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Climate Justice: Vulnerability, Resilience, and Adaptation

University of California, Davis via Coursera

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Details

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Effort

3 weeks, 1 hour a week
Sessions

Self-Paced
Level

Beginner
Subtitles

English

Found in

Part of

Climate Justice

Overview

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This course examines how communities experience, resist, and adapt to climate injustice. Students explore how racial injustice, environmental harm, incarceration, labor exploitation, and grassroots movements are deeply connected to the climate crisis. The course then introduces community resilience and climate adaptation, focusing on how communities prepare for and respond to climate impacts such as wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, and extreme heat. Through the example of coastal adaptation, students also examine how strategies like seawalls, managed retreat, and climate infrastructure can either reduce vulnerability or reproduce displacement and inequality. Overall, this course emphasizes that just adaptation must be community-driven, historically informed, and rooted in equity rather than purely technical solutions.

Syllabus

Getting Started & Exploring the Roots of Climate Injustice
- In this module, Professor David Pellow explores the relationship between racial justice and climate justice, drawing on key concepts from scholarly literature as well as perspectives from grassroots movements. You will examine how environmental harms and climate impacts intersect with systems of racial inequality. Through these perspectives, the module highlights how different communities experience and respond to environmental challenges. By the end, you will have a deeper understanding of how racial justice is integral to climate justice and how these connections shape both research and action.
Community Resilience and Adaptation: Advancing Climate Justice
- In this module, Professor Clare Cannon introduces the concepts of community resilience and climate adaptation through an equity-focused lens. You will define these key terms and explore how communities respond to and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Using real-world examples, the module examines practices, processes, and policies that support resilience and adaptation across different contexts. By the end, you will be able to analyze and evaluate these approaches using climate justice and equity frameworks, deepening your understanding of how effective and inclusive solutions are developed.
Climate Justice on the Shore
- In this module, Professor Gray explores the concept of sea change and its connections to climate justice. You will examine how environmental transformations along coastlines both result from and contribute to patterns of climate injustice. The module introduces competing approaches to coastal adaptation, highlighting how cultural and political contexts shape decision-making and outcomes. By the end, you will be able to evaluate these pathways and envision adaptation strategies that align with principles of environmental and climate justice.