scholarly journals “Deep Vulnerability”: Identifying the Structural Dimensions of Climate Vulnerability through Qualitative Research in Argentina, Canada, and Colombia

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber J. Fletcher ◽  
Paula C. Mussetta ◽  
Sandra Turbay ◽  
Erika Cristina Acevedo Mejía
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Quantitative Indices ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Climate Vulnerability ◽  
Key Drivers ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Climate Events

Extreme climate events are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change. Vulnerability to extremes is the result of three components: exposure to hazards, sensitivity of the system, and capacity to adapt. A large-scale qualitative study of rural vulnerability to climate extremes in Argentina, Canada, and Colombia demonstrates the political-economic root causes of vulnerability in each context. Structural causes are difficult to identify using quantitative indices and deductive metrics alone, but qualitative approaches can help identify key drivers of vulnerability at a deeper level. Technology and diversification are insufficient to address such structural or “deep” vulnerability.

Neokoloniale Strukturen in der internationalen Klimapolitik

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Political Economic

Climate change is not just one of the main problems of this century, it rather is a matter of justice: It was particularly caused by western industrialized countries and now hits all states bit by bit – regardless of the question of guilt. The author studies how states struggle for solutions and binding rules at the annual Climate Change conferences and which of the proposals have prevailed. Using approaches of the postcolonial theory, she examines which power relations that are tracing back to colonialism still exist at the political, economic and epistemic level.

scholarly journals Climate Change Detection and Attribution: Beyond Mean Temperature Signals

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (20) ◽  
pp. 5058-5077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele C. Hegerl ◽  
Thomas R. Karl ◽  
Myles Allen ◽  
Nathaniel L. Bindoff ◽  
Nathan Gillett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Sampled Data ◽  
Free Atmosphere ◽  
Ocean Heat Uptake ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Detection And Attribution

Abstract A significant influence of anthropogenic forcing has been detected in global- and continental-scale surface temperature, temperature of the free atmosphere, and global ocean heat uptake. This paper reviews outstanding issues in the detection of climate change and attribution to causes. The detection of changes in variables other than temperature, on regional scales and in climate extremes, is important for evaluating model simulations of changes in societally relevant scales and variables. For example, sea level pressure changes are detectable but are significantly stronger in observations than the changes simulated in climate models, raising questions about simulated changes in climate dynamics. Application of detection and attribution methods to ocean data focusing not only on heat storage but also on the penetration of the anthropogenic signal into the ocean interior, and its effect on global water masses, helps to increase confidence in simulated large-scale changes in the ocean. To evaluate climate change signals with smaller spatial and temporal scales, improved and more densely sampled data are needed in both the atmosphere and ocean. Also, the problem of how model-simulated climate extremes can be compared to station-based observations needs to be addressed.

scholarly journals “Being fat is not a disease but a sign of good living”: The Political Economy of Overweight and Obesity in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-114
Author(s):  
Tolulope Osayomi
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Good Living ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

Increasing overweight and obesity rates have accompanied economic development in recent years. This twofold health issue has become increasingly worrisome and is currently receiving academic interest and government attention.  A growing volume of studies has examined the demographic, socio economic, environmental and cultural risk factors of overweight and obesity in Nigeria where fatness is culturally revered. However, information on large scale factors associated with economic development shaping the geographical distribution of overweight and obesity is sparse. From the political economic standpoint, the central question of this paper is: ‘Does the spatial pattern of overweight and obesity correspond with the varying levels of economic development in Nigeria? The study relied on secondary data from published sources.  Linear regression models were estimated to determine the impact of economic development variables on overweight and obesity. Results reveal that percent population with white collar jobs had a significant positive effect on overweight whereas poverty, gross domestic product (GDP) and degree of urbanization were significantly related to obesity. The paper concludes that the spatial patterns of overweight and obesity follow the pathways of economic development in Nigeria.

scholarly journals Detecting range shifts among Australian fishes in response to climate change

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Booth ◽  
Nick Bond ◽  
Peter Macreadie
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Definitive Evidence ◽  
Key Drivers ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

One of the most obvious and expected impacts of climate change is a shift in the distributional range of organisms, which could have considerable ecological and economic consequences. Australian waters are hotspots for climate-induced environmental changes; here, we review these potential changes and their apparent and potential implications for freshwater, estuarine and marine fish. Our meta-analysis detected <300 papers globally on ‘fish’ and ‘range shifts’, with ~7% being from Australia. Of the Australian papers, only one study exhibited definitive evidence of climate-induced range shifts, with most studies focussing instead on future predictions. There was little consensus in the literature regarding the definition of ‘range’, largely because of populations having distributions that fluctuate regularly. For example, many marine populations have broad dispersal of offspring (causing vagrancy). Similarly, in freshwater and estuarine systems, regular environmental changes (e.g. seasonal, ENSO cycles – not related to climate change) cause expansion and contraction of populations, which confounds efforts to detect range ‘shifts’. We found that increases in water temperature, reduced freshwater flows and changes in ocean currents are likely to be the key drivers of climate-induced range shifts in Australian fishes. Although large-scale frequent and rigorous direct surveys of fishes across their entire distributional ranges, especially at range edges, will be essential to detect range shifts of fishes in response to climate change, we suggest careful co-opting of fisheries, museum and other regional databases as a potential, but imperfect alternative.

scholarly journals The Irony of Michael Novak

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Menno R. Kamminga
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Reasonable Doubt ◽  
The Political ◽  
Reinhold Niebuhr ◽  
Fossil Energy ◽  
Democratic Capitalism ◽  
American Intellectual ◽  
Dangerous Climate Change ◽  
Political Economic

