Climate Crisis: Impact and Solutions

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our time. It is more than just an environmental crisis; it is also a societal problem. In this course, we will analyze the social causes of the climate crisis. Specifically, we will adopt a macro-, meso-, and micro-level approach when looking at the drivers of climate change and the different actors involved. In doing so, we will examine how these different perspectives are interconnected and influence one another. In addition, we will also discuss the concept of climate justice. Then, we will look at climate change mitigation policies and evaluate those while taking into account the aforementioned intertwined social causes as well as climate justice considerations. Specifically, each week, during the working groups, we will evaluate a selected climate policy from a different perspective. We will look at how the mitigation policy under consideration takes into account, for instance, the role of the economic system in place, or of the private sector and individuals in contributing to climate change. We will also evaluate whether and to what extent the respective policy incorporates the key elements of climate justice. Throughout the course, different sociological theories will be used to understand the social causes of climate change. These theories will also be used to evaluate current climate policies and provide suggestions as to how they can be improved and become more effective in combating the climate crisis. Examples of these theories include treadmills of production, conflict theory, the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory, and social movement theory.

Examples of specific issues that we will address in the course include:
- How do individuals contribute to the climate crisis and how can policies be designed to mitigate these impacts?
- What is the role of private-sector organisations in driving the climate crisis, through for instance greenwashing, and how can regulation effectively combat such impacts?
- How can fairness aspects be used to improve energy transition policies?

In the last two weeks of the course, the students will (in-class) independently evaluate another policy, while considering all the aspects covered in the course.