uwloo

SCI 201Global Warming and Climate Change

Units
0.50
Faculty
Science
Subject
Science

Not in the current Undergraduate Calendar. Shown as it appeared in 2025–26.

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 2 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

This course will survey a broad spectrum of topics relating to global climate change, with an emphasis on the scientific approaches to address this issue. Topics covered will include natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change, monitoring methods, current and low emission alternatives of energy production. The scientific, economic, public and political aspects of implementation of carbon capture and storage technology and other geo-engineering options to mitigate climate change will also be discussed.

Prerequisites

None listed.

Antirequisites

  • Not completed nor concurrently enrolled in any of the following:

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Reviewed on UW Flow

61% liked it85% easy38% useful

From 28 ratings and 16 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Not enough content to be useful. Assignments were hard to understand only because of poor English, but otherwise were very easy and marked very leniently. Tests were the same as assignments.

    Apr 2016 · liked it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Loved the course. Pretty easy, took it as a bird course that I wouldn't care much about. Found it pretty fun. There is almost no math and the ideas are mostly explained with abstract analogies.
    Prof is great too. Dr. Leonenko might feel intimidating at first but he's very nice and cares a lot about his students. Made several accommodations for me across the term.
    Just keep up to the content with a few hours of study every week and you can expect a reasonable 90.

    Apr 2022 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • In the beginning it was pretty easy but towards the end it got kinda rough. The prof's accent made the lectures useless for me so I ended up self-teaching this course. It's not very time-consuming but you probably have to put in more hours then they tell you to so that you can get a good mark

    Apr 2021 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Terrible course. Thought I was going to learn about climate change, instead only learned about radiation and other garbage.

    May 2026 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Ez course. Not free still have to put in some work and midterms can have tricky questions, but 90+ is very doable. Honestly surprised how much I liked this course. Took it because I had to have a sustainability related course but the content was good. Very quantitative and not opinionated/essay based. Good course and cool concepts!

    Apr 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

93 posts and comments in 73 threads mention SCI 201, November 2015 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2024

Winter 2024

what happens when you don’t meet ur program requirements 13 points, 13 comments

“i’m in my 1b term and it’s actually kicking my ass, and i don’t think i’m gonna meet my program requirements (60 in my special major courses, and overall 60 average). …”

u/eranand04: “What program are you in? Your advisors will likely give u a chance considering you're in first year. Like the other guy said you can take some bird courses and I can recommend a few”

u/eranand04: “Earth 122 was really ez w all open book(except final) multiple choice and over 80 avg final grade. Avoid phys 121/122(speaking from experience). Geog 101, sci 201, 206, maybe 238, math 106, 225”

View on RedditRemove this

Fall 2023

Easy 90 GPA booster 21 points, 22 comments

u/TShirt_: “Does anyone have any suggestions for easy gps booster courses which I desperately need for my transcript. Hoping to get a 90+ in the course I’ve taken sci 201, clas 104 and hrm200 so would be open to anything else.”

View on RedditRemove this

Spring 2023

Bird courses 1 point, 10 comments

“Can anyone pls recommend fall 2023 bird courses? I am an incoming first year biomed sci student. Pls help me out. THANK YOUUU”

u/Fluffy_State_5360: “SMF 101, EARTH 121, SMF 204, SCI 250, SCI 201, SMF 213, SCI 206, CLAS 202”

View on RedditRemove this

honours science second year courses 0 points, 0 comments

u/Exit_exe_: “im selecting my courses right now and i wanna know some bird courses from these sections: BIOL, CHEM, EARTH, MNS, PHYS, SCI (excluding SCI 237). it has to be 200 level bc i gotta satisfy the prereqs. ive also already chosen sci 206 and sci 201. thanks :)”

View on RedditRemove this

Winter 2023

Fall 2022

Winter 2022

Fall 2021

Spring 2021

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar