change can be taught in the Sociology classroom.  This video lecture includes discussions on the following:

1. Societal causes of climate change
   1. Causes identified in the “green” updating of Classical Theory 
   2. Causes identified in the contemporary Environmental Sociology
2. Climate impact on society 
   1. Extreme weather events
   2. Food
   3. Water
   4. Health and Illness
   5. Economic impacts, at the level of the nation (U.S)
   6. Political impacts
   7. Unequal impacts, globally, among nations
   8. Unequal impacts, in the U.S., by State and by region
   9. Unequal impacts, in the U.S., by race and class
   10.  The potential for catastrophic impacts
3. Societal responses to climate change
   1. The science; discovery; communicating; activism
   2. Climate activism, the social movements
   3. Climate denial, the counter-movement
   4. Private sector actors, pro and con
   5. Non-environmental “civil society” actors, pro and con
   6. Traditional media-print (newspapers), network television
   7. Online media- websites, blogs, social media
   8. Public opinion
   9. Policy- international; other nations
   10. Policy- federal (US)
   11. Policy- State, local (US)
   12. Technological innovation (clean, renewable energy); green cities
   13. “Plan B”: geoengineering

Students will understand the importance of the Social Sciences and the discipline of Sociology in understanding climate change. 

Use this tool to help your students find answers to: 

1. How does society contribute to climate change?
2. What are some of the impacts climate change has and may have on society?
3. How has society responded to the threat of climate change?

About the Tool 

Tool Name	A Sociology of Climate Change
Discipline	Social Sciences
Topic(s) in Discipline	Climate Change Overview
Climate Topic	Climate Literacy; Climate and Society
Type of tool	Video/Microlecture (51 mins)
Grade Level	High School, Undergraduate
Location	Global
Language	English
Translation
Developed by	Andrew Szasz
Hosted at	YouTube
Link	Link
Access	Online
Computer Skills	Basic