Fall 2025
Climate Politics and Governance (POL S 458A)
Class: Monday and Wednesday, 130-320, Communications 228
Office Hours: By appointment, please email <aseem@uw.edu>
Course Objective: Climate change is perhaps the defining challenge of this era. Because it critically affects every aspect of our lives, climate governance is a complex and contested issue. There are several ways climate policies can support economic growth and create new opportunities. However, climate policies can also create winners and losers, leading to social conflict. This undergraduate seminar will explore key policy issues in climate governance, including mitigation and adaptation policies, climate migration, climate justice, and climate finance. We will examine the effectiveness of existing approaches and identify new initiatives that can help us address the climate challenge.
Readings: Readings are either uploaded to Canvas, or I have provided the article URL.
This is a Device-Free Class
Research suggests that the use of electronic devices in class can be distracting for you and for your colleagues. Therefore, to enhance your learning experience, students are not allowed to use phones, tablets, laptops, or any other Internet-connected devices during class. Please take notes using a pen and a notebook.
Course Expectations
This course requires active student participation. You are expected to contribute thoughtfully and energetically to class discussions in the following ways.
In addition, I have created an online discussion board on Canvas. The reasons are threefold. Often, I cannot call on everybody to share their views. But I (and others as well) want to hear what you have to say. The discussion board will provide a platform to share your thoughts.
Second, some students may reflect on the class discussion and have additional thoughts. You are welcome to share your thoughts on the discussion board. While you must contribute to class discussions, I will also consider your contributions to the discussion board when grading class participation (as long as you post these comments by Tuesday, 1200 noon for the topics covered in the Monday class, and by Thursday, 1200 noon for the topics covered in the Wednesday class).
Online comments are subject to the same rules and norms as in-class discussions: be respectful, learn to disagree without being disagreeable, and engage in good faith.
Writing Memos
Article memos
For every session (except when we have guest speakers), students will be assigned an article to present and critique. The discussant-presenter should prepare a two-page (single-spaced) “Article Memo” that summarizes the article, examines its strengths and weaknesses, and identifies questions it raises for future research. Please email this memo to me by Sunday at 12:00 noon for the Monday class and by Tuesday at 12:00 noon for the Wednesday class. The discussant-presenter should budget about 10 minutes for the in-class oral presentation (no PowerPoint). In the course of this quarter, you will probably be assigned to present 2 or 3 articles.
Key questions memo
I expect seminar participants to review all the assigned readings before the class. Based on these readings for a given session, you will write a “Key questions” memo. In this memo, identify two or three questions or issues that emerge from the assigned readings, along with a rationale as to why these questions are important.
Your “Key Questions Memo” should be one page (single-spaced) and reach me by 12:00 noon on Sunday for the Monday afternoon class, and by 12:00 noon on Tuesday for the Wednesday afternoon class.
I have divided the course into three modules, each comprising approximately seven class sessions. You need to write two key question memos (for two different class sessions) from every module (this means six key question memos in total).
Think of Module 1. Suppose you want to engage with the articles assigned for session 3. After reading the articles assigned for this session, think of two or three overarching questions that you believe emerge from these readings and should be covered during class discussions.
Please note: If you are assigned to present a specific article for session 3 (and therefore write the article memo), you cannot write a key question memo for this session.
Research Paper
Identify two countries, cities, or firms and compare their responses to climate change. You cannot write about the US, Washington state, California, Seattle, King County, or China.
In terms of process,
- Identify two units you wish to study.
- Briefly explain how they are similar or different (the rationale for comparing them).
- Specify the policies (mitigation and/or adaptation) you will be comparing.
- Why are you focusing on these policies? What do you think they might reveal about the climate policies of these units?
- Do you expect the responses of these units to be similar or different? Why
- Therefore, what? How do you think this study might move forward your understanding of climate policy?
Please write in regular prose and not in bullet points. The one-page outline is due on November 1, and a five-page (single-spaced; excluding references and tables) research paper is due on December 6.
I recommend structuring your paper into sections and subsections. We will also schedule presentations (15 minutes per student) towards the end of the quarter.
Evaluation
In total, you can score 100 points. To convert this into a 4-point scale, I will follow the departmental guidelines: https://depts.washington.edu/psteach/grading%20system.html
Article Memos: 30 points (10 points per memo * 3 memos)
Key Questions Memos: 30 points (5 points per memo * 6 memos)
Class Participation: 20 points
Research Paper: 10 points
Research Presentation: 10 points
Total: 100 points
Note
I reserve the right to change the syllabus without prior notice.
