ENVL-372 : Climate Change

Climate change remains a defining problem for contemporary human civilization, and yet the United States government has begun a very public retreat from the current global consensus around its causes and effects. In this course, we will examine the scientific underpinnings of climate change and its likely consequences, discuss international and domestic responses to the crisis, and debate the political and ethical issues that have arisen, both before and after the current administration took office. We will consider not only laws that have been specifically used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- most notably, the Clean Air Act -- but also laws that have been used to raise awareness of the issue, such as the National Environmental Policy Act. Students may also learn about laws governing how fossil fuels are extracted in the United States and how power is distributed across the energy grid.