How to make effective climate policy — and policymakers
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Loading... - Aharon Gamal
- 24 Feb 2023
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Innovative class builds skills for conceiving, evaluating ideas, turning them into real-world solutions
Imagine the government has imposed a $50-per-month tax on fossil fuels. Should that money be banked, gathering interest for future investment in climate adaptation? Or should it be spent immediately in developing countries hit hardest by climate change?
The matter came up for debate this month in the government class “Politics of the Environment and Climate Change.” One hand shot up immediately with a vote for spending the money later, since compounded interest adds to financial impact. Another student, more tentative, took the position of spending now, to benefit the greatest number of people — both existing humans and those still to be born.
Beaming at the front of the classroom was Dustin Tingley, professor of government, deputy vice provost for advances in learning. “Good!” he cried, rewarding every response with a grin. Climate change is a minefield of competing priorities and interests. But when it comes to finding policy solutions, Tingley later said, the goal is “wrestling with the fact that different groups, all with good intentions, can do things that subsequently lead to tension.”
Launched last spring, GOV1722 contends with climate change as a fundamentally political problem, challenging students to navigate obstacles and opportunities for effective policymaking at all levels of government. “This has always been a gap in the curriculum,” offered Stephen Ansolabehere, the Frank G. Thompson Professor of Government, who teaches the class alongside Tingley. “But it was difficult to know what to do, because it’s a topic that spans so many fields within our discipline — domestic politics, comparative politics, international politics.”
A recent lecture outlined the “normative frameworks” that different negotiating parties may apply to the issue, including utilitarianism and spiritual beliefs about caring for divine creation. Everyone from philosopher John Rawls to economist (and former Harvard University president) Larry Summers was mentioned. Future lessons include the politics of mitigation and adaptation.
The course is supported by Harvard University Center for the Environment, with networking help from the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability community. But students were Tingley and Ansolabehere’s closest collaborators in designing the course in fall 2021. “They told us they really wanted activity and engagement,” Tingley recalled. “They wanted something that was practical and outward-looking.” As a result, lectures tend to be highly interactive, requiring students to engage with in-class simulations and polls (such as the $50 fossil fuel tax). Read More…
