SYN 100 Course Information 

Summer Session 1

Think Tank Simulation
Instructor: Ryan Rosenberg
This SYN 100 section will be structured as a simulation of a think tank with different student-led departments working on a variety of project topics that could fall under the broad scope of policy or nonprofit work. There is no predetermined theme for these projects besides the think tank framework. Each team will spend the quarter developing a project and then use them to contribute to a publication which the class will produce together as if it were a unified organization. This section is open to all majors and will be appealing to students interested in political science, public policy, data science, data visualization, qualitative research, economics, graphic design, publications, public outreach, and more. Regardless of discipline, it is expected that students bring an enthusiasm for participating in and behaving appropriately for a semi-professional simulation. There will be very little lecturing, instead, be prepared to explore opportunities to leverage your unique skill sets in ways of your choosing while also developing collaborative work and leadership experience. 

Climate Displacement and Migration
Instructor: Leslie Meyer
Last year, a record 100 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide, equivalent to 1% of the global population. This class asks the question: what role does the climate crisis play in the story of human migration? Students will learn to employ a climate lens when analyzing migration in the region of their choice – whether analyzing reports of asylum trends at the US-Mexico border, sea-border crossings between Africa and Europe, internal displacement here in California, or elsewhere. Then, students will work in groups on projects that either 1) translate research findings into a creative medium such as film, or 2) propose or highlight creative solutions.

Summer Session 2

Food Justice
Instructor: Kira Jacobson
Technology has changed the ways we produce food. In the wake of the climate crisis, this has raised many concerns. For example, industrial food production contributes to over a third of green-house gas emissions. Another consideration is the environmental devastation that can be caused by a nation’s staple crop becoming the next ‘superfood’ in Western countries. Perhaps most worrying are the impacts of floods, fires, and droughts on farming. In this course, students will create projects that explore, challenge, further, communicate, and/or examine a problem related to food and how this is impacted by the climate crisis. It asks the question: how can we work toward a more sustainable future for food? Examples of projects can include (but are not limited to) media-based artifacts (such as a series of short videos, podcasts, narrative based-cookbooks, etc.), exhibitions, community-engaged events or initiatives, and written projects. 

Identity and Accessibility in the Climate Justice Movement
Instructor: Leslie Meyer
The climate justice movement recognizes that the negative impacts of the climate crisis are distributed unequally across social groups and geographic regions. In other words, who and where we are influence the type and degree of risks we face. Yet inevitably the movement, like all social movements, is shaped by multiple axes of privilege and discrimination, influencing who participates in climate action and how, and the ways that key issues and demands are identified, framed, pursued, or left behind.

Students in the course will be encouraged to think critically about how their own intersectional identities — related to class, race, sexuality, disability, physical and mental health, age, gender, immigration status, etc. —  contribute to their beliefs, fears, hopes, and (in)actions around the climate crisis. During the first few sessions of class, students will practice applying an intersectional framework to engage with questions such as: What would it look like to achieve a just and sustainable future(s)? What cultural values and assumptions inform that vision? How can climate activists and students learn from other cultures' ecological knowledge and practices while avoiding appropriation?

The rest of the term will be almost entirely student driven. Students will work in groups to explore a climate justice-related question rooted in some aspect of their own and/or their group mates' intersectional identities. For example, a group could explore how the Synthesis Program could become more accessible to students with disabilities. Each student group will produce a public-facing deliverable such as a documentary, podcast series, art piece, play, or publishable research paper by the end of the term.

Water and climate change are inextricably linked. With rising temperatures and sea levels, access to clean water becomes increasingly challenging; by 2040, nearly 25% of children will live in areas without reliable access to clean water. Elevated greenhouse gasses have increased the acidity of our oceans, harming marine organisms; it is estimated that over 50% of marine life will be affected by ocean acidification. And finally, our reliance on plastics has led to unprecedented levels of pollution in our waterways; there is currently an accumulation of plastic in the Pacific Ocean that equates to twice the size of Texas. In this section of SYN 100, students will work in collaborative groups to design and execute projects that address the connections between water and climate change. Projects can approach this challenge from any angle including, but not limited to education, communication, engineering, or visual arts.

Technology has changed the ways we produce food. In the wake of the climate crisis, this has raised many concerns. For example, industrial food production contributes to over a third of green-house gas emissions. Another consideration is the environmental devastation that can be caused by a nation’s staple crop becoming the next ‘superfood’ in Western countries. Perhaps most worrying are the impacts of floods, fires, and droughts on farming. In this course, students will create projects that explore, challenge, further, communicate, and/or examine a problem related to food and how this is impacted by the climate crisis. It asks the question: how can we work toward a more sustainable future for food? Examples of projects can include (but are not limited to) media-based artifacts (such as a series of short videos, podcasts, narrative based-cookbooks, etc.), exhibitions, community-engaged events or initiatives, and written projects. 