Religious Accommodation
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for the accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request accommodation, is available at Faculty Syllabus Guidelines and Resources. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form available at https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/
Class Schedule
__________________Module 1_____________________
Session 1, Wednesday, September 24
Syllabus and course expectations
1. Different approaches to reducing aviation emissions: reviewing the structure-agency debate in climate policy. PAIGE JENKINS
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-022-00001-w
2. Did your handbag help destroy the Rainforest? ADITI MANGLA
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/style/lvmh-nike-prada-amazon-deforestation.html
- Concerned about your data use? Here is the carbon footprint of an
average day of emails, WhatsApps and more AURORA MONTELONGO
- Why people aren’t motivated to address climate change. MADELINE POOL
https://hbr.org/2018/10/why-people-arent-motivated-to-address-climate-change
- Taylor Swift and climate change: Is the youth “Shaking Off” or embracing carbon-intensive lifestyles? HANA HAMRAH
Session 2, Monday, September 29
Overview
- Texas is the country’s clean energy leader, almost in spite of itself
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17022022/inside-clean-energy-texas-clean-energy-leader/
- Can we save the planet by shrinking the economy?
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22408556/save-planet-shrink-economy-degrowth
- A wildfire may have forever changed this Colorado community — and who can afford to live there
https://grist.org/wildfires/in-the-wake-of-a-wildfire-who-gets-to-rebuild-grand-county-colorado/
- A New York power line divided environmentalists. Here’s what it says about the larger climate fight.
- WA survivors of Minidoka reckon with uneasy victory in Trump order
Session 3, Wednesday, October 1
Perspective and approaches
- Climate change and the Syrian civil war revisited.
Canvas
12. The rebound effect and the challenge of moving beyond fossil fuels: A
review of empirical and theoretical research
Canvas
- Why California’s housing market is destined to go up in flames
- The reckless policies that helped fill our streets with ridiculously large
cars
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24139147/suvs-trucks-popularity-federal-policy-pollution
15. The climate paradox: AI’s role in both saving and sabotaging the planethttps://www.dawn.com/news/1873633/the-climate-paradox-ais-role-in-both-saving-and-sabotaging-the-planet
Session 4, Monday, October 6
Ongoing Debates
16. The value of unrealistic targets: why some climate activists are unwilling to abandon the 1.5 °C target
- Is climate anxiety a pressing problem, or a luxury?
- ‘Tipping points’ confuse and can distract from urgent climate action
Canvas
- The Paradox Holding Back the Clean Energy Revolution
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/opinion/vegas-sphere-energy-efficiency.html
- Wind and solar power generators wait in years long lines to put clean electricity on the grid, then face huge interconnection fees they can’t afford
Session 5, Wednesday, October 8
Barriers to climate response
- How climate change could spark the next home mortgage disaster
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/30/climate-change-mortgage-housing-environment-433721
- African nations’ dash for gas exposes division at the UN and ‘hypocrisy’ in Europe
- How a European law might get companies around the world to cut climate pollution
- Palm oil was supposed to help save the planet. Instead it unleashed a catastrophe.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/magazine/palm-oil-borneo-climate-catastrophe.html
- Legal experts define a new global crime: Ecocide
Session 6, Monday, October 13
Challenges in climate mitigation
- Cool dudes: The denial of climate change among conservative White males in the United States.
Canvas
- Advancing bipartisan decarbonization policies: lessons from state-level successes and failures.
Canvas
- How Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels
- Growing deviations between elite and non-elite media coverage of climate change in the United States
Canvas
- The controversies at the heart of California’s solar net-metering fight https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/the-controversies-at-the-heart-of-californias-solar-net-metering-fight
_____________________ Module 2 _____________________
Session 7, Wednesday, October 15
New issues
- Solar geoengineering and climate change
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47551
- Deep-sea mining may soon ease the world’s battery-metal shortage
- The battle of Thacker Pass
https://grist.org/climate/the-west-has-a-new-front-in-the-war-over-electric-cars/
- Justice or overreach? As crucial test looms, Big Greens are under fire
- From childhood blue space exposure to adult environmentalism: The role of nature connectedness and nature contact
Canvas
Session 8 , Monday, October 20
Climate Movement
- Varieties of climate activism: assessing public support for mainstream and unorthodox climate action in the United Kingdom
https://beta.iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2515-7620/ad9382
- The climate activist’s dilemma: Extreme protests reduce movement support but raise climate concern and intentions.
Canvas
- When, where, and which climate activists have vandalized museums
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-023-00054-5
- Electric vehicles need cobalt. Congolese miners work in dangerous conditions to get it.
https://grist.org/energy/electric-vehicles-cobalt-congolese-miners-dangerous-conditions/
- Radical flanks of social movements can increase support for moderate factions
Canvas
Session 9, Wednesday, October 22
Business and Climate Change
- The end of ESG
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/fima.12413
- Does ESG privilege climate action over social and governance issues? A content analysis of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s annual letters.
https://journals.plos.org/sustainabilitytransformation/article?id=10.1371/journal.pstr.0000090
- Pope Francis, climate message, and meat tax: evidence from survey experiment in Italy.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-023-00040-x
- The impact of climate change on the pattern of demand for bottled water and non-alcoholic beverages.
