Climate Change and Global Warming in the World Today - Assignment Example

WEEKLY ASSESSMENT Name: Institution: Date: Week 5 Climate change is a global problem today. The paper is important since it focuses on current climate issues such as vulnerability, adaptation to the change in climate and resilience. Adaptation to climate change is receiving much attention as there is a rise in the net emission of greenhouse gases. There is the provision of alternative complementary responses to the climate change issues. The paper focuses of who, what and how adaptation due to climate change occurs in the world today [Bow09]. The case of adaptation, the major questions raised are what is to be adopted, who is to adopt and how the adaptation will occur. Some climate change issues are irreversible and others are reversible. The irreversible climate changes means that they are effects from climate change that people around the world will be forced to live with. It is for this reason that they have to adapt to these changes and learn to live with them. Based on the timing of the changes, the adaptation to climate change may be anticipatory or reactive. Examples of anticipatory climate change issues are when there are forecasts that there would be rains or high temperatures, thus people prepare for such conditions. The seriousness and dangerousness of climate change can be modified through different forms of adaptations. It is therefore not only the people who are required to adopt the adaptation but also other technological, economical, legal and institutional forms of adaptation need to be made [Ste07]. The information provided stands it since it stresses the fact that change in a must irrespective of where and when it occurs. With the increase in the industrialization in the countries has triggered climate change due to the increase release of carbon elements into the atmosphere. Due to the increased change in climate, the paper stresses the need for adaptation and resilience. It takes three dimensions to describe how adaptation and resilience to climate change can be effected. The dimensions answer the questions of whom, how and when the adaptation needs to be made. Week 6 Capitalism and effective action to combat climate change are incompatible Capitalism is an ideology where every person relies on themselves and works to gain personal wealth and power. It is an ideology that works on the principle of every man for themselves and God for us all. Man is born naturally capitalistic and works towards achieving personal wealth. While trying to achieve this principle, people make decisions about their consumption and production choices. As a result, the people encourage production processes which emit greenhouse gases. This usually has a direct relationship that exists between the productions process and climate change. Currently, in the world today, there is more carbon emission than the planet can absorb through the carbon cycle. Capitalism is an incompatible way to combat climate change because it is a policy that advocates for industrialization of countries. The faster the industrialization rates the more the carbon that is released into the atmosphere. It is therefore true to say that the capitalism ideology is an ideology that does not promote the combat of climate change [Pea03]. Effective action in the combat of climate change is also an incompatible way to manage climate change. This is because the strategy does not offer solutions to all the problems but rather to a few issues concerning climate change. Market failure is one of the issues that do not have a policy to control the low carbon emission technologies and investments. In as much as research and development is conducted on the issue, the innovators fail to provide proper solutions for the full benefits to be realized. Many policy instruments have been developed to correct the various market failures in the world and aid in the combat of climate change. However, the still exist failures in the policies themselves that fail to contend well will the combat of climate change. Some of these policies include the subsidies imposed on fossil fuel. These fuels still have high carbon emission yet the governments of most countries impose subsidies on the fuels thus reducing their prices and as a result, there is an increase in carbon emission due to increased usage of the fuels [Hou01]. Week 7 Why Teitiota was forced to leave his home in Kiribati Climate change has lead to global warming in the world today. The increase in temperature due to global warming will lead to the increase in the water levels in the oceans and the seas. Reports have indicated that as a result of his rise in water levels some countries and states in the Indian Ocean and the pacific will be rendered inhabitable. Some of these countries are reportedly not going to be inhabitable by 2025. Currently, there are people who have already been displaced by the rise in the water levels. Similarly, climate change has affected the size of ice in the Arctic and Antarctic Circle. This thinning of ice in the two circles is the main reason for the rise of water levels in the oceans and seas [Max11]. As a result of the rising water levels, the states and island affected such as Maldives, Kiribati and Tuvalu are likely to become inhabitable long before they are even fully submerged in by the oceans. Kiribati and Tuvalu have understood that the countries will be fully submerged in water due to the changes in temperature, and as a result they should contemplate early discussions with the bigger industrialized countries such as New Zealand and Australia. This is likely to happen as a result of a number of factors. Among these factors are the loss and reduction of arable land for farming, the destruction of the near shore marine life and the loss of fresh water for the residents of the islands. It is such factors that forced Teitiota to, leave the country long before it was submerged in the water. Since there is little industrialization in these countries, they largely depend fully on agricultural production and fishing. Without fresh water sources and destruction of their food sources by the rise in water levels has made food to be scarce and expensive in the countries. For people who are financially stable, most have sought citizenship in other countries while the others still wait for the government to intervene and provide them with new settlement options [Acc]. Week 8 Geopolitics: Securitization of climate change The subject matter focuses on the securitization of climate change at a global level. The scale of fast transformation in climate is now dawning on the policy makers that there is need to securitize the issue of climate change. Severe weather and environment events such as floods in Pakistan, droughts in the United States, typhoons occurring over the Philippines and Taiwan, heat waves in Russia and air pollution in Beijing have attracted much attention on the importance of securing the climate. Geopolitics is thus the major point of discussion in this case. Geopolitics is more about the power that is granted to different individuals. It is about the organization of the world and how it is divided politically into different states, territories, alliances, jurisdictions and administrative blocks [Ame09]. The subject matter is important since it provides options for contingency plans to be made by different authorities and corporations to provide for better management of disasters that may occur as a result of climate change. The major concern in this case is he rising water levels and flooding in different states. This means that the navy should provide for contingency plans for the evacuation of the people. Some countries in the world have been set to be completely submerged in water by 2025 due to global warming. Therefore, it is normal that heavy planning need to be conducted to provide options for the resettlement of the citizens of