Climate change is happening. As a society, we know we need to accommodate it, design for it, and slow its progress, yet as individuals many of us struggle to take meaningful action. 

This class will perch itself on the Golden Gate bridge. The views from it are iconic, but how will they differ in 2025, 2050, 2100?  Does an emotional attachment to a place motivate meaningful change to preserve it? Might we leverage and share stories to diminish the spatial and temporal remoteness of global change? 

This course takes place during one full weekend in San Francisco on April 8th and 9th (9-5), followed by two meetings on campus on April 14th and April 28th (10:30-12:20). 

During our weekend course we will learn about the science of global change and the ways in which the view from the Golden Gate Bridge may dramatically differ in the future as a result of changing temperatures and rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, shifts in flora and fauna, and decisions about the built environment and infrastructure.  Using methodologies of human-centered design, we will understand what fosters a sense of place and how iconic landscapes influence perceptions of global change. We will generate ideas for communicating the impact of projected change, and we will experiment with different ways of creating a sense of urgency among our fellow humans to act now. Artifacts from the class will be published in the days leading up to Earth Day as part of the Science March in Washington. This class is for students interested in the urgency of global change and in seeking new and innovative ways to communicate it.

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Questions?

kmaher@stanford.edu