Democracy and the Challenge of Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Institutional Learning ◽  
The Face ◽  
Policy Agendas ◽  
Free Flow Of Information ◽  
Climate Crisis

Climate change actions in democracies face perceived challenges such as short-term bias in decision-making, policy capture or inconsistency, weak accountability mechanisms and the permeability of the policy-making process to interests adverse to fighting climate change through the role of money in politics. Apart from its intrinsic value to citizens, democracy also brings critical advantages in formulating effective climate policy, such as representative parliaments which can hold governments to account, widespread civic participation, independent media and a free flow of information, the active engagement by civil society organizations in policymaking and the capacity for institutional learning in the face of complex issues with long-term and global social and political implications. International IDEA’s work on change and democracy aims to support democratic institutions to successfully confront the climate crisis by leveraging their advantages and overcoming the challenges to formulating effective and democratically owned climate policy agendas.

Eine Kantische Begründung individueller Klimapflichten

2020 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-692
Author(s):  
Simon Hollnaicher
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Imperfect Duties ◽  
Perfect Duties ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
The Face ◽  
Individual Actions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Climate Crisis

Abstract According to a well-known problem in climate ethics, individual actions cannot be wrong due to their impact on climate change since the individual act does not make a difference. By referring to the practical interpretation of the categorical imperative, the author argues that certain actions lead to a contradiction in conception in light of the climate crisis. Universalizing these actions would cause foreseeable climate impacts, making it impossible to pursue the original maxim effectively. According to the practical interpretation, such actions are morally wrong. The wrongness of these actions does not depend on making a difference, rather these actions are wrong because they make it impossible for others to act accordingly. Thus, apart from imperfect duties, for which has been argued convincingly elsewhere (Henning 2016; Alberzart 2019), we also have perfect duties to refrain from certain actions in the face of the climate crisis.

Bringing women's livelihood and care perspectives into climate decision making.

2021 ◽  
pp. 196-210
Author(s):  
P. E. Perkins ◽  
B. Osman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Social Resilience ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Address Climate Change ◽  
The Face ◽  
Climate Crisis

Abstract This chapter explores the livelihood and care implications of the climate crisis from a gendered viewpoint that includes the implications of this approach for climate decision making at multiple scales, from local to global. The focus is on grassroots political organizing, activism, and movements as well as women's community-based actions to (re)build social resilience in the face of climate chaos. Challenges and policy implications are discussed as governments struggle to meaningfully and equitably address climate change. Also highlighted are the transformational imperatives of care and livelihood priorities which cast into stark relief the unsustainability of the long-established gender inequities that serve as the foundation for economic systems everywhere.

Reification and passivity in the face of climate change

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Leduc Browne
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
Systemic Transformation ◽  
The Face ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Do So

Why do so many people remain so passive in the face of today’s massive, looming economic, political, and ecological crises, such as climate change? Despite some notable rhetorical and regulatory examples, attempts to stem climate change have, as a rule, not come to frame the activities of most citizens. The inability to confront the imperative of social transformation today is a complex, manifold problem. At root, it has to do with fundamental systemic features of a global social system that we all contribute to reproducing in our everyday lives. While these features do not preclude political engagement, innovation, and action, they do undermine the bases of movements towards truly systemic transformation. This article focuses on one such feature, reification, as a social-structural foundation of passivity that impedes the social innovations required to tackle the climate crisis.

scholarly journals Ambiente e Salute News n.11 - settembre-ottobre 2021

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Giacomo Toffol ◽  
Angela Biolchini ◽  
Luisa Bonsembiante ◽  
Vinceza Briscioli ◽  
Laura Brusadin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
International Health ◽  
Health News ◽  
Environment And Health ◽  
Significant Events ◽  
The Face ◽  
Climate Crisis

Environment and health news This issue of Ambiente e salute news comes out shortly after two significant events: the COP26 which took place in Glasgow in November 2021 with media coverage inversely proportional to the results, and a support initiative, Ride for Their Lives initiative which led pediatricians and international health workers on bicycles from London to Glasgow to reiterate that individual behaviors are also indispensable to protect our planet for the future of our children, and that it is necessary for the medical profession to mobilize much more in this direction. This concept was reiterated once again by the authors and readers of the bmj, as seen in this statement: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/10/24/we-must-protect-our-planet-for-our-childrens-future/. Our alleged powerlessness in the face of the complexity of climate change can be overcome through awareness of what we know and what we can put into practice, and this belief also supports this column: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/10/24/the-climate-crisis-how-do-we-show-we-care/. As in the previous issues, we summarize here briefly the main articles published in the monitored journals, among which numerous are precisely those relating to climate change and air pollution. This issue is based on the systematic review of the September and October 2021 publications.

scholarly journals Japan’s Climate Change Discourse: Toward Climate Securitisation?

