Santa Clara University

Faced with the problem of climate change, what should the United States do? Michael Shellenberger, co-author of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility and Ted Nordhaus, two contrarian environmentalists, argue that the standard "green" emphasis on government regulation to address the problem is not going to work. Instead, they argue that "we'll need massive investments in clean energy innovation and infrastructure--investments that, a consensus of climate scientists and energy policy experts agree, the private sector either cannot or will not make without government leadership." Michael Shellenberger will speak at SCU on the arguments that he and Nordhaus make in Break Through.The respondent will be Peter Kareiva, SCU Environmental Studies Institute and Nature Conservancy.