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Dickinson to Durban » Environmental Politics

Paying off the debt

Human growth and expansion is responsible for a majority of climate change. Historically, the blame has fallen upon developed nations, most notably the United States, however, rapidly expanding economies in developing countries, especially the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), are now contributing a substantial amount of greenhouse gases exacerbating global climate change. A significant part of the problem lies in the practice of outsourcing the most polluting industrial processes to these countries. Developing countries profit from the outsourcing and have experienced incredible growth rates which would have otherwise been impossible. This growth, however, has not been coupled with a rising level of sustainability efforts and many industries remain grossly inefficient. Because so many goods are manufactured in developing countries that consume these massive amounts of energy, which … Read entire article »

Filed under: Environmental Politics

Who created the mess? Who’s going to clean it up?

Presently, it has been established by the scientific community that global warming is a global concern, of various degrees of concern to each one of the 7 billion and growing members of the world. This is where the problem of ascribing blame to those who “caused” climate change occurs. So who is responsible for climate change? And who must pay? Bulkeley and Newell argue, almost point blank to their audience, that climate change is caused by the developed countries of the world, such as the United States. However, they also claim that there are many “countries whose emissions trajectories will soon match those of the United States, EU, and Japan.” These countries include China, Brazil, and India, countries whose rapid development, is unfortunately occurring in a time when carbon emissions tied … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Politics

Global Issue in a “Backyard Society”

The causes and effects of climate change can arguably be defined as a clearly global problem, especially when looking at the issue in the context of global governance. Climate change is in fact a global issue in that various groups of people act as the emitters and subsequent victims of climate change in the forms of increasingly extreme weather fluctuations. However, the definition of what is considered “global” is exceedingly difficult to define succinctly and fairly when landed before the ‘global’ audience. Thus, first this sort of definitive explanation of the word must be established before effective work can be done to tackle the issue effectively on the international stage. So what is a “global approach to climate change? The UN has worked very hard to put together a working model … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Politics

Climate Politics: Beyond Nation States

The politics that surround climate change are incredibly complex. What adds to this complexity is the number and variety of actors who do or should participate. The decision making process for climate change policies on the international level involve not only states but coalitions of states, organizations through the UNFCCC, and a myriad of non-state actors. The non-state actors are sometimes not given the credit they deserve for how much influence they have in the process. In Governing Climate Change by Harriet Bulkeley and Peter Newell, the authors agree that, “non-state actors are central to the governance of climate change”(34). The most obviously needed non-state actors for climate change are the scientists who study climate and discovered that anything was even changing in the climate. No matter if they agree … Read entire article »

Filed under: Environmental Politics