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 53-64
Author(s):  
Florentine Koppenborg ◽  
Ulv Hanssen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Security Issue ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Status ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
First Time

This article situates Japan in the international climate security debate by analysing competing climate change discourses. In 2020, for the first time, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment included the term “climate crisis” (<em>kikō kiki</em>) in its annual white paper, and the Japanese parliament adopted a “climate emergency declaration” (<em>kikō hijō jitai sengen</em>). Does this mean that Japan’s climate discourse is turning toward the securitisation of climate change? Drawing on securitisation theory, this article investigates whether we are seeing the emergence of a climate change securitisation discourse that treats climate change as a security issue rather than a conventional political issue. The analysis focuses on different stakeholders in Japan’s climate policy: the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the parliament, the Cabinet, and sub- and non-state actors. Through a discourse analysis of ministry white papers and publications by other stakeholders, the article identifies a burgeoning securitisation discourse that challenges, albeit moderately, the status quo of incrementalism and inaction in Japan’s climate policy. This article further highlights Japan’s position in the rapidly evolving global debate on the urgency of climate action and provides explanations for apparent changes and continuities in Japan’s climate change discourse.

scholarly journals Climate Decision-Making

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 271-303
Author(s):  
Ben Orlove ◽  
Rachael Shwom ◽  
Ezra Markowitz ◽  
So-Min Cheong
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Transformational Change ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Face ◽  
Deliberative Processes ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Climate Crisis

Climate change decision-making has emerged in recent decades as an area of research and practice, expanding on an earlier focus on climate policy. Defined as the study of decisions relevant for climate change, it draws on developments in decision science, particularly advances in the study of cognitive and deliberative processes in individuals and organizations. The effects of climate, economic, social, and other framings on decision-making have been studied, often showing that nonclimate frames can be as effective as, or more effective than, climate frames in promoting decision-making and action. The concept of urgency, linked to the ideas of climate crisis and climate emergency, has taken on importance in recent years. Research on climate decision-making has influenced numerous areas of climate action, including nudges and other behavioral interventions, corporate social responsibility, and Indigenous decision-making. Areas of transformational change, such as strategic retreat in the face of sea-level rise, are emerging.

scholarly journals Different Countries, Common Support for Climate Change Mitigation: The Case of Germany and Poland

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Bohdanowicz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Emotional Response ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
The Public ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Common Support ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Change Mitigation

There are numerous studies assessing the influence of individual sociological, political, and demographic factors on attitudes towards climate change. However, there is still a need for a deeper understanding of the reasons behind these attitudes and for research based on results from more than one country. This study empirically examines a range of psychosocial and demographic determinants of support for climate policy (renewable energy, energy efficiency and carbon tax) in Germany and Poland (n = 1969). The results show that the societies of both countries, despite significant differences in income, culture and political stance on climate change, similarly support implementation of climate policies. For both countries valid predictors of support are: awareness, emotional response to climate crisis, sense of control, and belief in effectiveness of solutions; the study also shows predictors relevant in only one country. Factor analysis identified similar dimensions of attitudes toward climate change in both countries. The main findings show that support for climate policy is high in both countries and that the public is ready to accept more ambitious climate goals. Despite the differences between the countries, a coherent climate policy seems justified. The study also shows differences between the countries and provides recommendations for policymakers.

scholarly journals Climate Change, Human Rights and Justice

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Environmental Costs ◽  
Climate Change Negotiations ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Equity And Efficiency ◽  
The Face ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Climate Crisis

The global climate crisis is not just a matter of fixing industry so that it can produce profitably and contaminate less. There is a far more pressing issue facing us: how to address the negative climate impacts of development that is irresponsible in terms of its human and environmental costs. Mitigation and adaptation are two fundamental pillars of the climate debate. Technological equity and efficiency (mitigation) and the capacity of communities to brace themselves in the face of climate change (adaptation), are both fundamental to advance international climate change negotiations.

scholarly journals The Ethics of Climate Nudges: Central Issues for Applying Choice Architecture Interventions to Climate Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Helena SIIPI ◽  
Polaris KOI
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
The State ◽  
Choice Architecture ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
The Right ◽  
Climate Crisis

While nudging has garnered plenty of interdisciplinary attention, the ethics of applying it to climate policy has been little discussed. However, not all ethical considerations surrounding nudging are straightforward to apply to climate nudges. In this article, we overview the state of the debate on the ethics of nudging and highlight themes that are either specific to or particularly important for climate nudges. These include: the justification of nudges that are not self-regarding; how to account for climate change denialists; transparency; knowing the right or best behaviours; justice concerns; and whether the efficacy of nudges is sufficient for nudges to be justified as a response to the climate crisis. We conclude that climate nudges raise distinct ethical questions that ought to be considered in developing climate nudges.

scholarly journals Human Cooperation and the Crises of Climate Change, COVID-19, and Misinformation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul van Lange ◽  
David Gertler Rand
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Conditional Cooperation ◽  
Collective Interest ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Face ◽  
Climate Crisis

Abstract Contemporary society is facing many pressing challenges, including climate change, Covid-19, and misinformation. Here we illustrate how these three crises are each social dilemmas, characterized by a conflict between short-term self-interest and longer-term collective interest. The climate crisis requires paying costs today to benefit distant others in the future. The Covid-19 crisis requires the less vulnerable to pay costs to benefit the more vulnerable, in the face of great uncertainty. The misinformation crisis requires investing effort to assess truth, as well as resisting the temptation to spread attractive falsehoods. Addressing these crises therefore requires understanding human cooperation. To that end, we present (i) a brief overview of mechanisms for the evolution of cooperation, including mechanisms based on similarity (i.e., kinship, spatial selection, and group selection) and those based on interaction (i.e., direct reciprocity, reputation); (ii) a detailed discussion of how reputation can incentivize cooperation via conditional cooperation and signaling; and (iii) a review of social preferences that undergird the proximate psychology of cooperation, including positive regard for others (i.e., a cooperative orientation to others in general), parochialism (i.e., a cooperative orientation to ingroups, sometimes at a cost to outgroups or the collective as a whole), and egalitarianism (i.e., an orientation that seeks to reduce absolute differences in outcomes for self and others). We then discuss each of the three focal crises facing our society through the lens of cooperation, emphasizing how insights from cooperation research can inform efforts to address these crises.

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