This course examines climate change policy, planning, and action through the lens of systemic change and shifting power. The course roughly breaks down into three parts: 1) What are current conditions and how did we get here? 2) Where and how do systems changes occur and by whom? What are our forums for action? 3) What systems are ripe for change? How can change-making address the climate crisis shift power and how decisions are made? Who has the power to make change and at what scale? What is needed to imagine another world being possible and make that world reality?

In looking for answers to these questions, we explore scientific evidence, ethics, impacts, law and policy responses, movement building, and actions planned and taken. We look at sources of greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts on health, justice, and the economy. We look at proposed solutions—some rejected, some adopted, and many still in play—by governments, communities, and institutions (both for-profit and non-profit) and for major systems, e.g. energy, transportation, food and agriculture, buildings, and waste.