This course is officially sponsored by the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) for Fall 2020.

This course will give an introduction to energy topics and explore the social, environmental and economic impacts of our carbon-based economy. We depend on energy to fuel our cars and airplanes, grow and transport our food, light our cities, warm our homes, and power our machinery, appliances, and electronics. As we continue to deplete our resources (and pollute our air and water in the process), the challenge to satisfy our energy needs continues to mount. How will our generation respond? Through guest speakers, in-class discussions, group projects, debates, and Zoom exclusive activities, we plan to explore the energy cycle - tracing its origins, distribution, consumption, and waste. We’ll learn about policies that promote sustainable development and responsibility among a broad scope of communities.

This class is tailored to all majors and backgrounds, as it assumes no prior technical or political/economic experience. It aims to provide students with the tools to analyze alternative paths to a sustainable future as well as a broad range of perspectives in the energy field. There are no required papers or exams, instead, the course will culminate in an involved class discussion and student presentations.

For attendance, up to 2 unexcused absences are allowed, except for the first three weeks of class, during which we require attendance (if impossible, please contact emily.turkel@berkeley.edu and kathryn.wilson@berkeley.edu to see if we can figure something out). Being more than 15 minutes late to class or leaving class 30 minutes early will count as an absence. If you miss more than 2 classes, you may make up your third absence by either attending a campus sustainability event online or participating in another opportunity approved by the facilitators. The make-up assignment must be accompanied by a 300-500 word reflection about what you learned or found interesting, and how it connects to course content. Remember that our class follows UC Berkeley’s plagiarism policy. A maximum of 1 makeup assignment is allowed, meaning 4 absences or more will lead to a NP.