Environment and Technology from the Policy and Business Perspectives

The natural environment and technology are inextricably linked. The natural environment provides both the initial inputs as well as the ultimate disposal locations for the technologies that drive today's economy. As a result of the close relationship between the environment and human technology, technology has at times been cast as both the ultimate villain and the ultimate hero in environmental policy circles. This class introduces students to many features of the relationship between technology and the natural environment over time. It explores past (for the most part) environmental policy issues, such as acid rain and ozone depletion, through the lens of specific technologies that were important to both policy and business interests. It introduces some of the environmental strategies that are being used by both policy-makers and business to affect technology development and adoption today (e.g., Energy Star, TQEM). And it delves into the climate change debate, an ongoing issue on the environmental policy agenda in which harnessing the forces of technological innovation will be crucial to environmental progress.