Energy policy is typically evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary. We can look to historical policies to understand how we've inherited the policies governing our energy use today. But looking backward only tells us part of the story. In the face of climate change, we need to look ahead and instead envision a more revolutionary change to our energy systems and the policies that govern them. This class takes you on that journey to energy policies past, present, and future. We look at the political realities of addressing climate change at various scales of governance and work together to craft our own ideal scenarios of what a responsible energy future will be.

For too long the environment has been considered little more than a neutral background to history. This text surveys findings of the new field of Environmental History about how the environment of the Americas influenced the actions of people here and how people affected their environments, from prehistory to the present.

Anthropogenic climate change is one of the, if not the most, pressing issues of our times. The problems that it causes range across many social and environmental domains from habitat and species loss and displacement to the more human and social concerns and issues of access to water, sea level rise that affects coastal communities, to economic degradation as a result of the aforementioned and other connected issues such as increased frequency of storms, droughts, wildfires, and the like. We also know that the affects of climate change are not distributed evenly across populations- that many will and do feel the negative effects of this slow developing problem earlier and more intensely than others based on where they are located both geographically and within economic and other socio-cultural hierarchies. We also know that recently, there is a marked effort to begin to move away from simply decrying the horrors of climate change to a continued recognition of those horrors as they exist now and into the future alongside attempts to begin to come to terms with the changing climate and to rethink the ways that our social and environmental relations and communities are organized with an eye toward both adapting to these changes and mitigating further damage. There is, however, much work to be done. This book was co-authored by undergraduate students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute while exploring the influences of Earth systems and human systems on climate change and the communities at most risk in an interdisciplinary project-based first year course. This course attempts to bring together knowledge of the science of ecological and climate systems and their changing status with knowledge of the social and communal structures within which these systems are embedded and through which they have been influenced. The book highlights key interests and insights of current students in their quest to think through these issues and to create a better world.

Table of Contents
Part I. Climate Systems
1. Atmosphere
2. Hydrosphere
3. Cryosphere and Lithosphere
4. Biosphere
Part II. Social Impacts of Climate Change
5. Climate Change Impacts on Food Systems
6. The Societal Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources
7. Climate Change Impacts on Human Health
8. Inequalities Due to Climate Change
Part III. Communities and Climate Change
9. Puerto Rico
10. Boston
11. The Himalayas
12. Fiji
Part IV. In Search of Solutions
13. Rigged for Oil Rigs
14. Climate Change Impacts on Native Hawaiian Population
15. Destigmatizing Nuclear Energy to Decarbonize the Worlds' Power Supply
16. Small Scale Carbon Capture Implementation and Utilization

The Climate Toolkit is a resource manual designed to help the reader navigate the complex and perplexing issue of climate change by providing tools and strategies to explore the underlying science. As such it contains a collection of activities that make use of readily available on-line resources developed by research groups and public agencies. These include web-based climate models, climate data archives, interactive atlases, policy papers, and “solution” catalogs. Unlike a standard textbook, it is designed to help readers do their own climate research and devise their own perspective rather than providing them with a script to assimilate and repeat.

The activities in the manual are divided into five sections that include weather and climate basics, present climate impacts, past climate change, future change and impacts, and strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation. These are followed by three appendices which contain information about the on-line tools used in the activities in this manual; a catalog of on-line and print resources produced by research groups, government agencies, and community groups involved in climate and sustainability work; and background on the history and key players in the international climate negotiation process.

Though originally aimed at undergraduate non-science majors, the manual has been broadened for a wider audience in non-academic settings like community groups, service organizations, workplace study groups, and faith communities.

Also available here: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/pdxopen/28/

Has your attention recently been caught by news of coastal catastrophes such as hurricanes and tsunamis? Do you wonder why so many coastal communities in the world are vulnerable to flooding and other coastal hazards? Have you considered what coastal flood protections cities like Houston and Miami will need in the future to protect their residents? This course will provide a better understanding of these phenomena. We present a global perspective of coastal landscapes, the geologic processes responsible for their formation, and ways that society responds to hazards like sea level rise and catastrophic weather events. You will participate in active learning exercises such as analyzing real-world datasets and applying critical thinking to real-world societal problems while investigating a coastal community.

Table of Contents

Section I: Introduction & Key Concepts
Section II: Resilience in Theory
Section III: Identifying & Evaluating Resilience
Section IV: Resilience in Practice
Section V: Future Directions
Section VI: Conclusions

About the Book

This reader is an Open Educational Resource, meant to accompany a graduate or higher-level undergraduate university course in climate change resilience, adaptation, and/or planning. While the material is geared toward students in urban and regional planning, it may also be of interest to students of urban studies, public health, geography, political science, sociology, risk management, and others.

