ESPP Academic Year Courses

FALL 2025 COURSES

ESPP 77 Technology, Environment and Society 
Sheila Jasanoff
Our interactions with the natural world are increasingly mediated through changes in technology. Technologies create risks, generate solutions, reshape the environment, and alter our perception of the boundaries between nature and artifice. This course draws on major theories of technology and society to inform and deepen our understanding of environmental crises, problems, possible fixes, and policy options.

ESPP 90G. The Law and Policy of Climate Change: Influencing Decision Makers
Aladdine Joroff
Empirical data demonstrate that the climate is changing and that these changes could produce increasingly serious consequences over the course of this century.  Governments and private actors around  the world are strategizing, debating, lobbying, implementing, and defending mechanisms to both mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.  This course will explore (i) the legal framework in which climate change action occurs in the United States, (ii) policy tools available to regulators, (iii) impacts on regulated entities and individuals and (iv) opportunities for private stakeholders to participate in and influence climate change decisions.

ESPP 90H Climate, Crops and Food Security
Peter Huybers 
The number of people suffering from hunger began to increase in 2015, after decades of steady decline, and began to rise more sharply since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.   The drivers of these trends in food security and malnutrition that are highlighted by international aid agencies are conflict, economic shocks, and climate extremes.  In this course we will inquire, specifically, into linkages among climate change, extreme weather events, agricultural production, and food insecurity, and also consider the broader context of how conflict, socioeconomic, and health conditions may be susceptible to extreme weather and influence the ability to mitigate and adapt to changes in extreme weather.  The answer to this inquiry is important: insomuch as climate change is a fundamental driver of recent decreases in food security, the almost inevitable continued changes in climate in the coming decades are of major concern for food security going forward.  Moreover, identification of the specific pathways by which climate change influences food security is critical for devising appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures.  We will cover how variations in temperature, water, and sunlight influence crop yield; how exposure to these environmental variations alters under climate change; connections between food production shocks and food insecurity; and the degree to which changes in food security can be predicted.  Individual classes will be organized around academic papers encompassing distinct viewpoints, and through reading, discussion, and hearing from outside speakers.  We will, as a class, seek some overall understanding of the drivers of food insecurity and how these can, at least in principle, be addressed. 

ESPP 90T Designing and Implementing International Environment, Climate, and Sustainability Solutions
Dustin Tingley
This course will analyze the design, implementation, and enforcement of global environment, climate, and sustainability policies. We will examine both historical cases as well as newly proposed policies. Throughout our focus will be on international policies involving multiple countries. However, insofar as countries enact domestic policies with significant international implications, we will also examine those. Students are expected to be active participants in our discussions given the seminar format.

ESPP 171 Solid Waste in Developing Countries
Ken Thomas
This course will examine major issues of solid waste (i.e. production, management, storage, treatment, disposal, infrastructure costs and financing, policy) in the developing world at various geographic locations and scales across municipal, industrial, electronic, biological/medical, and radioactive waste. Specific solid waste issues will be highlighted through in-depth case studies from Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Middle East, and Small Island Developing States. Analysis of the environmental commitment and regulations, appropriate technology availability and reliability, and key geopolitical factors that affect the amount of solid waste to be handled and how it is disposed of will be explored in all cases. To understand fundamentals in the developing world context, the course will compare how solid waste is managed in the developed and developing world at the local, state, and federal levels. Fundamentals cut across solid waste-related policies, transport, sources, collection, disposal/treatment, recycling, and material recovery. The course will emphasize – both quantitatively and qualitatively – the real-world challenges and systemic issues of the developing world that make solid waste planning and management complicated. 