such countries. Geopolitics provides for planning at the different political levels for the greater aim of controlling the planetary climate change [Shi12]. The issue of geopolitics is an issue that stands out because it focuses on maintaining control of climate change at the state levels. This means that the states and different jurisdiction areas are required to provide a report of issues such as the annual carbon emissions. Most states in the world are currently undergoing the industrial revolution and as a result there is an increase in carbon emissions. The geopolitics thus also helps to control the planetary climate change since policies set by large organizations such as the United Nations are easily implemented at the state level. Week 9 Global warming will be expected to rise by about 3.50C in the next decade will mean that the living conditions on earth will be unbearable to most people. This is likely to happen if the governments of the different countries do not work towards implementing the policies that have been established in their countries to reduce global warming through the reduced release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. An increase in the global temperature in the world will have adverse conditions like the disappearance of glaciers, Arctic sea-ice, the Antarctic ice mass and the complete disappearance of the Greenland ice sheet. This means that there will be a destabilization of the earth’s climate and its natural systems. The problem will be expected to cascade through and beyond the centuries to come [Ove99]. With the current change in the climate of the world, political may end up being overtaken by Geo-engineering in the quest for solutions to the burning issue of climate change. Currently there are more carbon emissions than the natural earth system can absorb and as a result, the emissions have led to the weakening of the ozone layer thus resulting to increase in temperature and other hazardous changes in the environment. Geo-engineering refers to the introduction of scientific and engineering systems to try and solve the current climate change problem. Currents, the engineers and scientists are working towards controlling the earth’s cloud cover to help reduce the amount of direct sunlight rays hitting the surface of the earth and also provide a change in the chemical composition of the earth’s oceans and seas [All08]. The importance of this information brings out a picture for the need to ratify the earth’s systems and activities that lead to an increased release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The damaging and full disappearance of the ice cover in the world will mean that there will be a rise in the water levels and some countries may end up being fully submerged by the waters. The provision of geo-engineering may not fully reduce the effects of the greenhouse gas release into the atmosphere but will provide options that will help reduce the rate at which the problem is affecting the world today. Week 10 Identify and explore the pros and cons of adopting the People's Agreement of Cochabamba: Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth as a binding treaty under international law The adopting the People's Agreement of Cochabamba: Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth as a binding treaty under international law was developed with the aim of providing three different goals aimed at protecting the livelihoods of the people and reducing climate change rate and its impact. The first goal of the declaration was to provide an improvement to the understanding of the people on the potential impacts of climate change on the vulnerable communities around the world, their cultures and their ecosystems. The second goal of the declaration is to provide a platform for further research to be conducted to help reduce the risk of climate change. Finally, the declaration aims at providing the adoption of appropriate measures for the areas that are prone to high risks of socio-cultural impacts. To achieve these goals, the Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth as a binding treaty under international law provides for the identification of the most vulnerable areas in the world. Secondly, it requires that analysis of the potential impacts of the livelihoods and cultures of the people in the communities be done on climate change effects. Finally, it should be understood how the communities cope from past to present with the environmental changes based on their culture and background [Ovi00]. The declaration in this case thus helps in the adoption of traditional but innovative practises such as the shoreline reinforcement, rainwater harvesting, crop and livelihood diversification, supplementary irrigation and the use of community based disaster risk reduction. The Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth as a binding treaty under international law provides for the transfer of monetary, technology and knowledge transfer from the developed to the developing countries. This provides for the equitable distribution of resources to areas that are less developed and as a result provide support to the indigenous communities that vulnerable to climate change issues. The Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth as a binding treaty under international law however, does not provide for the provision of support to the majority of vulnerable communities living in the developed countries [Bro03]. Week 11 Articulate how one personally can become/are a constructive actor in global climate change politics, with a view to adopting multi-functional actions at different levels It has been for long argued that politics play a major role in shaping the climate of a country and the world in general. However, it is not only though the use of politics where one can shape and implement constructive global climate change functions at different levels. Currently, some of the major problems that face the world today as a result of climate change are cancers, wars, ocean acidification, and loss of soil capital, genocides, coral reef decline, deforestation and depletion. Although the politics of countries have major effects in shaping the climate change issues, everyone in their different levels of influence in life have the power to be a constructive actor in the reduction of climate change rates and the problems that are associated with this changes [Sal07]. Issues like deforestation have led to negative climate change. As the world continues to be industrialized, there are more and more greenhouse gases that are released to the atmosphere. With this increase and compared with the reduced forest cover around the world, mean that the natural means of neutralizing this gases is not available to the world thus a balance is not easily achieved. Aforestation and reforestation would help in improving the balance of nature and as a result help in reducing the negative climate change due to greenhouse gases. At the industrial level, the people working in industries should work towards implementing the policies that have been developed by the government and other agencies to see the reduction in the release of carbon gases into the atmosphere. Finally, at the community level, it is possible for people to advocate for a change in the use of fuel from the non-renewable sources to the renewable sources of fuel. The use of renewable fuel provides less adverse conditions to the atmosphere and as a result, the effect of climate change is reduced. REFERENCES Bow09: , (Bowen & Ranger, 2009), Ste07: , (Stern, 2007), Pea03: , (Pearce, 2003), Hou01: , (Houghton, Ding, Grigg, Noguer, & Dai, 2001), Max11: , (Maxine, 2011), Acc: , (Barnett & Webber, 2009), Ame09: , (Amed, 2009, p. 296), Shi12: , (Shirley, 2012, p. 222), Ove99: , (Ove, 1999), All08: , (Allan & Luke, 2008), Ovi00: , (Oviedo, Maffi, & Larson, 2000), Bro03: , (Brooks, 2003), Sal07: , (Salick & Byg, 2007), Read More