Unit 1: Global Change: Why We Need to Act Now

Melissa Ramirez, Ph.D. and Jason Flores, Ph.D. provide an introduction to the topic of Global Change and to the course Wicked Problems, Wolfpack Solutions: Global Change.

Humans have, over the past 12,000 years, accelerated in population growth rates and ecological consequences, ushering in a new geological era, the anthropocene.

Archaeology is a discipline that is well-positioned to study the 6000 years of urban living, and ancient cities can provide insight into some of the wicked problems of modern urbanism.

In this (Part 2 of 2) Kathryn Grossman, Ph.D. discusses how archaeologists study ancient cities.

How we choose as a society to build our cities will have profound effects on Earth’s environment and climate for decades and centuries to come.

In this video (Part 2 of 2) research ecologist Adam Terando, Ph.D. discusses the evolution and present realities of cities, and how choices we have made to prioritize development of automobile-centered suburbs have contributed to impacts on the environment and the climate.

Jorge Mari, Ph.D. argues in this video that futuristic sci-fi movies are more than simple forms of entertainment, but expressions of the times and societies that made them.

Like science, science fiction tends to look at human beings from distant perspectives of time and space, but because it is fiction, it grounds its observations in the lives of individual people, showing how large environmental and social forces affect particular characters ...

In this podcast, we hear from author Kim Stanley Robinson as he shares insights from writing the book Ministry for the Future and about the science behind events in the novel.

North Carolina’s climate is changing. The state is warming, precipitation events are becoming more extreme, and the ocean is rising. This is a different state than it was 30 years ago, and in the future it will be a different state than it is today.

Katie Mack, Ph.D. answers questions from students about the history and future of the universe.