Each section of this volume includes (1) an introductory summary, (2) a reading list with full text articles, (3) student exercises meant to enhance understanding and facilitate in-class discussion, and (4) additional discussion prompts or activities for instructors to use in class. The format of materials is intended to convey key concepts, while leaving ample space for student exploration, discourse, and creativity. Lessons may culminate in an applied, imaginative final project, a sample framework of which is provided at the end of Section VI.

The course provides the technological background of treatment processes applied for production of drinking water. Treatment processes are demonstrated with laboratory experiments.

Much of the general population believes that the energy sources we depend on are perpetual. While people believe that energy use is the culprit for environmental damage, they are not aware of the methods and principles by which energy conversion devices operate. This course will provide you with knowledge and information on the main operating principles of devices/appliances in common use and will help you in making energy efficient and economical choices. The objective of the course is to expose you to energy efficiency in day to day life in order to save money and energy and thereby protect the environment. I hope the information in this course will help you become an environmentally-responsible individual of this Global Village.

EME 801 provides a broad introduction to global markets for crude oil and refined petroleum products, natural gas, and electric power. A major goal of the course is to help students understand how market design, market institutions, and regulatory structures affect firm-level decision-making in the energy industries and ultimately, how these decisions affect the functioning of energy markets and the prospects for alternative technologies.

Experiential learning, yes! But...online? at a distance? independent undergraduate research? This capstone course in Energy and Sustainability Policy is a novel approach to exactly this. Each student follows the same overarching structure: a four-part written research report, weekly journals, group discussions, a LinkedIn presence, an in-person presentation and a video submission. Along the way, the student has numerous personal interactions with real world stakeholders and gives an in-person presentation to an interested local audience. Proven over many semesters now, this engaged scholarship model serves senior students well, guiding and building confidence and professional opportunities.

Environmental engineers are responsible for designing processes and infrastructure to ensure society has access to safe water, clean air and healthy ecosystems. They apply knowledge from physics, chemistry, biology and the social sciences to problems in a variety of areas including water and wastewater treatment and ecosystem remediation, analysis of chemical fate and transport in the natural environment, and modeling of hydrologic and atmospheric flows. As climate change creates new challenges, such as in the form of droughts and intense weather events, the field of environmental engineering evolves to meet society’s needs.

Includes the following resources:

Environmental Science
Introduction to Environmental Science
Sustainability - A Comprehensive Foundation
Introduction to Permaculture
To Catch the Rain
Introduction to Climate Science
Soil and Water Conservation

In this volume, Erika Allen Wolters and Brent Steel have brought together the experts who can explain the evolution of public lands policies and politics in all their complexities. While their subject is complex, their prose is clear, and while their subject is torn by some of the most viciously self-interested, deceitful arguments in politics today, their prose is calm, factual, and evenhanded. No one should underestimate what a rare and valuable gift this is.

Table of Contents
I. The Changing West
The Old West, the New West, and the Next West?
Western Public Land Law and the Evolving Management Landscape
Rangeland Policy and Management in a Changing West
II. Forest, Wildfire, and Water
Professionalism versus Politics
Wildland Fire Policy and Climate Change
The Changing Fate of Western Rivers
III. Wilderness and Wildlife
Wild Places and Irreplaceable Resources
National Parks
Introduction to Wildlife Management on Public Lands
Endangered Species, Wildlife Corridors, and Climate Change in the US West
IV. Development, Sovereignty, and Conflict in the West
Renewable Energy Development in the American West
Regulating Oil and Gas on Federal Lands under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump
Mining on Federal Land
Implications of Tribal Sovereignty, Federal Trust Responsibility, and Congressional Plenary Authority for Native American Lands Management
Western Rebellion
Conclusion

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 ~ Introduction
Chapter 2 ~ Water, Soil, and Air Quality
Chapter 3 ~ Biodiversity
Chapter 4 ~ Renewable and Non-renewable Energy Sources
Chapter 5 ~ Biodegradable and Non-biodegradable Waste
Chapter 6 ~ Environmental Hazards and Toxicology
Chapter 7 ~ Biochemical Cycles
Chapter 8 ~ Global Climate and Greenhouse Gases
Chapter 9 ~ Impact of Environmental Health on Public Health
Chapter 10 ~ Global Nutrition, Starvation, and Malnutrition
Chapter 11 ~ Environmental Justice

This textbook was created through Connecting the Pipeline: Libraries, OER, and Dual Enrollment from Secondary to Postsecondary, a $1.3 million project funded by LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network and the Institute of Library and Museum Services. This project supports the extension of access to high-quality post-secondary opportunities to high school students across Louisiana and beyond by creating materials that can be adopted for dual enrollment environments. Dual enrollment is the opportunity for a student to be enrolled in high school and college at the same time.

