3.0

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In this course, we will study the inter-relationship of fossil fuels and the climate crisis, including a particular focus on Louisiana and ‘Cancer Alley.’ The course will look at the role of fossil fuel companies in the climate crisis and will delve into the issues of climate and environmental justice, indigenous rights, social movement organizing, public policy, and the energy transition. With a particular focus on oil, students will learn about the rise to global dominance of a natural resource on which states and nations have come to depend, but which has also brought great political, environmental, social, and climate strife. The course will explore approaches to solving the seemingly contradictory need to both rapidly transition away from fossil fuels and address this continued dependence. Students will learn about the history and future of fossil fuels, the social movements resisting them, and policy approaches to replacing them.