A new online graduate-level certificate at Colorado State University will teach students and professionals concrete skills in climate change adaptation and risk management to bring to their current and future careers in natural resources fields. The Climate Adaptation and Risk Management certificate is nicknamed “CARMA.”
Faculty across the Warner College of Natural Resources and the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering will share their expertise in managing natural resources for climate resilience and challenge students to identify, evaluate, and implement climate-adaptive management and community engagement strategies.
Students are expected to be current graduate students at CSU or other professionals who want to add new skills in addressing climate change. The online asynchronous format will allow students the flexibility to complete the program around their current job or studies.
“One of the exciting things about the program is it will be useful to people in many different fields and careers,” said Sarah Walker, a professor of human-environment interactions and certificate instructor. “From the role of private sector businesses in supporting climate resilience to nonprofits or government agencies, the reality is that addressing climate change and mitigating and adapting to risk is something all these sectors are dealing with.”
The certificate is housed in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship with classes also led by instructors across the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, and Atmospheric Science departments. Four core courses are required, in addition to a variety of electives, for a total of 10 to 13 credit hours. The required courses are Global Climate Change, Climate Policy and Justice, Climate Change Communication and Engagement, and Climate Impacts and Risk Management.
Faculty members say that the effective communication and community engagement skills students will hone are an essential part of creating a more climate-resilient future.
“We’re seeing that people doing natural resource management need to understand how to communicate climate change to the general public and how to plan for it,” Professor Courtney Schultz said. “Students will gain an understanding of the models and the science but also learn how to do community outreach and integrate it into decision-making.”
Schultz is a leader in natural resource and climate change adaptation policy and helped create the certificate. She is a professor in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship and leads the Climate Adaptation Partnership at CSU, which offers students an opportunity to get involved in interdisciplinary research efforts to address climate adaptation challenges and build connections among researchers and policymakers to apply climate adaptation research in policy venues.
“CSU is a great place to be hosting this because we do a lot of actionable science where we really take science to practice, and we have tremendous expertise in the natural resource management context,” Schultz said.
Courses in the certificate incorporate aspects of environmental justice – the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income in developing, implementing, and enforcing environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Currently, poor and marginalized communities are harmed more than other groups by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and the many impacts and risks posed by a changing climate.
A climate policy and justice class taught by Andrea Baudoin Farah, professor of ecosystem science and sustainability, addresses these inequalities. Having the skills to tackle this challenge is necessary for jobs addressing climate change with governmental and other land management entities.
“The course will provide students with an overview of the unequal distribution of the benefits and burdens of natural resource use across scales, as well as the role of policy tools and approaches in creating, exacerbating, or addressing those inequalities,” Farah said.
Professor Scott Denning in the Department of Atmospheric Science is inspired by the impact of instructing other leaders in global climate change and imparting his expertise in climate science.
“Teaching about climate change is an opportunity to help students understand that we aren’t doomed to a terrible future. We know exactly what we need to do to stop global warming. We must stop setting carbon on fire and repower the world with clean energy,” Denning said.
The first cohort of students will begin in the spring of 2024 in an asynchronous online format through CSU Online with applications due in December.
Robin Rothfeder, professor and program coordinator, said that this type of program is needed right now to inform leaders how to deal with the current effects of climate change.
“It is now increasingly becoming apparent that climate risks and impacts are not future concerns, they are daily considerations. The time is now for us to focus on climate change impacts across sectors of society,” Rothfeder said. “We need future leaders in this program to take that knowledge and put it to use. I’m excited to have the chance to be involved in doing that.”
For more information on the certificate, visit CSU Online’s webpage.
