Dickinson to Durban » Entries tagged with "climate change"
Varying Approaches
Global climate change is a global problem. It is affecting every area of the planet right now. It is affecting humans, plants, animals, chemical cycles, the atmosphere and ocean composition. Climate change is also a result of actions from every corner of the world, from the smoke stacks of China to the farming of a small village in Kenya to the running water that was left on by a child in Chicago. Climate change is the biggest problem that the human race has ever faced, simply because of its vast variety of causes and effects. So how do we fix it? The concept is simple, if we are all causing the problem and if we are all seeing the effects then we all have a responsibility to fix it. In reality, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Mosaic Action
Key Contention: North/South Divide
by Claire Tighe Rates of climate change and strategies for mitigation are not the only sources of contention amongst states in the climate change negotiations. One of the largest social justice issues regarding the global governance of climate change is the relationship between states of the” global North,” and the global “South”. What Bulkeley and Newell name in their book Governing Climate Change as the “North-South politics,” regarding the “poverty of climate governance” can be understood as tension between developed countries (“North”) and the developing or least-developed countries (“South”). Contention between these two global groups relies on the assumption that “while climate change has been largely caused by wealthy industrialized parts of the world, it is the least developed areas of the world that will suffer its worst consequences” (Bulkeley & Newell … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Key COP17 Issues
Who’s Got the Power?
Climate change is an expansive issue that needs reform on many levels from the individual choices we make to the framework of world politics. Bulkeley and Newell argue in Global Institutions: Governing Climate Change that on the political level the nation state is not as important as it is perceived to be and that there are other important actors in climate change politics. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), the IPCC, and large corporations do have significant influence on climate politics, but are they more important actors than nation states? NGOs did help shape negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol through the Climate Action Network (CAN) and the European Union. The UNFCC does have measures to check the parties who signed the treaty and the IPCC’s reports do have influence among the leaders, but what … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change
Climate Change, Politicized. Nations, Polarized.
In the world today, it is impossible for issues of climate change’s magnitude to be isolated from politics. The government is the body within the United States and most other countries which has the power to impose regulations on the people within its jurisdiction. Thus it is the government which needs to create and uphold standards of environmental protection in order for people to actually change their ways of life. Ironically, now more than ever in recent history, the United States government is polarized on almost all large issues, especially climate change. This division results in discussions which end with the decision that “more research is needed” rather than a call to collective action to prevent the predicted disastrous effects of climate change from occurring. In addition to the fact that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change
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