TCA 210: Introduction to the Human Dimensions of Climate Change

Examines a range of understandings of and approaches to addressing climate change, exploring: what kind of problem(s) it poses; what toolkits we need to develop to engage it effectively; how to collaborate across diverse understandings of and priorities in relation to it and what scales and kinds of actions should be prioritized.

Next offered: January 2026 (online)

TCA 310: Transformative Change

Introduces skills needed to support planning and decision-making about climate action under conditions of uncertainty, with particular attention to assessing sites for and implications of specific interventions. Emphasis placed on skills of risk analysis and anticipatory management, collaborative planning for diverse goals, and decision-making with sometimes contradictory and diverse forms of knowledge.

TCA 320: Politics, Policies and Planning for Climate Action

Uses British Columbia as a case study to introduce the policy and political contexts that shape climate action across scales from local to global, including relevant institutional and governance innovations. Emphasis placed on skills and strategies for engaging and overcoming stagnation and polarization; developing strategies that are responsive to climate science as well as social and ecological impacts, and effective communication.

Next offered: January 2026 (online)

TCA 405: Allyship, Solidarity and Transforming Relations

Focuses on theory and practices to help us build alliances powerful enough to transform systems. Settler colonialism and capitalism have damaged relationships with land and with each other. As we seek to build strong alliances towards climate justice, we need to be unlearning white supremacy, hierarchy and dominance and learning to build trust, reciprocity, and accountability.

TCA 410: Indigenous-led Climate Action

Explores Indigenous understandings of and responses to climate change, with a particular emphasis on developing skills for respectful and effective collaboration in support of Indigenous priorities.

TCA 415: Adaptation Planning and the Built Environment

Focuses on skills and strategies for urban and regional planning in the context of a rapidly-changing climate, including appropriate use of downscaled climate models to guide adaptation planning.

TCA 420: Water Futures: Collaborative Responses to Climate Impacts

Explores how governance is evolving to address the impacts of climate change on freshwater regimes, including cycles of drought, fire, and floods, with a particular emphasis on collaborative governance.

Next offered: January 2026 (online)

TCA 425: Organizing for Transformative Change

Focuses on concepts, skills and practices for organizing transformational change, including strategic landscape analysis, effective communications and alliance-building strategies, and navigating cultural and institutional impediments to change.

Next offered: January 2026 (online)

TCA 430: Future Ecosystems and Communities

Focuses on the interface between communities and the ecosystems that support them, developing skills and approaches for designing mitigation and adaptation strategies that support mutual flourishing, including adaptive management, ecological restoration, and nature-based solutions.

TCA 480: Special Topics in Transformative Climate Action

Presents selected topics in an emerging field related to transformative climate action or one not covered in regular offerings.

Psychology of Transformative Climate Action
This course introduces students to the psychology of systemic, collective, and individual-level climate action. It will provide students with the tools to: integrate psychological perspectives into climate action strategies, collaborate effectively with interdisciplinary solution-seekers, critically assess existing psychological strategies, and adopt a hopeful vision of climate action.

Next offered: January 2026 (in-person)

Political Ecology: Changemaking Skills for Thriving Communities
This community engaged course will introduce you to real local examples of successful social and environmental changemaking projects and the people who led them. Explore what has made these initiatives successful, consider how those lessons translate into the contemporary landscape, and build skills to help you find your place in movements for thriving communities. Students will contribute to a real community need and host a changemaker gathering as part of this course. NOTE: This gathering will occur Friday and Saturday February 20-21, 2026 and attendance is required.

Next offered: January 2026 (in-person)

TCA 490: Practicum in Transformative Climate Action

An opportunity to apply evolving of transformative climate action skills to field-based practice through placement with an organization, community group, or service. Involves a minimum of 100 hours of professional practice activity.