As one of the ten recipients, the new course The Third Pole: A Climate History of the Tibetan Plateau employs an interdisciplinary approach and attempts to bring together research findings from “the archives of nature” (climatological research data) with studies from “the archives of society” (physical and written sources left by humans) to examine how historical changes in climate have effected human development and society on the Tibetan plateau. In light of global climatic events and anomalies such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age, the class will discuss and explore how such climatic conditions and events might have triggered and contributed to socioeconomic, political, and cultural developments in Tibet and the Himalayas.