Dickinson to Durban » Climate Change » The Responsibility of the World
The Responsibility of the World
Deciding whom to blame for climate change is an incredibly complex and sensitive issue. The reasons behind this stem from two very important aspects of what it takes to deal with climate change. First the difficulty of changing the habits of millions of people and second, and possibly more importantly, the cost of making changes. Because of these, everyone wants to put the blame and responsibility on someone else, anyone else.
When first looking at who should clean up and prevent climate change, it is key to look at who is responsible for the mess we are in now. Looking at it from a historical view, it is clearly the United States and other developed countries who take the cake for historically polluting the most(Roberts and Parks). But as we move forward into the future, other developing countries are now major contributors to climate change. Yet even with the massive amount of pollution that developing countries are pumping out, it still seems that for the most part countries like the U.S. are the ones currently most responsible. We have been polluting for far longer and now the developing countries are just copying our past actions. 
Turning towards the question of who is responsible for preventing dangerous climate change should be a very easy answer, but because of the factors discussed above of change and money, it seems impossible. Looking at the question from the perspective of an outsider the answer is clear, everyone is responsible. The real question becomes how is that responsibility divided up. There are hundreds of factors to consider from the difference in economy size of the countries, to the number of actual people, and beyond. How do countries like the U.S. go about telling China they have to stop polluting, in order to grow economically, when we did the exact same thing not too long ago? When it comes right down to it there is no easy way to decide how to split it up but we need to come to terms with the reality that we all will have to make big sacrifices and soon.
Roberts & Parks, 2007. “Fueling Injustice: Emissions, Development Paths, and Responsibility.” In Roberts & Parks, A Climate of Injustice, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 133-184.
Image: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/lab/phdprojects/index_files/image007.jpg
Filed under: Climate Change
I agree with your point that it is not right for the United States to tell countries such as China that they have to stop polluting. However, it is important to remember that the United States and Europe began rapidly developing at time when knowledge about climate change was less wide spread and collaborative nation state groups (such as COP) did not exist to the extent that they do now. I know that this is very unlikely, but I feel that to avoid dangerous climate change that United States and other very developed countries need to help countries such as China to bypass growth through fossil fuel burning to some extent. Basically, now that we know how much we are affecting the environment through our emissions, it does not make sense for countries to continue to develop with fossil fuels as their engines. We have the research capability and the technology to help countries develop even with slightly less dependence on fossil fuels. The United States’ industrialization and modernization should not be the model to which developing countries try to adhere. Unfortunately, it does not seem that this is the direction in which the world is heading.
Bulls-eye, Maggie. I touched upon this in my own blog post.
The climate system absolutely cannot tolerate additional emissions from developing countries that follow the path taken by the West through the Industrial Revolution. Yet at the same time, it is unreasonable to tell the poorest countries that they must not develop to improve the lives of their people – especially while we continue to enjoy so much wealth and luxury.
The compromise, I think, is this: the West must own up to the fact it unknowingly developed a completely unsustainable economic system that has put us where we are now, and the rest of the world must accept that it cannot repeat our mess. The only way for this to work, of course, is if the developed countries provide assistance to the developing countries so they can grow in a sustainable manner, while also changing their own behavior drastically.
Humanity’s future on this planet is going to be very different, whether we take action or not; but if we can work past our short-term self interests to reach a collaborative effort, then we can at least make that future as survivable and equitable as possible.