Geography 506: Community Service in Geography
Fall 2018 Assignment
The goal of this two-part assignment is for you to forecast future climate impacts on CSU, Chico and identify potential adaptations or changes to campus operations that will allow those operations to continue. To overcome the dissonance that people feel when hearing about climate change, you will describe the adaptations in story form, written from the future looking back.
Climate Change and Chico State
Use one of the climate tools on Cal-Adapt to forecast the conditions in Chico for 2037, and explain the impact on Chico generally. This is not a journal. Be specific and use the data from Cal-Adapt. For this part of the assignment, you should write in the third person.
After describing the impact generally, describe the impact specifically on a single population, function or structure in one of the three traditional sectors of the University: Academic Affairs, Business Affairs, and Student Affairs. Be as detailed as possible. Be sure to cite your academic sources. You should meet with staff from your sector to better understand the potential impacts. Request your appointment now because you may need to wait because their calendar is full for the next two weeks. Please be polite and punctual.
Your forecast and description should be 150-250 words combined, and written in standard paragraph form.
Dispatch from the Future
Your dispatch will briefly describe the impacts cited above and tell the story of how the University adapted to ease the impact on students, faculty, staff, and general campus operations.
You will write the story in either first or third person. You are a student or a student staff member, and the setting is the night before the 150th Anniversary of Chico State in 2037. You are amazed that you made it. You are also amazed that the University made it, given the changes to the climate. Describe your impact as a past event that the University has survived. Explain how the impact—heat, fires, etc.—affected the campus, students, faculty, and/or staff. Then describe the successful response to said impact. Be positive, hopeful, and as specific as possible.
Your story should be between 250-500 words and written in standard paragraph form.
