Today's college graduates confront the first truly worldwide environmental challenge, that of balancing the carbon budget--the stocks and flow of carbon through the biosphere--to ameliorate the negative consequences of global climate change. Colleges and universities have an obligation to ensure that students are provided with the knowledge and experience necessary to accomplish that challenging task. The good news is that the emergence of carbon as a universal environmental currency provides a unique and exciting opportunity to integrate economy, ecology, and culture to solve many vexing environmental and cultural problems. That opportunity, in turn, provides many avenues for colleges, students, and graduates to play a role in developing such solutions. The author believes that faculty members need not have expertise in climate science or policy to begin exploring the implications of a changing world with their students. With a bit of creativity, the importance and relevance of climate change can be linked with content of most natural and social-science classes and introduced for discussion without fundamentally altering existing syllabi. What is vital is that students feel empowered to openly discuss their questions, concerns, and ideas so that they are prepared to address personal, professional, and political choices related to climate change as informed citizens.