Dr. Jim Smith

Janosch Ondraczek

Spring semester brought another course offering of ‘Global Energy Systems & Policy’ in the Environmental Studies program again this year at U. Penn. The first half of the course was very similar to last year’s (noted in the Jan. ’07 posting), but we’ve changed things around quite a bit in the second half. Instead of sustainable development indicators, this year we’ve been addressing the Kyoto Protocol and potential post-2012 GHG mitigation efforts. I also sought the help of a couple of former colleagues this semester. In March, Janosch Ondraczek from Price Waterhouse Coopers in Hamburg, Germany came and gave a presentation about renewable energy policy in the EU. Janosch and I were colleagues at the U.N., and I had followed his work on the implementation of EU Directive 2001/77/EC (about electricity from renewable energy sources in Europe quite closely during his studies at University College London. Dr. Jim Smith of US EPA talked to the class later in the month, offering some new ideas about potential U.S. GHG mitigation strategies. Jim and I had worked together quite a while ago (1980!!) on price-based mechanisms for urban sulfur dioxide control, and his pioneering work in that area is described in my Pollution Markets book.

I did a comparable guest lecture that same month for my good friend and colleague Prof. Nancy Watterson, who teaches at Cabrini College, a small liberal arts college outside Philadelphia. Nancy teaches a course in Arts & Social Change, which focuses on “integrative knowledge” and interdisciplinary thinking to accomplish progressive social change. She uses one of my more daring (foolhardy??) interdisciplinary efforts — a chapter entitled “Air Pollution Engineering as Cultural Experience” (which appeared in Melanie DuPuis’ book Smoke & Mirrors, NYU Press, 2004) — in her reading assignments. Students get to critique the paper in their technical writing sessions — and then me when I show up for the lecture! I’ve done this before for Nancy’s courses (at Princeton), and even though her students are usually younger and a bit less technically-oriented than my own, they are no less idealistic & passionate about environmental matters.I always enjoy the experience very much — and this year was no exception.