scholarly journals Neoliberalism and the Environment: Are We Aware Of Appropriate Action to Save the Planet and Do We Think We Are Doing Enough?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellie-Anne Jones ◽  
Rick Stafford
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Government Intervention ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
The Uk

We currently face several, interlinked environmental crises, including climate change, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. However, many governments seem unwilling to take strong and immediate action to address these threats, preferring to promote neoliberal approaches to allow consumers and the general public to make environmentally friendly choices. This is despite neoliberal approaches being much less likely to be successful than government leadership, taxation, subsidies, and legislation in addressing environmental issues. In this study, we examine public perception of environmental threats and solutions to these threats, in a survey, mainly completed in the UK. Climate change is seen as the biggest issue, likely due to recent activist campaigns and subsequent media attention on the issue. Neoliberal attitudes, such as green consumer choices to environmental concerns, do still dominate in a series of possible presented solutions, and score more highly than lifestyle changes such as changing diet. However, when questioned specifically about plastic pollution, government intervention to ban all unnecessary plastic scored very strongly, indicating a shift from a consumer driven response. Furthermore, most participants think they are at best only partly ‘doing their bit’ to protect the environment. The results demonstrate that the public are aware that not enough is happening to protect the environment and provide evidence that there is willingness for stronger government intervention to address environmental issues, although there is potential resistance to major lifestyle changes.

scholarly journals Neoliberalism and the Environment: Are We Aware of Appropriate Action to Save the Planet and Do We Think We Are Doing Enough?

Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-339
Author(s):  
Ellie-Anne Jones ◽  
Rick Stafford
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Government Intervention ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
The Uk

We currently face several interlinked environmental crises, including climate change, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. However, many governments seem unwilling to take strong and immediate action to address these threats, preferring to promote neoliberal approaches to allow consumers and the general public to make environmentally friendly choices. This is despite neoliberal approaches being much less likely to be successful than government leadership, taxation, subsidies, and legislation in addressing environmental issues. In this study, we examine public perception of environmental threats and solutions to these threats in a survey mainly completed in the UK. Climate change is seen as the biggest issue, likely due to recent activist campaigns and subsequent media attention on the issue. Neoliberal attitudes, such as green consumer choices to environmental concerns, do still dominate in a series of possible presented solutions, and they score more highly than lifestyle changes, such as changing diet. However, when questioned specifically about plastic pollution, government intervention to ban all unnecessary plastic scored very strongly, indicating a shift from a consumer-driven response. Furthermore, most participants think they are at best only partly “doing their bit” to protect the environment. The results demonstrate that the public is aware that not enough is happening to protect the environment and provide evidence that there is willingness for stronger government intervention to address environmental issues; however, there is potential resistance to major lifestyle changes.

scholarly journals We should not separate out environmental issues, but the current approach to plastic pollution can be a distraction from meaningful action. A response to Avery-Gomm et al.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Stafford ◽  
Peter Jones
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Spillover Effect ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Environmental Behaviours

We agree with Avery-Gomm et al. that we should not separate out environmental issues. We also agree with them over the relative threat of plastic to our oceans. However, recent evidence on the ‘spillover effect’ of pro-environmental behaviours and on public attitudes to threats to areas such as the Great Barrier Reef suggest common consumerist and political approaches to tackle plastic pollution can cause a distraction from issues caused by climate change and biodiversity loss. We reiterate that we need political changes to address overconsumption in order to make real progress on all environmental issues

scholarly journals The future of marine biodiversity and marine ecosystem functioning in UK coastal and territorial waters (including UK Overseas Territories) – with an emphasis on marine macrophyte communities

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 521-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frithjof C. Küpper ◽  
Nicholas A. Kamenos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Important Species ◽  
The Future ◽  
Overseas Territories ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning – including seaweed communities – in the territorial waters of the UK and its Overseas Territories are facing unprecedented pressures. Key stressors are changes in ecosystem functioning due to biodiversity loss caused by ocean warming (species replacement and migration, e.g. affecting kelp forests), sea level rise (e.g. loss of habitats including salt marshes), plastic pollution (e.g. entanglement and ingestion), alien species with increasing numbers of alien seaweeds (e.g. outcompeting native species and parasite transmission), overexploitation (e.g. loss of energy supply further up the food web), habitat destruction (e.g. loss of nursery areas for commercially important species) and ocean acidification (e.g. skeletal weakening of ecosystem engineers including coralline algal beds). These stressors are currently affecting biodiversity, and their impact can be projected for the future. All stressors may act alone or in synergy. Marine biodiversity provides crucial goods and services. Climate change and biodiversity loss pose new challenges for legislation. In particular, there are implications of climate change for the designation and management of Marine Protected Areas and natural carbon storage by marine systems to help control the global climate system. The UK currently has legal obligations to protect biodiversity under international and European law.

