Introduction

About Lesson 12

In the last lesson, we discussed one means of attempting to mitigate climate change — geoengineering. We saw that geoengineering is not without its perils and potential unintended consequences. If we take geoengineering off the table, that leaves only one approach to mitigation: decreasing our greenhouse gas emissions. How can we reduce greenhouse gas emissions while meeting growing global energy demands? That is the topic of our final lesson.

What will we learn in Lesson 12?

By the end of Lesson 12, you should be able to:

• summarize the contributions of various sectors to current fossil fuel emissions and the potential for mitigation of carbon emissions in the various sectors;
• discuss both the economic and ethical considerations of climate change mitigation; and
• evaluate the efficacy of specific climate change mitigation strategies (i.e., various proposed policies for limiting fossil fuel emissions).

What will be due for Lesson 12?

Please refer to the Syllabus.

The following is an overview of the required activities for Lesson 12. Detailed directions and submission instructions are located within this lesson.

• Continue Project #3 (due next week).
• Read:
  • IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Working Group 3
    • Summary for Policy Makers, p. 1-30
  • Dire Predictions, p. 164-213
• Participate in Lesson 12 discussion forum: Project #3 Videos (begins next week).

Questions?

If you have any questions, please post them to our Questions? discussion forum (not e-mail), located under the Home tab in Canvas. The instructor will check that discussion forum daily to respond. Also, please feel free to post your own responses if you can help with any of the posted questions.