3 cool degrees to solve global warming every aspiring Greta Thunberg should know

If there’s ever a time to seriously consider global warming degrees, it’s now. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Saturday said upcoming climate talks in Glasgow, billed as humanity’s last chance to avoid catastrophic global warming, were unlikely to “lead to big changes.”

Thunberg, whose Fridays For Future movement has inspired massive street protests around the world, said activists need to keep on “pushing” for real change. “As it is now, this COP will not lead to any big changes, we’re going to have to continue pushing,” she told AFP on the sidelines of a climate concert organised in Stockholm.

The COP26 meeting in Scotland is being held from October 31 until November 12. It is the biggest climate conference since landmark talks in Paris in 2015, and is seen as a crucial step in setting worldwide emissions targets to slow global warming.

Thunberg, however, is not impressed. International summits like COP26 “have a potential of changing (things) since they gather so many people together,” but only if they “switch the focus from trying to create loopholes” to “actually saving the planet”.

“So we may need to make sure that we use that opportunity to actually change things,” she said.

The best way for real change to happen? Education. The more experts we have on how to curb global warming, the likelier it is that we can overcome humanity’s existential crisis.

Below are five institutions that offer global warming degrees:

University of Northampton

Learn more and understand the science of changes in the global climate. You’ll  explore the politics and contested nature of sustainable climate solutions through informed debate and discussion. This will prepare you for work in organisations and businesses that are  underpinned by consideration of sustainability and climate change.

These global warming degrees, unlike international summits, actually have sizzle. Source: Alberto Pizzoli/AFO

University of Copenhagen

Located in Denmark, this university offers the MSc in Climate Change, a two-year interdisciplinary programme combining natural and social science approaches to the study of climate change. Graduates will be equipped to take up job functions associated with local, national and international efforts to deal with climate change.

Northern Arizona University

Nestled in Arizona – a state famous for the Grand Canyon – NAU offers a MSc in Climate Science and Solutions, which takes an interdisciplinary approach in addressing global climate change issues.

Students will learn the science of climate change, and the policy, economics and technology of climate change mitigation, in addition to electives oriented toward their interests in biological, engineering, policy or economic approaches to climate solutions. Students can also undergo internships with a private firm, NGO or government agency working in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Additional reporting by AFP