Spring 2027

Climate Change, Climate Action: the Social Dimensions of Climate Change

Explores social dimensions of climate change, including political, economic, and environmental factors shaping drivers, impacts, and community responses to the crisis.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Maddy Kroot

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the basic biophysical drivers of climate change and situate them in their broader socio-spatial contexts.

  • Describe core concepts in the climate social sciences, including mitigation, adaptation, vulnerability, resilience, and climate justice.

  • Discuss the broad contours of the social dimensions of climate change, including how they relate to political economies, energy systems, cities, agriculture, and human migration.

  • Critically assess different climate solutions, their feasibility, the obstacles to their implementation, and their uneven impacts.

  • Connect course material to climate justice and policy work occurring locally near campus, across Wisconsin, or in student hometowns.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2 UW Guide 3

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades

No recorded grade history.

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Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ATMOCN/ENVIRST/GEOG 131

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 880
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 220
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 880
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 220
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 880
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 220

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

The planet's climate is changing, and humans are causing it. This means that climate change is not only a topic of study for the biophysical sciences, but also for the social sciences. Focuses on the social dimensions of climate change: the social, political, environmental, and economic factors that shape the drivers and impacts of climate change and the ability of different places and communities to respond. Examines both the social problems that arise from climate change and the social solutions to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. How do these social dimensions shape climate change, and how does climate change shape different social dimensions? What climate solutions are being proposed, what climate solutions are already being implemented, and how can we critically evaluate the uneven impacts of those solutions across society and space?

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Social, political, environmental, and economic factors driving climate change
  • Community capacity to respond to climate change
  • Social problems arising from climate change and mitigation/adaptation solutions
  • Uneven impacts of climate solutions across society and space

Skills

  • Explain basic biophysical drivers of climate change in socio-spatial contexts
  • Describe core climate social science concepts like mitigation, adaptation, and justice
  • Discuss social dimensions relating to political economies, energy, cities, and migration
  • Critically assess climate solutions, feasibility, obstacles, and uneven impacts

Grades

Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

No grades available yet.

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ATMOCN/ENVIRST/GEOG 131 · Spring 2027

Climate Change, Climate Action: The Social Dimensions of Climate Change

Recorded 2026-10-14
ATMOCN/ENVIRST/GEOG 131 · Spring 2027

Climate Change, Climate Action: The Social Dimensions of Climate Change

Recorded 2026-10-14
ATMOCN/ENVIRST/GEOG 131 · Spring 2027

Climate Change, Climate Action: The Social Dimensions of Climate Change

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "course_id": "ATMOCN/ENVIRST/GEOG 131",
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    "source_subject_id": "360",
    "title": "Climate Change, Climate Action: The Social Dimensions of Climate Change",
    "credits_min": 3,
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    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
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  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
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    "source_course_id": "027431",
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    "title": "Climate Change, Climate Action: The Social Dimensions of Climate Change",
    "credits_min": 3,
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]
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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "b580106835ffbc5667aa17359a146912d602f5d16b57b63db659af1770db858c",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}