Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: CLIMATE CHANGE, ECONOMICS, AND THE WINE INDUSTRY: APPLIED ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM SOLVING FOR THE 21ST

Department: Earth/Environmnt/Planetary Sci

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture/Laboratory

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Wine has been produced throughout the subtropics for thousands of years, and is a pillar of the international dining, leisure, and tourism economies. Climate change is altering weather conditions at wineries whose grape production is critically sensitive to seasonal microclimates. This poses a major threat to the wine industry, but also offers opportunities for targeted adaptation. Wine grapes are sensitive not only to climate, but to soil type and health, bedrock geology, and shade (or terroir - all the environmental factors that influence grapes). To adapt and maintain wine economies in France and worldwide, wine makers require high-resolution seasonal climate predictions coupled with geospatial mapping linking grape production and terroir. Themes, Learning Outcomes: This course will immerse students in an environmental problem solving challenge, working in teams to identify climate change ‘choke points’ for wine makers. This highly interdisciplinary course will introduce concepts from climate change to microeconomics, using the wine industry as a case study. This course will take place over a three week period during Rice Global Maymester.