The structure of the climate debate

First-best climate policy is a uniform carbon tax which gradually rises over time. Civil servants have complicated climate policy to expand bureaucracies, politicians to create rents. Environmentalists have exaggerated climate change to gain influence, other activists have joined the climate bandwagon. Opponents to climate policy have attacked the weaknesses in climate research. The climate debate is convoluted and polarized as a result, and climate policy complex. Climate policy should become easier and more rational as the Paris Agreement has shifted climate policy back towards national governments. Changing political priorities, austerity, and a maturing bureaucracy should lead to a more constructive climate debate

Exploring corporate engagement with carbon management techniques

his paper explores the different ways of managing carbon in organisational settings. It uses a sequential mixed methods approach – literature review, discussions with sustainability thought leaders, and online survey and interviews with company sustainability leaders – to consider and critique the use of the carbon management hierarchy (CMH) by selected corporate bodies in the UK. The derived empirical evidence base enables a triangulated view of current performance and potential improvements. Currently, carbon management models are flawed, being vague in relation to the operational reductions required prior to offsetting and making no mention of Science Based Targets nor the role corporations could play in wider sustainability initiatives. An amended CMH is proposed incorporating wider sustainability initiatives, varying forms of offsets, the inclusion of accounting frameworks and an annual review mechanism to ensure progress towards carbon neutrality. If such a model were to be widely used, it would provide more rapid carbon emissions reductions and mitigation efforts, greater certainty in the authenticity of carbon offsets, wider sustainability impacts and a faster trajectory towards carbon neutrality

REaL factor: how relevance and learning combine to create student engagement in the classroom, The

2013 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.This dissertation investigates the effect of teacher behaviors on student engagement in the classroom, and the relationship between student engagement and learning, with specific attention given to transformational learning. In this study, I define engagement as students being mentally attentive and interested in what is happening in the classroom - socially engaged with the Professor and other students, and enjoying the experience of learning. Data collection for this study was conducted at a large, Research I, land-grant university in the mountain west and involved interviews with eight university professors, six student focus groups, 24 classroom observations, and survey data from over 500 students. This dissertation reports a typology of teaching styles and a model of engagement based on the intersection of relevance and learning (the REaL model). While each style used a different approach to teaching, several common elements emerged amongst the most engaging teaching styles and professors. The results of the study indicate that incorporating important pedagogical elements such as making the material relevant to students, using emotional narratives, and bringing an authentic persona into the classroom are critical to engagement, and far more important than specific teaching methods such as lecture or discussion. Teachers should focus their efforts not on adopting a particular teaching style, but on creating a classroom experience in which relevance and learning combine to create student engagement. Other theoretical findings include a conceptualization of engagement as an internal process, and the corresponding theory that students need not actively participate in course discussions and activities in order to be engaged and learning. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of the importance of these findings for practical implementation in the classroom