On the first day of our class, you were asked the following question: “What are the most important steps that the world must take, by 2017, to accelerate the transition to a clean energy future?” Three months later, you have another opportunity to answer this question.

A really good answer to this exam question will tap into what you have learned in this seminar: research skills, writing skills, and knowledge about global warming. Your paper should be based on authoritative references and properly cite them, your writing should be clear and concise, and the entire paper should reflect your newly developed expertise about global warming solutions.

Your paper should be no more than 10 double-spaced pages – about 3000 words.  You may have until the last day of exam period – Tuesday, December 16^th, by 5:00 PM – to complete it. When you are done, please send me your exam via email, as an attachment. (If you have already left campus by then, you can send it from wherever you are.) When all of the exams are handed in, I will post them on our wiki.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this final exam.

Alright, our class now faces one of the most complicated questions that we have addressed all semester: what kind of pizza should we order for our visit to Brighter Planet tomorrow?!  Please use the comments section here to make your pitch.  (And let’s say that the 17 of us plus 5 Brighter planet staff will be there – how many large pizzas will be required?!)  JTI

Eban Goodstein, the founder of the Green House Network and Focus the Nation, is leading a new action for 2009: the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions.  As part of this effort, he is drafting with several students a list of ‘100 Days of Action.’ See this: national-teach-in-100-days-of-action

Your next writing assignment, after perusing the attachment, is to suggest an action for one of these days – that is, something for this draft list that Eban and his students haven’t thought of. The format of your assignment is as follows.

• First, identify the action: simply, what is it?
• Second, explain and justify the action: why would this action help to advance the goals of the National Teach-In?
• Finally, what will be needed to help make this action a success: how will Eban and his colleagues need to find allies and get mobilized in order to get results?

This assignment is due on Monday the 24th, before class.  The length is based on your judgment …  Please let me know, of course, if you have questions about this assignment.

In a few hours, the United States will have a new president-elect.  And as noted in this article from MSNBC, the entire world has a stake in this election.

Here’s your assignment, due by the beginning of class on Monday, November 10th: write a letter to the next president in which you give him advice on how to help lead the world’s drive towards a clean-energy future.  Specifically, advice the president about how to build a portfolio of global warming solutions.  And like your previous assignment, I ask that you post your final draft on our wiki.  See this subsection …