Dickinson to Durban » Climate Change
What are the priorities?
By Maggie Rees The country of South Africa is a rapidly developing country with high hopes of reaching a resilient economy, healthier quality of life, and strong political power. Such an agenda requires setting priorities for development. Obviously, certain priorities advance in this hierarchy. In many cases, legislation sticks to the urgencies reflected by a country’s economy, or other factors; when this occurs, the state often loses sight of the individual. Local governments have propensities to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change
Durban’s Challenge
By Timothy Damon ’12 With a population of more than 3.5 million people and an area of more than 2,300 km2, Durban is one of the most significant urban and economic centers in South Africa. A port city, it is on the front lines of climate change – at risk from storm surge and sea-level rise in addition to heat waves and air pollution. The local government has initiated some steps to address these hazards, but … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Politics
A Balancing Act That Is Considerably Less Fun Than a Circus
By Sam Pollan, ‘14 Balance is important. Finding a way to spend adequate resources across several fields is a necessary, but difficult, task. This is doubly true for climate change. The debate about where to allocate funds or establish green infrastructure is full of head shaking and face palms. Just as Dr. Mike MacCracken warned about how people need to utilize all mitigation solutions before seeking climate remediation, the world needs to prioritize which venture will … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Politics
Get local with climate change–in more ways than one!
In the article, “Thinking globally, acting locally –institutionalizing climate change at the local government level in Durban, South Africa” (available here) author Debra Roberts dicusses the importance of climate adaptation on a slightly smaller scale than we are used to thinking of. As a student in this mosaic program, I have been focused on climate negotiations on an international scale. The conference of the parties works to create agreements for greenhous gas emissions on a global scale, but … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change
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