Canvas
- Carbon labels in tourism: persuasive communication?
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-023-00040-xLinks to an external site.
Session 10, Monday, October 27
Adaptation
- The politics of climate change adaptation https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-environ-102017-025739
- High mountain communities and climate change: adaptation, traditional ecological knowledge, and institutions.
Canvas
- How Tiny Energy Grids Help Towns Weather Hurricanes, Wildfires, and More
- Americans’ Views on How to Address the Impacts of Extreme Weather
50. In the waterlogged Netherlands, climate change is considered neither a hypothetical nor a drag on the economy. Instead, it’s an opportunity. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/15/world/europe/climate-change-rotterdam.html
Paper outline is due
Session 11
Wednesday, October 29
Incorporating adaptation in the policy process
- Exploring the adaptation-mitigation relationship
Canvas
- Outdoor recreation and climate adaptation
https://houserepublicans.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/OrcaPlanReport-FINAL-112421.pdf
- Lessons from New York: What makes a community turn against climate adaptation?
- A 20-Foot Sea Wall? Miami Faces the Hard Choices of Climate Change.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/us/miami-fl-seawall-hurricanes.htmlLinks to an external site.
- Can burying power lines prevent California’s next big wildfire? https://grist.org/wildfires/can-burying-power-lines-prevent-california-next-wildfire-pge/
Session 12
Monday, November 3
Droughts and climate change
- How America’s Diet Is Feeding the Groundwater Crisis https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/24/climate/groundwater-crisis-chicken-cheese.html
- In southeastern Arizona, farms drill a half-mile deep while families pay the price
- Water Security in Africa in the Age of Global Climate Change.
Canvas
- First solar canal project is a win for water, energy, air and climate in California,
- The effects of extreme drought on climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and adaptation attitudes
Canvas
____________________Module 3 _____________________
Session 13, Wednesday, November 5
Climate migration
- Climate change as a migration driver from rural and urban Mexico. Canvas
- Why ‘climate havens’ might be closer to home than you’d think
https://grist.org/migration/climate-havens-national-climate-assessment-midwest-migration/
- Welcoming climate refugees to the United States: Do attitudes depend on refugee origins, numbers, or permanence?
Canvas
- Gender and climate change-induced migration: proposing a framework for analysis
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/025601/pdf
- Willingness to Help Climate Migrants: A Survey Experiment in the Korail Slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249315
Session 14, Monday, November 10
Gender and climate change
- Effects of gender on climate change knowledge and concern in the American public.
Canvas
- Virtue and vulnerability: Discourses on women, gender and climate change.
Canvas
- Is adaptation to climate change gender neutral? Lessons from communities dependent on livestock and forests in northern Mali.
Canvas
- Gender in climate change, agriculture, and natural resource policies: insights from East Africa
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-019-02447-0
- Uncertain predictions, invisible impacts, and the need to mainstream gender in climate change adaptations
Canvas
Session 15, Wednesday, November 12
Climate justice
- Three faces of climate justice.
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-125514
- How the world’s favorite conservation model was built on colonial violence
https://grist.org/indigenous/30x30-world-conservation-model-colonialism-indigenous-peop/
- Can California’s Cap and Trade Actually Address Environmental Justice? https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2020/11/20/california-pollution-cap-trade
- Varieties of just transition: Public support in South Africa’s Mpumalanga coal community for different policy options
https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000205
- Urban Heatwaves Are Worse For Low-Income Neighborhoods
https://www.forbes.com/sites/prakashdolsak/2020/08/14/urban-heatwaves-are-worse-for-low-income-neighborhoods/#560f3c0819d5 .
Session 16, Monday, November 17
Climate finance and insurance
- Wildfires Hasten Another Climate Crisis: Homeowners Who Can’t Get Insurance
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/climate/wildfires-insurance.html
- World Bank climate funding greens African hotels while fishermen sink
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/04/16/world-bank-climate-funding-greens-african-hotels-while-fishermen-sink/Links to an external site.
- Signaling climate resilience to municipal bond markets: does membership in adaptation‑focused voluntary clubs affect bond rating?
Canvas
- How to Slow Climate Change While Fighting Poverty
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/11/07/cop27-green-aid-slow-climate-change-while-fighting-poverty/
- A Managed decline for Oil-Dependent Regions: How sovereign wealth funds can support a just transition to clean energy.
https://www.sightline.org/2020/09/08/a-managed-decline-for-oil-dependent-regions/
Session 17, Wednesday, November 19
In-class presentations
Session 18, Monday, November 24
In-class presentations
Session 19, Wednesday, November 26
In-class presentations
Session 20, Monday, December 1
In-class presentations
Research Paper is due
Session 21, Wednesday, December 3
In-class presentations