COURSE  DESCRIPTION
Geography 135:  Climate Summit

This climate summit course is designed to be a total "immersion" into the process (presentations, discussions and negotiations) and atmosphere of an environment summit such as those of the Conference of the Parties (COPs) that are the basis for Climate Convention Framework negotiations.

The summit is the culmination of the class while the core of the class is the preparation for this summit.

Preparation takes place during class through a number of different activities including lectures, group discussions, web research and group presentations, as well as outside of the class-room where students need to plan meetings with members of their group to coordinate presentation and writing activities.

Each student plays a specific and unique role in the summit. Each student is either a representative of a country (or group of countries), or of a Non-Governmental organization (NGO), or of the media. In his/her role, each student is expected to be as authentic as possible. For instance, government representatives are expected to be partisan in favor of their particular country, while NGO representatives are expected to represent world-wide interests. Media representatives are expected to fairly and factually report events and provide analyses prior to and after the summit. Each role has particular responsibilities and obligations that are described on this website.

COURSE  OBJECTIVES

COURSE  PHILOSOPHY

COURSE  EVALUATION

Student's participation in the preparation for the summit and in the summit itself, as evaluated by the professor and the teaching assistant, is a major component of the course grade. The evaluations are made on the basis of both qualitative and quantitative participation. Qualitative participation is conceived in terms of responsiveness to opportunities, restraints imposed by particular roles and situations, realism of the behavior, negotiation effectiveness etc. Quantitative participation is based on the time and effort put into the course. Attendance is required at each class meeting.

Evaluation of the learning achieved by students through the class will be based on several assessment measures (writings, labs, etc..) that will be given different weights:

25% writings
20% labs
30% presentations
15% class discussion
10% negotiation contribution
plus
10% bonus for in-depth course evaluation




Professor Catherine Gautier, D.Sc.
6804 Ellison Hall
office hours by appointment
email: gautier@icess.ucsb.edu
telephone: (805) 893-8095

Teaching Assistant Stacy Rebich
6803 Ellison Hall
office hours M-R 2 - 3 pm
email: stacy@icess.ucsb.edu
telephone: (805) 893-4912