Lesson 7 Media Selections

The goal of this lesson is for you to apply the knowledge you've gained in the first Module to a contemporary artifact in energy and sustainability.  Pick one of the themes below to analyze. I strongly suggest taking a look at the assignment details prior to reading and/or listening to it, and before deciding which theme to analyze. This will help frame your thinking and home in on key details. I also suggest at least browsing through each of the selections below in order to make a well-informed choice regarding which theme to analyze.

The assignment is to analyze and post about one of the selections. You are welcome to analyze more than one! It is not necessary, though. You are encouraged to go through each of the selections, as these are all really important contemporary issues. However, your only required to analyze one. 

See the discussion prompt on Canvas for some suggestions for post themes. You should be engaging with other students as much as possible. After all, more posts = more points!

Theme 1: The Very Good and Very Bad News on Climate

If you are paying attention, the news about clean energy is, to use a scientific term, all over the place. There is even some debate over what is considered clean, especially with regards to nuclear energy. According to Ember, a global clean energy think tank, clean energy (renewables and nuclear) met all new energy demand in 2025. In fact, clean energy out-generated (887 TWh) the increased demand (849 TWh). About 75% of this was met by solar, with most of the rest from wind (about 24%). Further, fossil fuel electricity generation was flat. On the other hand, federal policy in the United States under the Trump Administration has largely been promoting fossil fuels and pushing against renewable energy development, and of course fossil fuel use being flat is not helping to reduce overall emissions.

In this interview on the Ezra Klein show, Bill McKibben discusses the global and domestic status of the clean energy revolution. He provides a very robust description of clean energy development around the world, as well as some of the historical trends. He also addresses the fraught politics of clean energy. If you choose this topic, base your discussion board post this week on this artifact.

In addition to the podcast, I suggest you at read the Ember article referenced above.

Theme 2: The Real Cost of Pollution

In this podcast, we return to Mr. Stephen Dubner and his Freakonomics podcast. (Recall that Lesson 5's behavioral economics section featured a different Freakonomics podcast episode.) The focus of this episode is the hidden economic impacts of particulate air pollution, both on human health and cognitive ability. If it sounds like the episode focuses on externalities, that's because it does! As mentioned in Lesson 2, pollution is a commonly cited example of something that has negative externalities. As you will see in this podcast, researchers (especially environmental economists) have attempted to quantify these negative externalities in order to determine the true cost of air pollution. If you choose this topic, base your discussion board post this week on this artifact.

Theme 3: Degrowth: An Alternative to Late Capitalism

In this podcast, the folks at Vox explore the concept of degrowth, which puts a name to something that we have explored in this course. While there is not one universal definition to point to, degrowth refers to minimizing and/or eliminating the influence of GDP on economic policy and instead pursuing quality of life and sustainable use of natural resources. In order to do this, wealthy countries in particular must stop growing economically, and even shrink. If you choose this topic, base your discussion board post this week on this artifact.