Eisenstadt and MacAvoy, Climate Change, Science, and The Politics of Shared Sacrifice

Designed for undergraduate courses that cover climate change politics within environmental studies, politics, and international relations courses, Climate Change, Science, and The Politics of Shared Sacrifice integrates science and policy within each chapter by considering technical issues as well as their political implications. It reflects the recent changes in US climate policy under President Biden, as well as by other international actors, and covers recent technological advances, including carbon capture, storage and solar energy efficiency. This text presents the questions students need to address in an interdisciplinary approach to perhaps the most encompassing and "wicked" threat to our well-being in the 21st Century. It addresses the impacts of climate change, the history of international negotiations leading to the Paris Agreement and its possible "ambition gap," approaches to decarbonization by nations and economic sectors, and efforts to construct post-fossil fuel energy systems. It also considers implications of recent technological advancements in energy and its distribution, the debate about the "social cost of carbon," the economic costs of adapting to climate change, and the proper roles of individuals versus governments, corporations, and environmental groups.