scholarly journals Introductory Chapter: Arctic Studies - A Proxy for Climate Change

Author(s):  
Masaki Kanao
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Jonas Tallberg ◽  
Karin Bäckstrand ◽  
Jan Aart Scholte

Legitimacy is central for the capacity of global governance institutions to address problems such as climate change, trade protectionism, and human rights abuses. However, despite legitimacy’s importance for global governance, its workings remain poorly understood. That is the core concern of this volume, which engages with the overarching question: whether, why, how, and with what consequences global governance institutions gain, sustain, and lose legitimacy. This introductory chapter explains the rationale of the book, introduces its conceptual framework, reviews existing literature, and presents the key themes of the volume. It emphasizes in particular the volume’s sociological approach to legitimacy in global governance, its comparative scope, and its comprehensive treatment of the topic. Moreover, a specific effort is made to explain how each chapter moves beyond existing research in exploring the book’s three themes: (1) sources of legitimacy, (2) processes of legitimation and delegitimation, and (3) consequences of legitimacy.



Author(s):  
Joanna D. Haigh ◽  
Peter Cargill

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Earth's climate system—its composition, structure, and circulation—and some of the ways in which these vary naturally with time. It examines the key features of the structure of the Sun, its magnetic field, atmosphere, and its emission of radiation and particles. A comprehension of how the sun affects the Earth is a fundamental requirement for understanding how climate has varied in the past and how it might change in the future. This is particularly important in the context of determining the cause(s) of climate change and understanding natural factors in order to be able to attribute to human activity any past or potential future influence on a range of timescales.



Author(s):  
Prakash Rao ◽  
Yogesh Patil

Climate change impacts are being felt in many parts of the world and have become an issue of major concern. Tropical countries particularly those in the Asian region are at greater risk and vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as indicated by the report of IPCC. With regard to India there are several impacts forecast which could have adverse consequences on the natural resources and ecosystems of the country making them vulnerable and reducing their capacity to cope with a changing climatic regime. This introductory chapter of the book provides an insight to the recent trends, issues and challenges in water resource development in context to the global climate change.



Author(s):  
Navroz K. Dubash

How is India engaging the climate change challenge? This introductory chapter explains the changing context for climate change debates in India, from one focused on diplomatic concerns of equity and responsibility for the problem to one equally concerned with understanding its development implications. The chapter lays out the rationale for why the book examines climate change impacts, negotiations, politics, policies, and integration across sectors, briefly discussing key themes. It ends with four overarching messages on the contours of the Indian climate debate.





2019 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
David Wood

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the relationship between habit and climate change. It would be hard to overestimate the role of habit in people's lives. At one level, this is all well and good. There are, of course, bad habits, which people try to kick, but people's daily life would collapse without the scaffolding of habit. Still, when one contemplates climate change and the catastrophic future it presages, it is hard not to conclude that “business as usual” simply cannot continue for long. “Business as usual” means the common cloth of people's Western daily lives, their normal practices, in large part consisting of habits—personal, collective, economic, and intellectual. Forms of life, patterns of dwelling, other than the current consumerist model are undoubtedly possible. But whether people can get there from here voluntarily is another matter. If reinhabiting the earth means changing some of people's deep habits, habits reflecting historical sedimentations and congealings, then unearthing the forces in play, seeing how they operate and what is at stake in reconfiguring them, is a historical task to which philosophy can at least contribute. Economists are also central to imagining other economic orders, such as that of degrowth.



Author(s):  
Rob White

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the concept of Climate Change Criminology. Climate Change Criminology rests upon the four pillars of crime and harm; global connectedness and ecological justice; causes and consequences; and power and interests. These are separate but inextricably linked domains of analysis, interpretation, and critique. Each area demands novel ways of thinking about the problem, employing methods and approaches that necessarily push the boundaries of contemporary criminological theory and the purview of modern criminal justice institutions. In several important respects, Climate Change Criminology parallels work which focuses on ‘social harm’ as a constitutive concept. What makes a social harm ‘social’ is the fact that it does not stem from natural causes; it is intrinsically caused by humans. Analysis and response to this is central to the project of Climate Change Criminology.



Author(s):  
Sarah Louise Nash

This introductory chapter discusses the relationship between migration and climate change. The idea that people are being forced to move because of climate change, and that in the future even more people will be forced to do so, has captured imaginations globally. The majority of these representations of lives touched by climate change are expressions of outrage that the actions of a few will affect the lives of so many, that climate change will have consequences so grave that people will be forced to leave their homes. These contributions to the discourse, infused with sentiments of climate justice and undertones of a fear of people on the move, are the facets of the discourse most often visible to wider society. They have also led to impassioned calls for action to be taken at the global level, where these vibrant, raw and often emotional pleas are transformed into the dry, bureaucratic, technocratic world of international policy making. Set against this background, the aim of this book is to examine the distinct policy debate surrounding the climate change and human mobility nexus, in particular the construction of these two related concepts as a distinct phenomenon that requires policy responses.



2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Michael P. Hoffmann ◽  
Carrie Koplinka-Loehr ◽  
Danielle L. Eiseman

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the relationship between food and climate change. It is bad enough that climate change is melting glaciers and causing the seas to rise, but to many people the potential loss of coffee is downright scary. If not coffee, consider tea, spices, chocolate, seafood, rice, wheat, or whipped cream. The entire menu, including the before-dinner drink, salad, main course, and dessert, is all changing. Despite the legitimate potential for doom and gloom when discussing food and climate change, this book is in part a celebration of the foods and beverages we enjoy. It is also a refresher on the history of some delightful cuisines, where they come from, and their contributions to cultures and the world's economy. The chapter offers an outline of the topics that are examined in the chapters that follow.



Author(s):  
Simon Chesterman ◽  
Hisashi Owada ◽  
Ben Saul

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the growing interest in international law in the Asia and Pacific regions, which has been driven by threats as well as opportunities. On the threat side are transnational challenges such as climate change, environmental harms, forced displacement, persistent poverty, human rights violations and international crimes, and terrorism. Meanwhile, opportunities include economic integration, human development, and the proliferation of specialized branches of law as well as dispute settlement mechanisms and institutions. No book has so far covered how Asian and Pacific states as a whole participate in each of the main specialized branches of international law; individually contribute to the making and application of international law on the international plane; and individually implement international law in their national legal systems. This book aims to fill these significant gaps in professional and scholarly knowledge.



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