SPRING 2025 COURSES

ESPP 90B The EV Revolution: Outlook, Environmental Impact, Policy, and Challenges
Elaine Buckberg
Auto is undergoing a technological revolution with the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and the development of autonomous vehicles.  Decarbonizing private transportation is essential to achieving climate goals, with transportation overall representing 28% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.  EV sales are now growing rapidly: in 2022, battery electric vehicles (EVs) represented about 22% of new vehicle sales in China, 15% in the EU and 5% in the U.S. Forecasts suggest EVs will represent close to 50% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2030 and higher in China and Europe. The EV transition has far-reaching repercussions from emissions to macroeconomic impacts to national security and poses substantial challenges in the rapid development of new supply chains.  In this seminar, we will study the intersection of EVs, the energy transition, environmental science, policy, and economics. The current pace of change is dramatic but has roots going back 50 years to early U.S. environmental regulation and efforts to reduce dependency on Middle East oil; auto has been a critical element in trade policy back to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Policy is pivotal today, in the U.S. and overseas, in terms of determining the pace of EV adoption, how supply chains develop, and how fast they evolve.  The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) enables faster EV adoption through tax credits for EV production and purchases.  Technological progress, especially in battery technology, will be critical in the path forward.  We will analyze a range of EV issues including those highlighted above as well as charging, health impacts, equity, and international market differences. 

ESPP 90S The Technology, Economics, and Public Policy of Renewable Energy
George Baker
Energy is the lifeblood of economic activity, indeed of human society. However, the planet's stores of easily accessed fossil fuels are limited, and the climatological cost of continuing to rely on fossil fuels is high. This course examines the long run and short run prospects for renewable energy. We start by understanding the technology of various renewables, including hydro, solar, wind, biomass, etc. We then examine the economics of these technologies, and how policies (subsidies, taxes, regulations) affect their viability. Special attention will be paid to the interaction of technology, economics, and public policy.

ESPP 160 US Environmental Policy and Policymaking: The Role of Congress, EPA, Stakeholders, and Courts
Carrie Jenks 
An introduction to environmental policy in the US with a focus on the Environmental Protection Agency. We will explore how policy is made at the federal and state levels and consider the actors who design policies, including legislators, agencies, advocates, regulated companies, and the courts. Through specific case studies, we will evaluate the policy options for environmental regulations and consider ways to measure whether a policy is successful. We will focus on a variety of environmental regulations including air quality, climate change, and clean water policies. We will also hear from policymakers and stakeholders to understand the challenges and opportunities for progress.

ESPP 173 Water Resources in Developing Countries
Ken Thomas
This course will examine major issues of water resources (i.e. water sources, supply, quality, treatment, use, distribution and storage, policy) in the developing world at various geographic locations and scales. Specific water resources issues will be highlighted through in-depth case studies from Africa, Asia, and Small Island Developing States. Analysis of the hydrological, technological, legal, and geopolitical factors that affect the availability of water for human consumption and agriculture will be explored in all cases. To understand fundamentals in the developing world context, the course will compare how water resources are managed in the developed and developing world. Fundamentals cut across water-related policies, water flows, water sources, water supply, water and wastewater treatment, water distribution, and water storage. The course will emphasize – both quantitatively and qualitatively – the real-world challenges and systemic issues of the developing world that make water resources planning and management complicated.

ESPP 180 Climate Change, Health, and Environmental Justice-Focusing on Solutions
Kari Nadeau and Mary Rice
Human health and the health of our planet are inextricably linked and they can be mutually beneficial. However, our planet’s health and our health are at risk. Climate change represents one of the most pressing issues of our time, affecting every nation and person. In this class, we will focus on the ways in which climate change impacts human health and discuss approaches to quantify and mitigate these impacts at the local, state, national, and global levels. You will have the opportunity to monitor, measure, and analyze climate change associated data relevant to human health such as air pollution and temperature with devices we provide. You will also meet policy makers, community leaders, and community members who are addressing climate change impacts on human health. The overarching goal of the course is to critically discuss the health outcomes of energy production and climate change impacts on food, water, air, soil, food systems, and e-waste through the lens of social justice and health equity.