ENV 621b () / 2026-2027

Exploring Climate Solutions Through Science and Fiction

Credits: 3 Spring 2027: Time and location TBA

 
This course focuses on linking the science behind climate impacts and climate solutions to social and political changes and human and place-based experiences. We will read research from social sciences, natural sciences, and the humanities and link it to themes in short and long-form climate fiction. Each week we will combine reading climate fiction with related research on climate solutions, international cooperation, and social science research on climate impacts and solutions. The fiction will help us envision one possible future while our other readings will let us decide how plausible that future might be, and examine what other potential futures we might experience. This course will be a reading-intensive course, with students expected to read 100-150 pages of material each week and be ready to discuss the material in seminar. The course will feature a final paper about the possible effectiveness of a climate solution, including whether it is likely to be politically and socially feasible from an empirical science perspective while envisioning the person and place-based impacts.
Limited to 20