Many approaches exist to educate people about our changing planet. From UC’s Bending the Curve to green marketing, to museum installations, to climate escape rooms and gaming, to neighborhood gardening projects, people find ways to teach others about climate justice and how to improve the relationship between humans and the planet. 

In this section of SYN 100, students will learn about both local and global climate education projects to find inspiration for a team project they will propose and implement during the quarter. As a class we will explore such questions as: Does climate education work best at a particular age or through a particular method of instruction? How much science is needed to understand how humans impact the planet? What is the value of active learning and how do we apply it beyond the classroom? How specific does instruction need to be to bring about change? This section is for students who want to expand a curriculum project and those who want to use their creativity and knowledge to create an interactive education project. You have what you need for this section if you are open to applying what you know from other courses and experiences to project design and implementation. 

Think Tank Simulation
Instructor: Ryan Rosenberg

The climate crisis is a key example of a “wicked problem” which is a policy challenge that seems insurmountably difficult to solve due to the complexity of stakeholder interests and the unpredictable parameters of the problem itself.  Approaching a problem like this demands unprecedented levels of collaborative solutions that must be implemented by policymakers at the local, federal, and even international governmental level. Consequently, many "think tanks" and nongovernmental organizations aim to influence key policymakers by researching and writing policy reports that advocate for certain courses of action.   

This SYN 100 section will be structured as a simulation of a think tank with different student-led departments working on a variety of unique projects that could fall under the scope of policy or nonprofit work. Each team will spend the quarter developing their chosen projects and then use them to contribute to the publication of a singular report which the class will produce together as a unified organization. This section is open to all majors and will be appealing to students interested in political science, public policy, data science, data visualization, qualitative research, economics, graphic design, publications, public outreach, and more. Regardless of discipline, it is expected that students bring an enthusiasm for participating in and behaving appropriately for a self-directed professional simulation. There will be very little lecturing, instead, be prepared to explore opportunities to leverage your unique skill sets in ways of your choosing while also developing collaborative work and leadership experience.

What is the role of artists in imagining and designing a future of climate justice? How does art make us reflect on our present and past ways of relating to each other and to nature? How can art translate hard facts about climate change into more accessible formats? How can art help us to process climate despair, grief, and trauma? How can art instigate social change?

In this SYN 100 course, we will work in small groups toward a common goal: creating a public art exhibit during Week 10. We will start the quarter by examining the work of artists whose work explores the climate crisis and interconnected issues, in order to decide on the theme of our own exhibit. Some students will create art for the exhibit, while others may be involved in such tasks as recruiting outside artists and choosing pieces, promoting and marketing the event, managing the budget, securing materials, and more.

Students of all backgrounds are welcome in this course. You do not need to consider yourself an artist, but you should have an interest in exploring how art can be a tool for change. 

Extended Reality (XR; a term which includes Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality) applications represent the growing edge of technology in many businesses today. But how can Virtual Reality development and tools address Climate Change? In this SYN100 class, students will work in cross-disciplinary groups to design their own VR projects, for the platform of their choice. These projects could take the form of websites, online games, mobile apps, or headset experiences, depending on the interest of the group. These projects can focus on a number of disciplines relevant to the climate crisis, including but not limited to education, communication, visual arts, technology, and community outreach. This course will be accessible to all students, regardless of major. 

Climate Change, Cultural Heritage, and Digital Documentation
Instructor: Neil Smith

Documenting and tracking climatic change is a complex task. In particular, climatically endangered natural and cultural heritage sites are disappearing at a rapid pace. Their digital documentation can both preserve our knowledge of their current state but also serve as a tool for education and communication on climatic change to a broad audience.  In this SYN100 class, students will work in cross-disciplinary groups to design projects around the problem of digital documentation of climatically endangered sites. A special emphasis of the class will be on utilizing VR/AR, photogrammetry, GIS, and gaming engines as platforms of digital documentation and dissemination. The course is open to all majors and will introduce students to the topics and related tools mentioned above.

Instructor: Brenna Gormally

Water and climate change are inextricably linked. Access to clean water, the stability of our marine ecosystems, and the frequency and severity of droughts are all being impacted by climate change. As a community of over 50,000 students, faculty, and staff, UCSD functions as a small city and therefore interacts with water in a variety of ways. In this section of SYN 100, students will work in collaborative teams to design and execute projects that address the connections between water and climate change, specifically on the UCSD campus. Projects can approach this challenge from any angle including, but not limited to education, communication, engineering, or visual arts.

