Children Climate Change Activism and Protests in Africa: Reflections and Lessons From Greta Thunberg

2021 ◽  
pp. 027046762110496
Author(s):  
Kelvin Zhanda ◽  
Munyaradzi A Dzvimbo ◽  
Leonard Chitongo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
The Past ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Regional Organisations ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Document Review

This article is based on a distinctive study that seeks to analyse the nascent role of teenagers’ activism and protests for climate change action. With the increasing realisation of children's rights to participation, the past few years have marked the rise of the new dispensation of climate activism and protests in which teenagers have occupied the centre stage. We pay specific reference to Greta Thunberg, a Swedish child climate activist, in as much as she can set a framework upon which Africa can draw parallels, lessons and insights for climate activism and protests. Even though the context may be different, the paper attempts to inform vibrant climate action through activism by children and ultimately climate policies, laws and management for environmental sustainability in Africa. We engaged document review and thematic approaches, and it emerged that children climate activism and protests in Africa are not as vibrant as they should be given the prevalence of climate inaction across the continent. Therefore, there is much to learn from Thunberg by pushing national governments and regional organisations to increase the decision-making space of children in the fight against climate change.

scholarly journals Sustainability in the Anthropocene: Between Extinction and Populism

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2538
Author(s):  
Manuel Arias-Maldonado
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Policy Goal ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One

The pursuit of environmental sustainability has been affected by two significant developments in the last years. On the one hand, the Anthropocene hypothesis suggests that the human impact on the environment has increased to such a degree, that natural systems are now disrupted at a planetary level. The most dangerous manifestation of the Anthropocene is climate change, where there is need for greater urgency in the face of insufficient climate action. There are a number of scientists who currently warn of the possibility that failing to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may render the Earth uninhabitable in the first place. A first goal of this paper is thus to ponder how the sustainability paradigm may be affected in the face of this threat and whether, in fact, sustainability may be displaced by “habitability”. On the other hand, some climate policies are eliciting the reaction of a populist movement—from Trumpism to the gilets jaunes in France—that opposes the rise of environmentally-related taxes and denies climate change or questions the severity of its effects. Both as a concept and as a policy goal, sustainability thus finds itself under double pressure: as it must focus on keeping the planet inhabitable, while the political opposition to measures directed towards decarbonization also increases. In what follows, the paper suggests that sustainability should be understood as a technocratic project to keep the planet safe for humanity rather than imposing a new way of life for all its inhabitants. This is not to imply that moral or ideological debate is to be curtailed, but rather to differentiate between achieving environmental sustainability and seeking the reshaping of socionatural relations.

The Role of Late-Night Infotainment Comedy in Communicating Climate Change Consensus

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward John Roy Clarke ◽  
Anna Klas ◽  
Joshua Stevenson ◽  
Emily Jane Kothe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Mitigation Policy ◽  
Behavioural Intentions ◽  
Late Night ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Adaptation Policies ◽  
Diverse Audience

Climate change is a politically-polarised issue, with conservatives less likely than liberals to perceive it as human-caused and consequential. Furthermore, they are less likely to support mitigation and adaptation policies needed to reduce its impacts. This study aimed to examine whether John Oliver’s “A Mathematically Representative Climate Change Debate” clip on his program Last Week Tonight polarised or depolarised a politically-diverse audience on climate policy support and behavioural intentions. One hundred and fifty-nine participants, recruited via Amazon MTurk (94 female, 64 male, one gender unspecified, Mage = 51.07, SDage = 16.35), were presented with either John Oliver’s climate change consensus clip, or a humorous video unrelated to climate change. Although the climate change consensus clip did not reduce polarisation (or increase it) relative to a control on mitigation policy support, it resulted in hyperpolarisation on support for adaptation policies and increased climate action intentions among liberals but not conservatives.

scholarly journals A room with a view: a special issue with a special perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-210
Author(s):  
Simone Borghesi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Climate Policies

AbstractThe present article describes the main insights deriving from the papers collected in this special issue which jointly provide a ‘room with a view’ on some of the most relevant issues in climate policy such as: the role of uncertainty, the distributional implications of climate change, the drivers and applications of decarbonizing innovation, the role of emissions trading and its interactions with companion policies. While looking at different issues and from different angles, all papers share a similar attention to policy aspects and implications, especially in developing countries. This is particularly important to evaluate whether and to what extent the climate policies adopted thus far in developed countries can be replicated in emerging economies.

scholarly journals What Drives Climate Action in Canada’s Provincial North? Exploring the Role of Connectedness to Nature, Climate Worry, and Talking with Friends and Family

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 146
Author(s):  
Lindsay P. Galway ◽  
Thomas Beery ◽  
Chris Buse ◽  
Maya K. Gislason
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Connectedness To Nature ◽  
Leverage Point ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Relationship

