I use the Lifestyle Project in my Introduction to Environmental Issues class. This 3-week project asks students to make changes to their everyday environmental habits. This helps students realize that they have control of their lives and they can make decisions and make changes if they want to. And, given this empowerment, students can think about their impacts on Earth and their obligations to the planet and our society.

This three-week project begins with a measurement of "baseline" consumptive behavior followed by two weeks of working to reduce the use of water, energy, high-impact foods, and other materials. The assignment uses an Excel spreadsheet that calculates direct energy and water use as well as indirect CO2 and water use associated with food consumption.

Since 1948, the National Election Studies group has been polling Americans on public policy issues. Information is presented statistically and graphically on a wide range of topics involved in the "flow of public opinion and electoral behavior and choice."

President George W. Bush discusses his energy policy, American's dependence on oil and alternative fuel in this April, 2006, speech.

Principles of Macroeconomics 2e covers the scope and sequence of most introductory economics courses. The text includes many current examples, which are handled in a politically equitable way. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of economics concepts. The second edition has been thoroughly revised to increase clarity, update data and current event impacts, and incorporate the feedback from many reviewers and adopters. Changes made in Principles of Macroeconomics 2e are described in the preface and the transition guide to help instructors transition to the second edition. The first edition of Principles of Macroeconomics by OpenStax is available in web view here.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Differentiate among a floating exchange rate, a soft peg, a hard peg, and a merged currency
Identify the tradeoffs that come with a floating exchange rate, a soft peg, a hard peg, and a merged currency

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Understand the arguments for and against requiring the U.S. federal budget to be balanced
Consider the long-run and short-run effects of a federal budget deficit

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Contrast expansionary monetary policy and contractionary monetary policy
Explain how monetary policy impacts interest rates and aggregate demand
Evaluate Federal Reserve decisions over the last forty years
Explain the significance of quantitative easing (QE)

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain crowding out and its effect on physical capital investment
Explain the relationship between budget deficits and interest rates
Identify why economic growth is tied to investments in physical capital, human capital, and technology

Ronald Heifetz, who is renowned for defining the adaptive leadership framework, shares his journey from practicing medicine to teaching at the Harvard Kennedy School. We learn about the principle of adaptability, and how it can help us navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. This is “The Mobilization of Adaptability” for the Xchange. A new virtual interview series from LabXchange at Harvard University, the Xchange showcases the diverse roles, projects, and initiatives that make up the intersecting fields of science, education, and health. Hosted by LabXchange Faculty Director Robert Lue, our first season features a range of perspectives on the impact of COVID-19.

In 2005, FRONTLINE/World featured the PlayPump, a promising new technology that pumped fresh water when children played on a merry-go-round. The story appealed to the good intentions of politicians, celebrities, and funders, who gave support to installing thousands of these devices in Africa. In this video, reporter Amy Costello continues her investigation into what happened to those communities as the promise of the PlayPump fell short, villages were left with non-working PlayPumps for months, and the device's biggest American boosters began to back away from a technology they had once championed. [23:42]

Listen as Jacqueline Novogratz discusses investing in sustainable small business solutions for the world's poor. The goal, says Novogratz, CEO of Acumen Fund, is to find a way to bring essential services to low income people not just today but in a way that's sustainable over time.

Students use spreadsheets to analyze the reasons why New Orleans has subsided in the past 250 years.