scholarly journals Viewpoint – Ocean Plastic Pollution: a convenient but distracting truth?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Stafford ◽  
Peter JS Jones
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
The Media ◽  
Marine Environmental

Ocean plastic is a contemporary focal point of concern for the marine environment. However, we argue there are bigger issues to address, including climate change and overfishing. Plastic has become a focus in the media and public domains partly through the draw of simple lifestyle changes, such as reusable water bottles, and partly through the potential to provide ‘quick fix’ technological solutions to plastic pollution, such as large scale marine clean-up operations and new ‘biodegradable’ plastic substitutes. As such, ocean plastic can provide a convenient truth that distracts us from the need for more radical changes to our behavioural, political and economic systems, addressing which will help address larger marine environmental issues, as well as the cause of plastic pollution, i.e. over-consumption.

scholarly journals Ocean acidification needs more publicity as part of a strategy to avoid a global decline in calcifier populations

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (6) ◽  
pp. 1227-1229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus R. Westgarth-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Carbonic Acid ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Reduce Carbon Dioxide ◽  
The Uk

Ocean acidification (OA) is caused by increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, which dissolves in seawater to produce carbonic acid. This carbonic acid reduces the availability of dissolved aragonite needed for production of some invertebrate exoskeletons with potentially severe consequences for marine calcifier populations. There is a lack of public information on OA with less than 1% of press coverage on OA compared with climate change; OA is not included in UK GCSE and A Level specifications and textbooks; environmental campaigners are much less active in campaigning about OA compared with climate change. As a result of the lack of public awareness OA is rarely discussed in the UK Parliament. Much more public education about OA is needed so that people can respond to the urgent need for technological and lifestyle changes needed to massively reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

scholarly journals Integrating bioclimate with population models to improve forecasts of species extinctions under climate change

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry W. Brook ◽  
H. Resit Akçakaya ◽  
David A. Keith ◽  
Georgina M. Mace ◽  
Richard G. Pearson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
International Workshop ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Climate change is already affecting species worldwide, yet existing methods of risk assessment have not considered interactions between demography and climate and their simultaneous effect on habitat distribution and population viability. To address this issue, an international workshop was held at the University of Adelaide in Australia, 25–29 May 2009, bringing leading species distribution and population modellers together with plant ecologists. Building on two previous workshops in the UK and Spain, the participants aimed to develop methodological standards and case studies for integrating bioclimatic and metapopulation models, to provide more realistic forecasts of population change, habitat fragmentation and extinction risk under climate change. The discussions and case studies focused on several challenges, including spatial and temporal scale contingencies, choice of predictive climate, land use, soil type and topographic variables, procedures for ensemble forecasting of both global climate and bioclimate models and developing demographic structures that are realistic and species-specific and yet allow generalizations of traits that make species vulnerable to climate change. The goal is to provide general guidelines for assessing the Red-List status of large numbers of species potentially at risk, owing to the interactions of climate change with other threats such as habitat destruction, overexploitation and invasive species.

scholarly journals Drastic effects of Climate Change on Mediterranean marine forests

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Verdura ◽  
Alba Vergés ◽  
Jorge Santamaría ◽  
Sònia de Caralt ◽  
Enric Ballesteros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Rocky Shores ◽  
Fellowship Program ◽  
Summer Period ◽  
Marine Habitat ◽  
Radiation Conditions ◽  
Rocky Bottoms