Despite widespread calls to action from the scientific community and beyond, a concerning climate action gap exists. This paper aims to enhance our understanding of the role of connectedness to nature in promoting individual-level climate action in a unique setting where climate research and action are lacking: Canada’s Provincial North. To begin to understand possible pathways, we also examined whether climate worry and talking about climate change with family and friends mediate the relationship between connectedness to nature and climate action. We used data collected via postal surveys in two Provincial North communities, Thunder Bay (Ontario), and Prince George (British Columbia) (n = 628). Results show that connectedness to nature has a direct positive association with individual-level climate action, controlling for gender and education. Results of parallel mediation analyses further show that connectedness to nature is indirectly associated with individual-level climate action, mediated by both climate worry and talking about climate change with family and friends. Finally, results suggest that climate worry and talking about climate change with family and friends serially mediate the relationship between connectedness to nature and with individual-level climate action. These findings are relevant for climate change engagement and action, especially across Canada’s Provincial North, but also in similar settings characterized by marginalization, heightened vulnerability to climate change, urban islands within vast rural and remote landscapes, and economies and social identities tied to resource extraction. Drawing on these findings, we argue that cultivating stronger connections with nature in the places where people live, learn, work, and play is an important and currently underutilized leverage point for promoting individual-level climate action. This study therefore adds to the current and increasingly relevant calls for (re-)connecting with nature that have been made by others across a range of disciplinary and sectoral divides.

Filling in for Governments? The Role of the Private Actors in the International Climate Regime

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28
Author(s):  
Charlotte Streck
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
State Actor ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Private Actors

The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change abandons the Kyoto Protocol’s paradigm of binding emissions targets and relies instead on countries’ voluntary contributions. However, the Paris Agreement encourages not only governments but also sub-national governments, corporations and civil society to contribute to reaching ambitious climate goals. In a transition from the regulated architecture of the Kyoto Protocol to the open system of the Paris Agreement, the Agreement seeks to integrate non-state actors into the treaty-based climate regime. In 2014 the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Peru and France created the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (and launched the Global Climate Action portal). In December 2019, this portal recorded more than twenty thousand climate-commitments of private and public non-state entities, making the non-state venues of international climate meetings decisively more exciting than the formal negotiation space. This level engagement and governments’ response to it raises a flurry of questions in relation to the evolving nature of the climate regime and climate change governance, including the role of private actors as standard setters and the lack of accountability mechanisms for non-state actions. This paper takes these developments as occasion to discuss the changing role of private actors in the climate regime.

scholarly journals Domestic Courts and the Paris Agreement's Climate Goals: The Need for a Comparative Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Julia Saiger
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
Functional Understanding ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
International Climate ◽  
National Governments

AbstractDomestic courts enjoy generous attention in international political and legal climate change literature. As a result of the reluctance of national governments to pursue climate protection measures, courts are called on to enforce international climate goals. This article assesses two domestic climate change cases (the Thabametsi Case and the Vienna Airport Case) in the light of Anthea Roberts’ functional understanding of the role of domestic courts in international law. It argues that domestic courts play a pivotal role in linking international obligations of conduct with national obligations of result. This role depends on domestic contexts and, therefore, requires a comparative approach.

Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project Down Under: The Up Market of the Climate Movement

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Baer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Status ◽  
Action Groups

In terms of applied work, anthropologists have been working on climate change issues at two broad and quite distinct levels, namely in the formulation of climate policies and by becoming involved in climate action groups and the climate movement that supports social, economic, and technological changes in the interest of mitigating climate change, a phenomenon that an increasing number of observers view as the most profound environmental problem ever faced by humanity and one that will continue to play itself out during the present century. In her list of issues that engaged anthropologists examine, Warren (2006:213) includes "social justice, inequality, subaltern challenges to the status quo, globalization's impacts, and ethical position of our field research in situations of violent conflict." Ironically, many of these issues are related in one way or another to anthropogenic climate change. I maintain that more anthropologists need to become involved as observers and engaged scholars in applied initiatives seeking to respond to climate change on the local, regional, national, and global levels.

Climate change, social policy, and global governance

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Gough
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Change Policies ◽  
Global Arena ◽  
The Relationship

This paper considers the challenge to global social policy posed by global climate change. It sets side by side global social policies and global climate change policies, and surveys the governance of each. The first part summarises global social policy in recent years, distinguishing (1) the policies and practices pursued in the global arena, and (2) the structures of global governance and the role of significant global actors. The second part repeats this at a greater length for global climate change. The third part then considers the relationship between these two sets of policies/practices and governance structures, in particular the potential conflicts between the pursuit of social justice and environmental sustainability. It identifies two possible responses – compensation and co-benefits – and maps these onto current global actors, before concluding with a radical vision of eco-social policy.

Elder abuse and neglect: an update

1997 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalie Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Elder Abuse ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Elder Abuse And Neglect ◽  
The Past ◽  
Abuse And Neglect ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Uk ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Research And Policy

For those of us who have been working in the elder abuse movement for a decade or more, progress towards understanding and prevention of elder abuse has been exceptionally slow. This situation may be attributed as much to the complexities of elder abuse as to the importance given to the problem by national governments. However, one trend in the past five years is particularly noteworthy. The increased awareness of elder abuse among the nations of the world, underscored by an ‘“explosion” of interest’ in the UK, has been the most salutary accomplishment. The purpose of this paper is to review the status of the field with specific reference to the past five years. Of necessity, this review is selective and thus may omit worthy research and policy achievements. As with an earlier paper (see Rev Clin Gerontol 1992; 2: 269-76), this review is limited to elder abuse in domestic settings.

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