As China and the United States become the top two carbon emitters in the world, it is crucial for citizens in both countries to construct a sophisticated understanding of energy consumption issues. This interview study examines how U.S. and Chinese students compare in explaining and arguing about two critical energy consumption issues: burning…

In argumentative discourse, there are two kinds of activity--dispute and deliberation--that depend on the argumentative task goal. In dispute the goal is to defend a conclusion by undermining alternatives, whereas in deliberation the goal is to arrive at a conclusion by contrasting alternatives. In this study, we examine the impact of these tasks…

Unparalleled amounts of energy derived from fossil fuels now drive societies and shape people's worldviews. Geography's unique perspectives have significant potential to expand understandings of the effects of production and consumption of energy by drawing on the concept of sustainability using an integrated systems approach. As citizens' energy…