This is a gateway class to the new Energy, Climate and Environment program that is under development. It is jointly taught by three faculty members from SEAS and FAS: Physicist Lene Hau, Historian Joyce Chaplin, and
Sociologist Jason Beckfield. The class is case-based with selected large-scale problems that illustrate the complexity and the multi-disciplinary approach required for solutions to problems of climate change. It will give students the bigger picture, and they will gain a sense of agency – that they can contribute to finding and implementing solutions. And importantly, the class will help students identify the particular aspects of the problems that they would like to focus on in their further studies at Harvard. We will have lectures, homework, and smaller projects with discussion sections. Students will be taught foundational skills and methods as needed to support their understanding and analysis of the cases. They will interact with a few guest speakers and learn from peers with different backgrounds but shared interests. The class will end with a capstone project where students will work in small, multi-perspective teams to analyze, discuss, and propose solutions to a real problem.