Witness the causes and social impacts of climate change across four continents and examine possibilities for local and global environmental justice.
16
Relevant previous coursework recommended
English
early February – mid May
Ecuador, Morocco, Nepal, United States
USA, Morocco, Nepal, Ecuador
Climate & Environment
Development & Inequality
Explore some of the world’s most productive and vulnerable landscapes to witness how climate change impacts regions differently and how communities are responding to the climate crisis. In four cultural and socio-ecological contexts, you’ll analyze the challenges of working toward more equitable food, water, and energy systems. Examine the problems and possible solutions with researchers, farmers, activists, social entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations, and policymakers.
In Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, you’ll meet farmers striving to modernize their agricultural practices and understand how the country, which has few fossil fuels, is embracing renewable energy. In Nepal, you will be uniquely located in a country that is vulnerable to climate change but has numerous initiatives to tackle this global challenge. The course here will offer a chance to interact with experts, communities, and institutions across the Nepalese Himalayas and undertake a guided trek to Sikles Village and Kapuche Glacier Lake. In Ecuador, you will explore resilience strategies in and around Quito and travel to the Galapagos Islands to understand the threats of climate change and the efforts to conserve unique marine and island ecosystems.
Explore a Day in the Life of an IHP student!
Photos on this page may depict program sites from previous semesters. Please view the Program Sites section of this page to see where this program will travel.
None, although previous coursework in political science, economics, or environmental science is recommended.
(12 days)
Starting in the San Francisco Bay Area, study environmental justice and how race, class, and gender are key social determinants of vulnerability to climate impacts. Meet activists involved in the climate justice movement and delve into U.S. federal climate policy and the history of global climate change diplomacy. See the fossil fuel industry’s impacts on low-income communities in Richmond and learn about urban food justice efforts in the Bay Area.
(4+ weeks)
In the port city of Rabat, Morocco’s capital and diplomatic center, examine the complex social and political issues facing this country on the front lines of climate change. Travel to the Atlas Mountains, where you will visit a community working to preserve its local water source and meet with farmers striving to modernize their small-scale agricultural practices. You will visit an organic farm training center near Marrakech, and in Ouarzazate, you’ll visit the most concentrated solar power plants in the world.
(4+ weeks)
With a predominantly agrarian society in fragile mountain ecosystems, Nepal has one of the highest climate change vulnerability profiles in the world. You will develop your understanding of the region’s mountain people, their livelihoods, and the relevance of Himalayan ethnic identities and language endangerment to matters of equity and environmental security. You will learn about the biophysical and socioeconomic impacts that melting glaciers, shifting rainfall patterns, droughts, and floods are having on both highland and downstream agrarian communities. Furthermore, you will examine how Nepal’s relationship to the global climate financing mechanism affects its climate policies focusing on adaptation and transition to a low-carbon economy.
(4+ weeks)
Ecuador is home to four distinct ecological and geographical regions with specific climate change impacts and vulnerabilities: the Pacific coast, the Andes Highlands, the Amazon rainforest, and the Galapagos islands. In Quito, explore resilience strategies related to water scarcity, energy sovereignty, and land conflict, and consider how these topics intersect with challenges brought about by climate change. Visit the Galapagos Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where you will learn how climate change is one of the biggest threats to conservation of the Galapagos’ unique marine ecosystems. In Baños de Agua Santa, a gateway region to the Amazon, examine climate issues related to human rights, the rights of nature, and indigenous knowledge.
Please note that SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, however, SIT may have to change or cancel programs.
Upon successful completion of the program, students will be able to:
The following syllabi are representative of this program. Because courses develop and change over time to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, actual course content will vary from term to term.
The syllabi can be useful for students, faculty, and study abroad offices in assessing credit transfer. Read more about credit transfer.
The Science and Policy of Climate Change – syllabus
(ENVI3010 / 4 credits)
This course unpacks the basic science of climate change and global warming by examining the state-of-the-art science collated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and through regular engagement with scientists and researchers. The course also aims to critically engage with the science/policy interface. Students examine local, regional, and national mitigation and adaptation strategies as a matter of social policy, and learn about environmental governance mechanisms at local and regional levels; national climate policy frameworks; and global climate change negotiations.
Political Economy and Environmental Change since 1492 – syllabus
(ECON3010 / 4 credits)
This course analyzes the development and history of modern capitalism on a global scale. Topics of consideration include state formation, war, imperialism, technology, energy, environmental change, economic crisis, and “long waves of accumulation.” There is a particular focus on post-World War II developments, including the rise of Keynesianism globally; the role of socialist economies; the political economy of the Cold War; “Third World” development; the global crisis of profitability in the 1970s; economic restructuring and the turn toward neoliberalism; the acceleration of neoliberalism and its deepening crisis; and the possibility of alternative economic models.
Comparative Issues in Food, Water, and Energy – syllabus
(SDIS3070 / 4 credits)
This course looks at land, agriculture, water, and energy systems, and the attendant resources upon which these sectors depend. Students visit farms, fishing communities, powerplants, water management sites, and more while examining the political ecology of natural resource sectors using case studies and place-based analysis. Excursions and fieldwork will complement detailed studies of these resource sectors to experience, observe, and understand more concretely the multi-scalar impacts of regional and global forces on the landscapes, communities and economies of Morocco, Nepal, and Ecuador.
Fieldwork Ethics and Comparative Research Methods – syllabus
(ANTH3500 / 4 credits)
This course enables students to understand and benefit from field-based learning processes. It provides students with skills related to gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information from a range of sources, maximizing the knowledge provided by local contexts. The course intends to assist students in assessing their own cultural assumptions and in understanding people from different cultures. The seminar provides a framework for a qualitative research project involving data collection and comparative analysis to be undertaken in each of the countries visited.
Student accommodations will include a mix of homestays, hostels, guesthouses, and small hotels/dorms. Students will experience homestays where possible, given COVID-19, and will be oriented as they move from place to place.
More About Homestay Experiences:
Family structures will vary. For example, a host family may include a single mother of two small children, or a large extended family with many people coming and going. Please bear in mind that the idea of what constitutes a “home” (i.e., the physical nature of the house) may be different from what you would expect. You will need to be prepared to adapt to a new life with a new diet, a new schedule, new people, and possibly new priorities and expectations.
In most cases, students will be placed in homestays in pairs, with placements made to best accommodate health concerns, including allergies or dietary needs. Information about homestay families will only be available upon arriving in each country.
Recent positions held by alumni of this program include:
Research assistant for the United Nations, conducting work in Ecuador
Truman Scholarship recipient, continuing research at the postgraduate level
Fulbright recipients, returning to work in the countries the program visits
Intern at EcoPeace Middle East, Amman, Jordan
The faculty/staff team shown on this page is a sample of the individuals who may lead your specific program. Faculty and coordinators are subject to change to accommodate each program’s unique schedule and locations.
SIT Study Abroad is committed to making international education accessible to all students. Scholarship awards generally range from $500 to $5,000 for semester programs and $500 to $3,000 for summer programs. This year, SIT will award nearly 1 million in scholarships and grants to SIT Study Abroad students.
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