Macroalgal forests have gone missing from most temperate rocky shores during the last decades, triggering an important biodiversity loss. Cystoseira species are some of the main marine habitat-forming species on shallow water Mediterranean rocky bottoms and follow the same tendency, mainly related to habitat destruction and pollution. However, here we suggest that anormal positive thermal events may contribute to this widespread Cystoseira decline. Monitoring thorough natural populations showed a drastic decline on a natural and relict C. crinita population in terms of density and structure coinciding with anormal high temperatures experienced during a summer period. Additionally, we experimentally test in the laboratory the cause-effect of those temperatures and UV radiation conditions experienced in the field on C. crinita populations. Although, C. crinita is able to resist high temperature picks, usually reached in Mediterranean summers, exceptional and maintained periods as those experienced during extreme events (28ºC) lead to the death of all individuals, compromising the viability and conservation of these forest-forming populations. We show how climate change may seriously compromise algal populations and synergically act with historical drivers of macroalgal decline (pollution, habitat destruction and herbivorism). Financial support from EU2020 (R+I) under grant agreement No 689518 (MERCES), MINECO (CGL2016-76341-R) and from University of Girona under congress assistance fellowship program for PhD and master students.

scholarly journals Global Challenges and New Approaches in the Common Agricultural Policy 2014 - 2020

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-54
Author(s):  
Gabriella Bánhegyi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Common Agricultural Policy ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
General Strategy ◽  
Agricultural Policies ◽  
Global Challenges ◽  
The Common

Abstract Unfavorable environmental issues raise attention globally toward the concept of sustainability. Agriculture is not only a sector influenced greatly by environmental conditions, but at the same time, as the most important utilizer of land, a major shaper of the environmental conditions. When forming agricultural policies special attention should be paid to issues such as climate change, scarcity of fresh water, food shortage and biodiversity loss — just to name some of them. The new European general strategy for the upcoming 7 years period has brought new measures for the agricultural policy as well, environment and sustainability being among the top issues.

scholarly journals An Introduction to Ecomodernism

2021 ◽  
pp. 163-175
Author(s):  
Hidde Boersma
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Meat Production ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Yield Gaps ◽  
The Impact

AbstractLand use change has detrimental impacts on the planet. It is not only a major cause of biodiversity loss, through habitat destruction and fragmentation, but also an important driver for climate change, through deforestation and peat oxidation. Land use change is mainly driven by food production, of which meat production comprises the major share. Ecomodernists therefore feel reduction of the impact of meat production is paramount for a sustainable future. To achieve this, ecomodernists focus on intensification of the production process to produce more on less land, both through the closing of global yield gaps and through the development of integrated indoor systems like agroparks. On the demand side, ecomodernists feel a diverse strategy is needed, from the development of meat substitutes and lab meat, to the persuasion of consumers to move from beef to monogastrics like pork or chicken.

scholarly journals Comprehensive Security: The Opportunities and Challenges of Incorporating Environmental Threats in Security Policy

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 91-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi Räisänen ◽  
Emma Hakala ◽  
Jussi T. Eronen ◽  
Janne I. Hukkinen ◽  
Mikko J. Virtanen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Environmental Security ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
Security Model ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Vital Functions ◽  
Wide Range

In security and foreign policy discourse, environmental issues have been discussed increasingly as security threats that require immediate action. Yet, as the traditional security sector does not provide straightforward means to deal with climate change and other environmental issues, this has prompted concerns over undue securitisation and ill-placed extreme measures. We argue that an effective policy to address foreseeable environmental security threats can only be developed and maintained by ensuring that it remains resolutely within the domain of civil society. In this article, we consider the case of Finland, where the policy concept of comprehensive security has been presented as the official guideline for security and preparedness activities in different sectors. Comprehensive security aims to safeguard the vital functions of society through cooperation between authorities, business operators, organisations, and citizens. We analyse the opportunities and challenges of Finland’s comprehensive security policy in addressing environmental changes through a three-level framework of local, geopolitical and structural security impacts. Our empirical evidence is based on a set of expert interviews (n = 40) that represent a wide range of fields relevant to unconventional security issues. We find that the Finnish comprehensive security model provides an example of a wide and inclusive perspective to security which would allow for taking into account environmental security concerns. However, due to major challenges in the implementation of the model, it does not fully incorporate the long-term, cross-sectoral, and cascading aspects of environmental threats. This weakens Finland’s preparedness against climate change which currently poses some of the most urgent environmental security problems.

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