Common Knowledge? Public Understanding of Climate Change in Newcastle, Australia

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriet Bulkeley
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Global Environmental Issues

This paper argues that public understanding of climate change not only involves knowledge of its physical processes, but also encompasses wider issues concerning the relation between society and nature. It examines the conclusions of previous research, and assumptions made within the policy community concerning public understanding of climate change. It is argued that in each case, in accordance with the information deficit model, recorded levels of ignorance are seen as a barrier to effective public involvement in the policy process. This view is challenged by research findings from Newcastle, Australia. Public understanding of global environmental issues drew not only on scientific information, but also on local knowledges, values, and moral responsibilities. Further, respondents connected the issue to their communities, and suggested that individual action is morally sanctioned, despite concerns for the efficacy of such action and the lack of government or industry support. Where institutional realignment has occurred to provide renewable energy to householders, public involvement has been forthcoming. These findings suggest that rather than focus on the provision of information, policy attention should be directed to the social and institutional barriers that act to constrain public involvement in addressing global environmental issues.

Earth Ethics for Education

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarence W. Joldersma
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Ethical Orientation ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
The World ◽  
Education Needs ◽  
Global Environmental Issues

Education needs an ethical orientation that can help it grapple better with global environmental issues such as climate change and decreasing biodiversity, something called earth ethics. The term ethics is used in an unusual manner, to mean a normativity more basic than concrete norms, principles, or rules for living. The idea of earth is also used in an unusual way, as a kind of concealing, a refusal to disclose itself, while at the same time, constituting a kind of interference with the familiarity of the world. The idea of earth plays on the contrast between living on earth and living in the world. The latter involves the familiar concerns and actions of culture and work, of politics and economics. Earth ethics becomes a call to responsibility coming from the earth—a call to let the earth and earthlings be, to acknowledge their refusal to answer our questions or fit easily into our worldly projects, and to recognize their continuing mystery as beings with their own intrinsic worth. The idea of earth ethics is developed through attending to a set of human experiences. First is an experience of gratefulness toward the earth. This gratefulness not only reveals our finitude, but also our indebtedness to the grace-filled support the earth continually gives us for our worldly projects and concerns. This reveals earth as our home, a dwelling we share with other earthlings. This reveals earth’s fundamental fragility. What seems solid and dependable from a worldly perspective shows up as vulnerability from an earthly viewpoint. The experiences of gratefulness to and fragility of the earth gives rise to feeling a call to responsibility, the core of earth ethics. Earth ethics is a call of responsibility to the earth, one that grows out of our debt of gratitude and the earth’s fragility. It is this normative call that might guide education in its grappling with environmental issues.

scholarly journals Nexus between Climate Change, Displacement and Conflict: Afghanistan Case

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrej Přívara ◽  
Magdaléna Přívarová
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Priority Policy ◽  
Global Environmental Issues

The character, the motion and the proportion of environment-induced migration have radically changed in recent years. Environment-induced migration is an increasingly recognized fact and has become one of the main challenges of the 21st century, and needs to be focused on to ensure sustainable growth. This new stance is due to the changing character of environmental degradation. Global environmental issues, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, river and oceanic contamination, land degradation, drought, and the destruction of rainforests, are progressively stressing the earth’s ecosystems. Among these issues, climate change is one of the most severe threats. Climate change alone does not directly induce people to move but it generates harmful environmental effects and worsens present vulnerabilities. The current study aims to provide cornerstone links between the effects of climate change, migration decisions, displacement risk and conflicts in the example of Afghanistan, as a country that is extremely affected by both climate change and conflicts, and outline priority policy focuses to mitigate the current situation in the country.

scholarly journals INDONESIA’S REGULATION AND POLICY IN THE ENERGY SECTOR: URGENCY TO PROMOTE ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN URBAN AREAS

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 211
Author(s):  
Imam Mulyana ◽  
Achmad Gusman Siswandi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Energy Efficiency Policy ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Energy Efficiency Policies ◽  
Global Environmental Issues

<p>In recent years, efforts to promote sustainable energy through energy efficiency, renewable energy and use of new technologies are moving rapidly at national, regional, and international levels. The benefits generated from energy efficiency has prompted experts and governments to work together in implementing energy efficiency policies across all sectors of life. One of the focus areas in global energy efficiency policy is energy efficiency in urban areas. This article aims to provide an overview regarding the implementation of policy and regulation on energy efficiency in Indonesia, particularly in urban areas. The research finds that energy efficiency is one of the most effective ways to improve the competitiveness and capacity of cities in Indonesia. In addition, it could advocate the Indonesian Government in responding to global environmental issues, especially climate change.</p><br />

Japan and the Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Reimann
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
International Status ◽  
Global Environmental Issues ◽  
Over Time

This chapter examines the evolution of environmental politics in Japan over the postwar period and identifies the main factors and actors shaping environmental policy. The literature on Japanese environmental politics has shifted its focus over time from domestic to global environmental issues, mirroring transformations in Japan’s political economy and international status. After successfully confronting the domestic problem of severe pollution in the 1970s and early 1980s, Japan became one of the world’s largest donors of environmental foreign aid, starting in the early 1990s and continuing today. Throughout all periods, there have been continuities as well as changes. In terms of representation and democracy, the Japanese state has consistently prioritized concerns of business and local governments in the policymaking process. In addition to having greater voice, these constituencies have also benefited materially from policies through their access to various green funds. In contrast, NGOs and citizens have tended to be left out of policy discussions and have exercised voice largely through protest and critiques of government policies. The chapter ends by examining the case of climate change to explore these patterns in more recent years.

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