This course provides a broad overview of the processes that have shaped the climate in which we live, and of consequences of changes to this climate. The principal functions of climate in relation to the hydrosphere and biosphere are introduced, and climate change over geological time is described. The basic data used by climate science to identify and explain historical climate change, paleoclimate change, and more recent climate trends are examined. The course also considers the difference between climate science and 'pseudoscience' and how to evaluate predictions of future climate change. Fulfills the Gen Ed Intellectual Inquiry's Natural/Physical/Mathematical Sciences requirement.