Dickinson to Durban » Archive
Fair Share
Harriet Bulkeley and Peter Newell (2010) explain the contemporary politics of global climate change with accounts of suspicion, inequality, and skepticism. Pointing fingers and holding responsibilities are things involved with every political issue throughout history. When it comes to global climate change, the unethical implications behind actions of developed countries make it easy to see who is responsible for causing, and in turn, preventing climate change from reaching drastic tribulations. Evidence shows that developed countries are indeed most responsible for the causes of climate change; the irony in this is that developing countries will be most affected by impacts of the changing climate. Bulkeley and Newell (2010) suggest “This sense of injustice derives from the fact that those who have contributed least to the problem of climate change in the past, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Politics
It is Time to take Responsibility and ACT!
Every nation state, and every person, holds some degree of responsibility for anthropogenic climate change. In the world today, one cannot live without leaving an impact. However, the answer is not as simple as that because responsibility is not distributed equally. It is crucial to recognize the vastly different emissions of states. In that light, those states who have contributed most to the problem ought to be charged with the task of leading the nation states towards more sustainable economies and ways of life. This requires the cooperation of states who hold the most power in the international system, who currently feel little direct effects of climate change, and who are stubbornly stuck in their gas guzzling ways. Thus, persuading these states to take responsibility for their contribution to climate … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change
Who Dun It?
by Claire Tighe To ask the question: “Who is responsible for climate change?” is to open a matrix of complicated answers that only best attempts can really suffice. If climate change is “The Issue of Our Time,” then answering this query might be the “Pending-Question-Upon-Which-Our-Future-Rests of Our Time.” The question “Who is responsible for climate change?” actually assumes two interlocking debates: 1.) Who, which in the frame of international negotiations implies “nation state,” is responsible for the actual global changes in the Earth’s climate and 2.) Who is responsible for fixing the problem? And the answer might sound familiar to members of the Facebook generation. It’s complicated. At the heart of this question lies the separation of ideologies between the global North and global South, who assume different points-of-view on the responsibility … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Key COP17 Issues
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
Recent Comments