Environmental Politics

Catalog description

This topics class investigates the political dynamics that shape environmental challenges in the United States and beyond. Through weekly engagement with real-world case studies, students will examine how scientific knowledge, economic interests, and competing values intersect in the making of environmental policy. Particular attention will be paid to the institutions, actors, and power struggles that have defined debates over climate change, energy, natural resource management, urban development, and other pressing issues. By situating contemporary controversies within longer histories of environmental conflict and transformation, the course equips students with the analytical tools to understand and critically evaluate the politics of environmental change in the twenty-first century. Students will learn how to navigate environmental politics both as scholars contributing to academic debates and as practitioners engaged in policy, advocacy, or governance.