World-Systems in the Biogeosphere: Three Thousand Years of Urbanization, Empire Formation and Climate Change

Climate Change

The Oxford Handbook of Global Studies ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190630577.013.23 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 630-646

Author(s):

Clive Hamilton

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Natural World ◽

Global Studies ◽

World Systems ◽

International Response ◽

Long Time ◽

Rise Of China ◽

World Systems Analysis ◽

The Rise Of China ◽

Do So

Greenhouse gases emitted anywhere affect people everywhere, and they will do so for a very long time. Progress on an international response to climate change has been bedeviled by ethical, political, and economic fractures, highlighting the severe limitations of the Westphalian state system. Non-state actors have played a crucial role in negotiations; some are “internationalist,” whereas others are “globalist.” Climate change is inseparable from capitalism’s insatiable appetite for growth. The rise of China destabilizes previous understandings of the world, including those of global studies and world-systems analysis. There are signs of a new cosmopolitanism, although securitization of the climate threat works against it. The globality of the natural world calls for a rethinking of global studies.

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Conclusion

Postgenocide ◽

10.1093/oso/9780192895189.003.0012 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 280-306

Author(s):

Christopher P Davey

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

World Systems ◽

Resource Exploitation ◽

Mass Violence ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Systems View

This chapter considers how genocide violence might be framed through the lens of postgenocide. It contemplates, from a world-systems view, the relationships that genocidal violence has to climate change, resource exploitation, warlordism, and crisis-ridden states. Actors within this paradigm are varied and generally labelled as militarized without necessarily a particular state-based authorization. This conception is explored using a variety of cases. Use of postgenocide is not an attempt to broadly redefine genocide. It is to emphasize an approach where legal and historical views on genocide are complemented in capturing the intersections of the geopolitical order, warlordism, climate change, and resource exploitation. The analysis takes into account recent developments, including those in climate violence research. In doing so, the analysis seeks to illuminate the concept of postgenocide so that it could be applied to other conflicts involving mass violence beyond formal states and traditional conceptions.

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Outside-in perspectives on the socio-econo-technological effects of climate change in Africa

International Sociology ◽

10.1177/0268580919867837 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (6) ◽

pp. 762-785 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ayodele Adekunle Faiyetole

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Technological Development ◽

Governance Structure ◽

World Systems ◽

The Core ◽

Cultural Preferences ◽

The Earth ◽

Climate Change Response ◽

Two Factors ◽

Change Response

Humans’ aspirations for development have unsustainably placed momentous pressure on the Earth. Peripheral Africa remains the most susceptible region to climate change and its impacts. By considering externality and world-systems theories, this article uses the Delphi external experts (DEE) approach to weigh the perceptions of global (and mostly core) experts regarding climate change response/sustainability. The socio-econo-technological development factors that contribute to Africa’s climate change issues are evaluated. The article concludes that despite the high rankings of the factors related to emissions’ propensity, such as energy and transportation, governance and socio-cultural preferences are the two factors that are statistically significant to climate change and vulnerability to it. The global governance structure fostered by the core countries facilitates unequal exchanges. Notwithstanding, responsive governance structures are advised for the periphery. Governance is analogous to a thermostat that can be used to regulate other development factors, in particular to entrench socio-cultural preferences that may have a desirable future impact on the climate.

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Averting robo-bees: why free-flying robotic bees are a bad idea

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20190063 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (6) ◽

pp. 723-729

Author(s):

Roslyn Gleadow ◽

Jim Hanan ◽

Alan Dorin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Computer Simulation ◽

Food Security ◽

European Countries ◽

Plant Interactions ◽

Plant Insect Interactions ◽

Native Habitat ◽

Insect Pollinators ◽

Insect Interactions

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.

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Modelling ecosystem adaptation and dangerous rates of global warming

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20180113 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 221-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rebecca Millington ◽

Peter M. Cox ◽

Jonathan R. Moore ◽

Gabriel Yvon-Durocher

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Warming ◽

Diffusion Rate ◽

Individual Species ◽

Genetic Evolution ◽

Rates Of Change ◽

Rapid Climate Change ◽

Warming Climate ◽

Intraspecies Competition ◽

High Trait

Abstract We are in a period of relatively rapid climate change. This poses challenges for individual species and threatens the ecosystem services that humanity relies upon. Temperature is a key stressor. In a warming climate, individual organisms may be able to shift their thermal optima through phenotypic plasticity. However, such plasticity is unlikely to be sufficient over the coming centuries. Resilience to warming will also depend on how fast the distribution of traits that define a species can adapt through other methods, in particular through redistribution of the abundance of variants within the population and through genetic evolution. In this paper, we use a simple theoretical ‘trait diffusion’ model to explore how the resilience of a given species to climate change depends on the initial trait diversity (biodiversity), the trait diffusion rate (mutation rate), and the lifetime of the organism. We estimate theoretical dangerous rates of continuous global warming that would exceed the ability of a species to adapt through trait diffusion, and therefore lead to a collapse in the overall productivity of the species. As the rate of adaptation through intraspecies competition and genetic evolution decreases with species lifetime, we find critical rates of change that also depend fundamentally on lifetime. Dangerous rates of warming vary from 1°C per lifetime (at low trait diffusion rate) to 8°C per lifetime (at high trait diffusion rate). We conclude that rapid climate change is liable to favour short-lived organisms (e.g. microbes) rather than longer-lived organisms (e.g. trees).

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