Macro Responses

Session 3: Marco Policy Choices 

Music: Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFB-d-8_bvY
Essential Questions:

• How is climate change a tragedy of the commons?

• How can the international system respond to climate change in a fair and effective manner?

• What are some macro policy options that governments might undertake to address climate change.

• Should responsibility for climate change be based on current emissions, per capita emissions or emissions accumulated over history?

• What were the outcomes of the recent (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement?

• What is the concept of climate justice?

• What are barriers to action on climate change?

Gathering: One question that I have from the reading is….

Rick’s rap

            • Mitigation and Adaptive strategies

            • Role Play rules

Exercise: Macro Policy Roleplays

Closing: “Something that I learned today was...”

Readings:

• “Options in Brief,” pp.56-63, from Climate Change and Questions of Justice, The Choices Program, Watson Center for International Studies, Brown University, 2015.

• “Paris Agreement,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement

“We are the first generation of Americans in the Energy-Climate era. This is not about whales anymore. It’s about us. And what we do about the challenges of energy and climate, conservation and preservation, will tell our kids who we really are.” 

Thomas Friedman