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Dickinson to Durban » Entries tagged with "Industry"

Solutions from Industry

By:Esther Babson The private sector is and has been a very important player in the climate negotiations. According to Governing Climate Change by Harriet Bulkeley and Peter Newell, recent times have seen a switch in some areas to a more “positive engagement with climate governance initiatives”(92). As learned from Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, industry’s role typically involves stalling policies and negotiations around climate change. In Governing Climate Change the authors even mention Fred Singer who was a main focus in Merchants of Doubt as a scientist who raised questions about anthropogenic climate change via funds from fossil fuel companies(Bulkely and Newell, 89). Bulkeley and Newell site this strategy of challenging the science of climate change as just one of six different political strategies used to “promote … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Politics

U.S. Climate Policy-What Does it Take?

The United States is an incredibly difficult place when it comes to climate policy. Maybe it’s the divide down party lines over environmental topics, the lack of desire to change our habits or even just the nature of a democratic nation; regardless we Americans aren’t able to decide on how to deal with climate change. Part of the problem stems from the control industries have over decision making. The industries in the U.S. and across the globe hold huge amounts of money and thus hold huge amounts of power. In earlier posts the book Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway proved this point, showing how the tobacco industry blatantly lied and twisted information to confuse the public about the health effects of smoking. After reading Merchants of Doubt, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change