Global Decision Making: Climate Change Politics

1999 ◽  
pp. 319-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Climate Change Politics

Megadrought and Collapse

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Societal Collapse ◽  
The Face ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Paleoclimate Proxy ◽  
Habitat Tracking

This is the first book to treat the major examples of megadrought and societal collapse, from the late Pleistocene end of hunter–gatherer culture and origins of cultivation to the 15th century AD fall of the Khmer Empire capital at Angkor, and ranging from the Near East to South America. Previous enquiries have stressed the possible multiple and internal causes of collapse, such overpopulation, overexploitation of resources, warfare, and poor leadership and decision-making. In contrast, Megadrought and Collapse presents case studies of nine major episodes of societal collapse in which megadrought was the major and independent cause of societal collapse. In each case the most recent paleoclimatic evidence for megadroughts, multiple decades to multiple centuries in duration, is presented alongside the archaeological records for synchronous societal collapse. The megadrought data are derived from paleoclimate proxy sources (lake, marine, and glacial cores; speleothems, or cave stalagmites; and tree-rings) and are explained by researchers directly engaged in their analysis. Researchers directly responsible for them discuss the relevant current archaeological records. Two arguments are developed through these case studies. The first is that societal collapse in different time periods and regions and at levels of social complexity ranging from simple foragers to complex empires would not have occurred without megadrought. The second is that similar responses to megadrought extend across these historical episodes: societal collapse in the face of insurmountable climate change, abandonment of settlements and regions, and habitat tracking to sustainable agricultural landscapes. As we confront megadrought today, and in the likely future, Megadrought and Collapse brings together the latest contributions to our understanding of past societal responses to the crisis on an equally global and diverse scale.

Wise Ancestors, Good Ancestors: Why Mindfulness Matters in the Promotion of Planetary Health

Challenges ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Alan C. Logan ◽  
Susan H. Berman ◽  
Richard B. Scott ◽  
Brian M. Berman ◽  
Susan L. Prescott
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Practical Wisdom ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Global Burden ◽  
Non Communicable Diseases ◽  
Planetary Health ◽  
Cultural Aspects

The concept of planetary health blurs the artificial lines between health at scales of person, place, and planet. It emphasizes the interconnected grand challenges of our time, and underscores the need for integration of biological, psychological, social, and cultural aspects of health in the modern environment. Here, in our Viewpoint article, we revisit vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk’s contention that wisdom is central to the concept of planetary health. Our perspective is centered on the idea that practical wisdom is associated with decision-making that leads to flourishing—the vitality and fullest potential of individuals, communities, and life on the planet as a whole. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has illustrated the acute consequences of unwise and mindless leadership; yet, wisdom and mindfulness, or lack thereof, is no less consequential to grotesque biodiversity losses, climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, the global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), health inequalities, and social injustices. Since mindfulness is a teachable asset linked to both wisdom and flourishing, we argue that mindfulness deserves much greater attention in the context of planetary health.

Contentious Capitol Climates

2020 ◽  
pp. 58-90
Author(s):  
Michael Méndez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Disadvantaged Communities ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Contemporary Climate

Describes the tension between global environmental protection and a local focus on the most disadvantaged communities. The chapter analyzes the development of California’s landmark climate change legislation: Assembly Bill (AB) 32. It illustrates the contentious nature of defining climate change and how the entanglements of diverse knowledges and worldviews shape contemporary climate governance and decision-making processes.

scholarly journals European Union as a Leader in Climate Change Policy: Assessing Europe’s Roles in the World∗

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
Omer Ugur ◽  
Kadir Caner Dogan ◽  
Metin Aksoy
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
European Union ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Climate Change Politics ◽  
The Eu

The European Union has grown up in terms of influence and size in international politics. The size of its economy and the ever-increasing membership, have seen its ambitions grow meaning that the EU now has an international presence it did not have at its formation. It is easy to say that with the EU being an ambitious actor in international politics, the rise into prominence of climate change naturally came in handy for the EU as it provided an opportunity for the EU to assert itself and prove both its capacity and presence. The 1992 Rio Earth Summit and the withdrawal of the USA from the obligations of the Kyoto came as a blessing in disguise for the Union as it seized the moment to assert itself. Thus, in trying to understand what role the EU has or is playing in international climate change politics, there is need to assess its leadership claims and what it has done to prove these claims. To get there, the paper will navigate through a part of the discipline of International Relations (IR) to understand how it provides for a basis to explain or understand the EU’s limitations and strengths on actorness.

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