The cohort-developed OER course materials are released under a license that permits their free use, reuse, modification and sharing with others. This includes a corresponding course available in Moodle and Canvas that can be imported to other platforms.

This textbook is intended to provide the core elements of a curriculum for teaching environmental science at the introductory level in Canadian colleges and universities. This book is suitable for students beginning a program in environmental science, environmental studies, or sustainability. It is also appropriate for arts students who require a science elective, and for science students who require a non-major elective. This book was written from the ground-up to provide Canadian information and examples. This national context is integrated throughout the text, along with North American and global data that provide a broader perspective.

Other file formats here: https://open.bccampus.ca/browse-our-collection/find-open-textbooks/?uuid=1ff23e21-e22d-482d-9fc5-6ec698b6817e&contributor=&keyword=&subject=

Human-caused climate change represents one of the great environmental challenges of our time. As it is inextricably linked with issues of energy policy, a familiarity with the fundamentals of climate change is critical for those looking to careers in the energy field. To appreciate the societal, environmental, and economic implications of policies governing greenhouse gas emissions, one must understand the basic underlying science. METEO 469 serves to lay down the fundamental scientific principles behind climate change and global warming. A firm grounding in the science is then used as a launching point for exploring issues involving climate change impacts and mitigation.

What factors lead to a natural disaster? What causes a famine? Why do cities flood? According to a recent article in The Atlantic, Houston's flooding during the 2017 Hurricane Harvey was primarily caused by impervious pavement which prevents the absorption of water into the land. This example illustrates how nature and society are interlinked, which is the main focus of Geography 30, Penn State's introductory course to nature-society geography. In addition to examining the linkages between human development and natural hazards, this course will also explore human society's connection to food systems, climate change, urbanization and biodiversity. The course will also cover topics of ethics and decision making in order to help students evaluate the tradeoffs of these interconnections.
\The Atlantic\" needs to be made into a link pointing to this: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/why-cities-flood/538251/"

Have you seen a Clean Coal baseball cap? In the challenge to meet soaring energy demand with limited resources, volatile issues like those related to the environment, national security and public health are often addressed outside of normal market transactions and are called externalities, or nonmarket factors. Stakeholders can act in resourceful ways to create a nonmarket environment that best serves their interest. A firm may challenge a law that makes it expensive or difficult to do business or compete with others, for example. An individual may organize a boycott of products or services that violate the individual's interests or principles--hey, don't buy from them! Nonmarket strategy in the energy sector is the subject of this engaging course.

GEOG 438W is a writing-intensive course that concentrates on the human-environment interactions involved in contemporary and future global warming. The course comprises two broad topical areas: global warming impacts, which takes place in the first half of the course, and global warming mitigation and policy, which encompasses the second half of the course. Each week highlights a theme, such as the impacts of climate change on human health or greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, that weaves through the course lecture, reading assignment, class discussion, and writing activity.

Climate change negotiations have failed the world. Despite more than thirty years of high-level, global talks on climate change, we are still seeing carbon emissions rise dramatically. This edited volume, comprising leading and emerging scholars and climate activists from around the world, takes a critical look at what has gone wrong and what is to be done to create more decisive action.

Composed of twenty-eight essays—a combination of new and republished texts—the anthology is organised around seven main themes: paradigms; what counts?; extraction; dispatches from a climate change frontline country; governance; finance; and action(s). Through this multifaceted approach, the contributors ask pressing questions about how we conceptualise and respond to the climate crisis, providing both ‘big picture’ perspectives and more focussed case studies.

This unique and extensive collection will be of great value to environmental and social scientists alike, as well as to the general reader interested in understanding current views on the climate crisis.

Table of Contents
I. Paradigms
Ii. What counts?
Iii. Extraction
Iv. Dispatches from a climate change frontline country—Namibia, Southern Africa
V. Governance
Vi. Finance
Vii. Action(s)

This text is intended to support courses that bridge the divide between mathematics typically encountered in U.S. high school curricula and the practical problems that natural resource students might engage with in their disciplinary coursework and professional internships.

Table of Contents
Part I Problem Solving
Part II Numerical Reasoning
Part III Spatial Reasoning
Part IV Algebraic Reasoning
Part V Modeling