Instructor: Kyle Haines

The physical border wall has become a controversial and divisive political object in national politics in the US and Mexico alike.  More locally, it divides ecosystems, communities, and cities situated across one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world, the California Floristic Region, extends from northern California to southern Baja with its characteristically-rich biomes, communities, and animal ranges.  In our region this continuity is broken—human, animal, and plant communities alike are separated by the physical border wall, often with drastic consequences in terms of cultural survivance, climate adaptation, and conservation of endangered species.

In this section of SYN 100, students will be introduced to the efforts by the UCSD Center on Global Justice and our partners to build cross-border solutions to climate change through the lens of this canyon-estuary system. Specifically, students will learn the social, ecological, and urban context of the canyon-estuary system in terms of the social and ecological landscape, be asked to articulate the continuity and rupture represented in the binational system in human and natural communities, and finally to design and carry out collaborative projects that help build adaptive capacity for dealing with climate change in a just and resilient way across the binational community.

Instructor: Leslie Meyer

Youth activists have been at the center of social movements throughout history, including global climate justice action. But, activism and confronting the harsh realities of climate change can take a toll on mental health, exacerbating already high levels of anxiety, depression, and trauma-related stress — especially among young people of color. This SYN 100 course departs from the belief that climate justice action won’t be sustainable nor liberatory unless it’s healing. Students will work in groups to develop projects that address the question: how can young people center individual and collective wellbeing in their climate justice activism? We will engage with scholarship on social movement strategies, healing justice, and the mental health effects of climate change. This is a project-based course, not group therapy, but during our class meetings we will practice what we preach; students will be expected to be open-minded to experimenting with and sharing strategies for managing ecological angst and grief, such as check-ins, breath work, short guided meditations, and journaling. 

Instructor: Trish Stone

Extended Reality (XR; a term which includes Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality) applications represent the growing edge of technology in many businesses today. But how can Virtual Reality development and tools address Climate Change? In this SYN100 class, students will work in cross-disciplinary groups to design their own VR projects, for the platform of their choice. These projects could take the form of websites, online games, mobile apps, or headset experiences, depending on the interest of the group. These projects can focus on a number of disciplines relevant to the climate crisis, including but not limited to education, communication, visual arts, technology, and community outreach. This course will be accessible to all students, regardless of major.

Instructor: Neil Smith

Documenting and tracking climatic change is a complex task. In particular, climatically endangered natural and cultural heritage sites are disappearing at a rapid pace. Their digital documentation can both preserve our knowledge of their current state but also serve as a tool for education and communication on climatic change to a broad audience.  In this SYN100 class, students will work in cross-disciplinary groups to design projects around the problem of digital documentation of climatically endangered sites. A special emphasis of the class will be on utilizing VR/AR, photogrammetry, GIS, and gaming engines as platforms of digital documentation and dissemination. The course is open to all majors and will introduce students to the topics and related tools mentioned above.

Food

Instructor: Tresa LeClerc

Technology has changed the ways we produce food. In the wake of the climate crisis, this has raised many concerns. For example, industrial food production contributes to over a third of green-house gas emissions. Another consideration is the environmental devastation that can be caused by a nation’s staple crop becoming the next ‘superfood’ in Western countries. Perhaps most worrying are the impacts of floods, fires, and droughts on farming. In this course, students will create projects that explore, challenge, further, communicate, and/or examine a problem related to food and how this is impacted by the climate crisis. It asks the question: how can we work toward a more sustainable future for food? Examples of projects can include (but are not limited to) media-based artifacts (such as a series of short videos, podcasts, narrative based-cookbooks, etc.), exhibitions, community-engaged events or initiatives, and written projects.

Instructor: Jill Gladstein

Many approaches exist to educate people about our changing planet. From UC’s Bending the Curve to green marketing, to museum installations, to climate escape rooms and gaming, to neighborhood gardening projects, people find ways to teach others about climate justice and how to improve the relationship between humans and the planet. 

In this section of SYN 100, students will learn about both local and global climate education projects to find inspiration for a team project they will propose and implement during the quarter. As a class we will explore such questions as: Does climate education work best at a particular age or through a particular method of instruction? How much science is needed to understand how humans impact the planet? What is the value of active learning and how do we apply it beyond the classroom? How specific does instruction need to be to bring about change? This section is for students who want to expand a curriculum project and those who want to use their creativity and knowledge to create an interactive education project. You have what you need for this section if you are open to applying what you know from other courses and experiences to project design and implementation.