The late influential American intellectual Michael Novak was a self-declared devotee of Reinhold Niebuhr, arguably the foremost twentieth-century American theologian. Novak’s The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982) was an attempt to fill the political-economic lacuna in Niebuhr’s thought. The present article offers a Niebuhrian irony–focused response to Novak’s democratic capitalism in view of climate change as probably the greatest threat facing humanity. Novak quite successfully extended Niebuhrian ideas into a theology-based vision of democratic capitalism as the only political-economic system effective in widely lifting people out of poverty. Yet he failed to acknowledge human-induced climate change as beyond reasonable doubt and rooted in the predominantly American invention of a fossil energy–based capitalist political economy. This article’s thesis is that Novak’s democratic capitalism entails Niebuhrian irony: the virtue it displays about resources becomes a vice due to Novak’s irresponsible post–Spirit of Democratic Capitalism attempt to represent democratic capitalism as innocent of any dangerous climate-change implications.

A Responsibility to Revolt? Climate Ethics in the Real World

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-174
Author(s):  
Dan Boscov-Ellen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Real World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Emissions Reduction ◽  
Economic Dynamics ◽  
The Real ◽  
Climate Ethics ◽  
Structural Character ◽  
Structural Drivers ◽  
Political Economic

Mainstream ethical debates concerning responsibility for climate change tend to overemphasise emissions and consumption while ignoring or downplaying the structural drivers of climate change and vulnerability. Failure to examine the political-economic dynamics that have produced climate change and made certain people more susceptible to its harms results in inapposite accounts of responsibility. Recognition of the structural character of the problem suggests duties beyond emissions reduction and redistribution - including, potentially, a responsibility to fundamentally restructure our political and economic institutions.

scholarly journals Introduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Hughes ◽  
Megnaa Mehtta ◽  
Chiara Bresciani ◽  
Stuart Strange
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
The Political ◽  
Speculative Bubbles ◽  
Communal Conflict ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Political Economic

Ugly emotions like envy and greed tend to emerge ethnographically through accusations (as opposed to self-attribution), de-centring the individual psyche and drawing attention to how emotions are deployed in broader projects of moral policing. Tracking the moral, social dimension of emotions through accusations helps to account concretely for the political, economic and ideological factors that shape people’s ethical worldviews – their defences, judgements and anxieties. Developing an anthropological understanding of these politics of accusation leads us to connect classical anthropological themes of witchcraft, scapegoating, and inter- and intra-communal conflict with ethnographic interventions into contemporary debates around speculative bubbles, inequality, migration, climate change and gender. We argue that a focus on the politics of accusation that surrounds envy and greed has the potential to allow for a more analytically subtle and grounded understanding of both ethics and emotions.

Has the climate become more variable or extreme? Progress 1992-2006

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neville Nicholls ◽  
Lisa Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Analyse Data ◽  
Climate Events

In 1990 and 1992 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its first assessment of climate change and its supplement, did not consider whether extreme weather events had increased in frequency and/or intensity globally, because data were too sparse to make this a worthwhile exercise. In 1995 the IPCC, in its second assessment, did examine this question, but concluded that data and analyses of changes in extreme events were ‘not comprehensive’and thus the question could not be answered with any confidence. Since then, concerted multinational efforts have been undertaken to collate, quality control, and analyse data on weather and climate extremes. A comprehensive examination of the question of whether extreme events have changed in frequency or intensity is now more feasible than it was 15 years ago. The processes that have led to this position are described, along with current understanding of possible changes in some extreme weather and climate events.

Syria’s Passage to Conflict

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamel Azmeh
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Reform ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Institutions ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Protest Movement ◽  
Syrian Conflict ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Syria’s descent into conflict is receiving growing scholarly attention. On their own, the sectarian and geopolitical interpretations of the Syrian conflict provide us with little understanding of the roots of the conflict. Recent studies have started to unpack the political economic and socioeconomics aspects of the conflict, highlighting issues such as the economic reforms in the 2000s, rising inequality, and climate change. This article aims to contribute to this growing literature by placing these issues in a broader analysis of Syria’s political and economic institutions. It argues that the movement of 2011 should be seen as an unorganized protest movement driven by the consolidation and institutionalization of multisectarian elite rule through the economic reform process that started in the 2000s, following the expiration of the “developmental rentier fix” that had ensured authoritarian stability in Syria in earlier decades.

scholarly journals The genesis of the Mongolian revolution of 1921: methodological and theoretical aspects

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
Eduard V. Batunaev
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Methodological Aspects

The article examines the problematic and key issues of Russian historiography, theoretical and methodological aspects of the Mongolian revolution of 1921. Topicality of the study is due to the fact that the current scientific discourse pays great attention to the study of revolutionary processes in a broader historical context, with the involvement of new methodological approaches, previously unexplored materials. The Mongolian revolution of 1921 became a turning point on the path of the socialist reorganisation of the traditional nomadic society, carrying out radical political, socio-economic changes within the framework of the young Mongolian state. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of views in Russian, Mongolian and Western historiography, historical approaches, methodology in the study of the problem under consideration, new controversial aspects of the problems of the political history of Mongolia and Russian (Soviet)-Mongolian relations are revealed. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the analysis of historical literature showed that the Mongolian Revolution of 1921 in transnational history was a complex and multifactorial phenomenon that included both internal and external factors: the movement of the Mongols themselves towards independence and sovereignty, the advancement of revolutionary ideas Comintern in the East, ensuring the security of the eastern borders from the USSR. The author comes to the conclusion that the Mongolian Revolution of 1921 became a large-scale event in its entire centuries-old history, led to colossal changes in the political, economic, social and cultural life of Mongolian society.

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