Course Description
Bending/Curve: Climate Change, POLI 117R
This online course focuses on developing urgent climate change solutions that integrate technology, policy and governance, finance, land-use, and social / educational dimensions.
Key Information
Credit: 4 quarter units /
2.67 semester units credit
UC San Diego, POLI
Course Credit:
Upon successful completion, all online courses offered through cross-enrollment provide UC unit credit. Some courses are approved for GE, major preparation and/or, major credit or can be used as a substitute for a course at your campus.If "unit credit" is listed by your campus, consult your department, academic adviser or Student Affairs division to inquire about the petition process for more than unit credit for the course.
UC Berkeley:
Unit Credit
UC Davis:
Course Equivalence: UCD ESP 165
UC Irvine:
Course Equivalence: UCI - EngrCEE 195; EngrMAE 195; UPPP 100; EarthSS 100
General Education: IV
UC Los Angeles:
Course Equivalence: UCLA A&O SCI 188
UC Merced:
Unit Credit (see your Academic Advisor)
UC Riverside:
Course Equivalence: UCR PBPL 171; ENGR 171;
General Education: Elective units
UC San Diego:
General Education: Sixth - 1 course Analytic Methodologies ERC 1 natural science, Seventh - 1 course towards Alternatives - Natural Sciences and Engineering
Major Requirement: Upper division elective for Environmental Systems / Earth Sciences
UC San Francisco:
Unit Credit
UC Santa Barbara:
Course Equivalence: SIO 109R / POLI 117R at UC San Diego is related to Environmental Studies 50 at UCSB through the ""Bending the Curve"" initiative
General Education: This course will apply to Area C automatically upon completion
UC Santa Cruz:
General Education: PE-E
More About The Course
Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions is a fully online course (“BtC online course”) designed to focus on scalable solutions for carbon neutrality and climate stability. It is based on the hybrid course of the same name, which features lecture video from 23 UC faculty on topics as broad-ranging as political science, economics, religion, transportation, climate and atmospheric science, nuclear technology, law, and social justice. The student cohort is similarly diverse in their areas of study, which allows for rich discussion during both asynchronous discussions leading to collaborative work and dialog in weekly live sessions.
The online course uses the hybrid course as its base and optimizes its design for a fully digital learning environment. Lecture videos will remain the foundation of course content, and students will still be expected to work together to prepare for and actively participate in mandatory live sessions that are hosted via Zoom. Additionally, weekly small group asynchronous discussion forums will challenge students to imagine solutions to the climate change problem in ways that demonstrate their ability to synthesize key issues across a diverse range of disciplines. A mid-term and comprehensive final exam facilitated through two leading learning validation systems provide assessment of student achievement and learning.
Course Creators

Veerabhadran Ramanathan