Instructor: Ryan Rosenberg

The climate crisis is a key example of a “wicked problem” which is a policy challenge that seems insurmountably difficult to solve due to the complexity of stakeholder interests and the unpredictable parameters of the problem itself.  The nature of a "wicked problem" like the climate crisis is that it demands unprecedented levels of collaborative solutions that must be implemented by policymakers at the local, federal, and even international governmental level. Consequently, "think tanks" and other nongovernmental organizations (NGO) aim to influence key policymakers by researching and writing policy reports that advocate for certain courses of action.  

This SYN 100 section will be structured as a simulation of a think tank with different student-led departments working to produce in-depth policy reports on topics of their choosing. This section is open to all majors and will be appealing to students interested in political science, public policy, data science, data visualization, qualitative research, economics, graphic design, public outreach, and more. Regardless of discipline, students will be expected to bring an enthusiasm for exploring policy problems in a professional simulation that will provide opportunities to leverage their unique skill sets while developing collaboration and leadership experience.

Water

Instructor: Brenna Gormally

Water and climate change are inextricably linked. With rising temperatures and sea levels, access to clean water becomes increasingly challenging; by 2040, nearly 25% of children will live in areas without reliable access to clean water. Elevated greenhouse gasses have increased the acidity of our oceans, harming marine organisms; it is estimated that over 50% of marine life will be affected by ocean acidification. And finally, our reliance on plastics has led to unprecedented levels of pollution in our waterways; there is currently an accumulation of plastic in the Pacific Ocean that equates to twice the size of Texas. In this section of SYN 100, students will work in collaborative groups to design and execute projects that address the connections between water and climate change. Projects can approach this challenge from any angle including, but not limited to education, communication, engineering, or visual arts.

Environmental Justice in Divided Territory

Instructor: Kyle Haines

Despite the proximity of urban settlements, residents and communities along either side of the US-Mexico border continue to confront planetary-scale issues like climate change separately, with drastic consequences for the most vulnerable in our region. In the Tijuana River Estuary in southern San Diego County and the Los Laureles Canyon in Tijuana, ecological change and social vulnerability converge to produce major human health and ecological security concerns in both countries. In this section of SYN 100, students will be introduced to the efforts by the UCSD Center on Global Justice and our partners to build cross-border solutions to climate change through the lens of this canyon-estuary system. Specifically, students will learn the social, ecological, and urban context of the canyon-estuary system, be asked to articulate the continuity and rupture represented in the binational system, and finally design and carry out collaborative projects that address adaptive resilience to climate change in a just and resilient way.

Mental Health and Climate Justice Activism 

Instructor: Leslie Meyer

Youth activists have been at the center of social movements throughout history, including global climate justice action. But, activism and confronting the harsh realities of climate change can take a toll on mental health, exacerbating already high levels of anxiety, depression, and trauma-related stress — especially among young people of color. This SYN 100 course departs from the belief that climate justice action won’t be sustainable nor liberatory unless it’s healing. Students will work in groups to develop projects that address the question: how can young people center individual and collective wellbeing in their climate justice activism? We will engage with scholarship on social movement strategies, healing justice, and the mental health effects of climate change. This is a project-based course, not group therapy, but during our class meetings we will practice what we preach; students will be expected to be open-minded to experimenting with and sharing strategies for managing ecological angst and grief, such as check-ins, breath work, short guided meditations, and journaling. 

Virtual Reality and Climate Change

Instructor: Trish Stone

Virtual Reality applications represent the growing edge of technology in many businesses today. But how can Virtual Reality development and tools address Climate Change? In this SYN100 class, students will work in cross-disciplinary groups to design their own VR projects, for the platform of their choice. These projects could take the form of websites, online games, mobile apps, or headset experiences, depending on the interest of the group. These projects can focus on a number of disciplines relevant to the climate crisis, including but not limited to education, communication, visual arts, technology, and community outreach. This course will be accessible to all students, regardless of major. 

Climate Change, Cultural Heritage, and Digital Documentation

Instructor: Neil Smith

Documenting and tracking climatic change is a complex task. In particular, climatically endangered natural and cultural heritage sites are disappearing at a rapid pace. Their digital documentation can both preserve our knowledge of their current state but also serve as a tool for education and communication on climatic change to a broad audience.  In this SYN100 class, students will work in cross-disciplinary groups to design projects around the problem of digital documentation of climatically endangered sites. A special emphasis of the class will be on utilizing VR/AR, photogrammetry, GIS, and gaming engines as platforms of digital documentation and dissemination. The course is open to all majors and will introduce students to the topics and related tools mentioned above.