midterm 3 Flashcards
- What are China’s “dual carbon” goals?
Goal 1:
Definition:
Date:
Goal 2:
Definition:
Date:
Goal 1: Peak emissions
Definition: highest emission a country will reach, afterwards it will decline
Date: 2030
Goal 2: net zero
Definition: emission produce = emission absorbed/removed
Date: 2060
- To the frustration of climate activists and experts, what level did China leave unclear amidst its pledges?
What level peak emissions would be
- China’s explicit and firm privileging of what has given some analysts doubt about China’s commitment to a swift energy transition?
Energy security
- T/F. According to estimates from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, coal demand in China will peak in 2025, China will peak its emissions in 2027, and very likely reach net zero before 2060.
T
- China’s rapid advances in solar, wind, and battery technologies have been astonishing. China’s current share of global manufacturing capacity now stands at (50, 66, 88)
% for solar modules
% for wind turbines
% for battery storage.
66% for solar modules
50% for wind turbines
88% for battery storage.
- T/F. While wind turbines still generate far more power than solar panels over a year, solar panels have overtaken wind turbines as the world’s biggest renewables market due to dominance in its scale of production.
T
- T/F. Both solar and onshore wind are cheaper on a new-build basis than gas and coal.
T
- T/F. China built more offshore wind turbines in 2021 than all other countries did for the last five years.
T
- Briefly, explain how the development of the renewable technology sector illustrates the evolution of China’s manufacturing sector.
Foreign firms (cheap labors) –> advanced manufacturing high tech domestic firms
- Briefly, explain how China’s desire for energy security encourages its development of renewable energy sources and technologies.
Less dependency on other countries for energy resources
Short term, security of fossil fuel
Long term, with more alternative energy, less dependency on other countries
- China wants to become the S_____________ A_____________ of renewables.
Saudi Arabia
- How does renewable energy development put a different light on China’s efforts at territorial expansion?
Territorial disputes are renewable energy related, mostly wind
- What difficult choice do many foreign countries face regarding China’s renewable technologies?
Undermines their own development for these sectors
Short term gain, long term loss
- What city in the 1990s and 2000s became the “air pollution capital of the world”?
Beijing
- Briefly, explain why March 2013 became the turning point for air pollution in China.
Xi jinping come to power, taking on the air pollution issue
- Which of the following were methods used by China to reduce its air pollution? (mark all that apply)
Set up a nationwide system of monitoring stations
New government regulations restricting car and truck use and emissions
Massive state subsidies to develop electric vehicle production and purchase
Shut down some coal mines and plants and put restrictions on the operations of ones still in use
Financing for companies to shift towards more energy efficient operations
All
- T/F. Though not a perfect rule, in general a country’s air quality gets considerably worse as it emerges out of poverty through industrialization, but then improves once it becomes affluent and able to afford regulations and remedies.
T
- A________________ is the planting of trees and vegetation in places where there previously weren’t any.
Afforestation
- List three of the benefits of China’s tree-planting programs.
i. Help with soil erosion
ii. Increase in biodiversity
iii. Screening places from sandstorm
- T/F. China has been conducting the largest tree-planting project in human history.
T
- List three problems with China’s Great Green Wall program.
i. Low to share information of success rate
ii. Poor planting, poor choices of the plant
iii. Outbreaks of beetles
- T/F. Despite criticisms and setbacks, China continues with its traditional tree-planting methods and has refused to adopt more nature-based approaches which scientists have argued would work better, nor has China made attempts to better integrate local communities in planting and conservation efforts.
F
- T/F. The BRI includes tree-planting initiatives, including the creation of “green economic belts” that will link China with several countries in Central and West Asia.
T
- China is currently conducting a campaign to cover 40% of 7 out of 10 of its cities with what?
Green spaces
- P_______ P__________ are a key means by which China uses its administrative state to spur innovation.
Pilot projects
- Sponge-cities are a N_______-B_______ approach, in contrast to conventional G________ I___________, and the programs seek to create green spaces that S________, R________, and C________ water as it moves through a city.
Nature-Based
Grey Infrastructure
Slow, Retain, Clean
- What factor do some analysts credit as the key to China becoming the largest electric vehicle market in the world?
More effective in lower the price of EV
- T/F. In addition to private vehicles, China has launched major initiatives to electrify its fleets of taxis, logistical trucking, and city buses.
T
- List three of the benefits of China’s electric vehicle revolution.
i. Reduce carbon emission
ii. less dependent on foreign source
iii. Drive company development and economy
- T/F. While China has massively invested in and rapidly expanded its high speed rail network over the last decade, it is still well behind the US in total km of high speed track.
F
- T/F. While China’s high speed rail industry initially depended on technology transfers from foreign firms, it is now driven by domestic firms at the forefront of world in terms of advanced speeds, signaling systems, driverless technology, and construction times.
T
- In addition to its myriad economic benefits, what two other benefits does China seek through its high-speed rail network?
i. A symbol of a country’s development
ii. A tool of social cohesion
iii. Growing ties of geopolitical influence
- List three key features of a China’s Eco-Cities.
i. High density
ii. Electrify transportations
iii. Advanced water system/ urban farming
- What country is a partner with China on its highest profile Eco-City project in Tianjin?
Singapore
- T/F. While China’s Eco-Cities projects have been much criticized (e.g. excessive expense, use as propaganda and marketing tools, questionable effectiveness, and hard time attracting residents), they have become some of the most influential blueprints for the future of sustainable urbanism.
T
- (a) What does ETS stand for? And (b) what sector does China’s initial implementation of its ETS apply to?
Emissions trading scheme
Power sector
- What are China’s two main goals in its ETS?
Drive down carbon emission
Spur development of new green technologies
- China is currently pushing ahead in decarbonizing what sector that is very-hard-to-decarbonize but essential for renewables?
Steel sector
- The IMF estimates that China’s carbon price must be near $50 a ton for it to effectively drive down carbon emissions (carbon’s current price in European markets is $90); China’s current carbon price is about $____.
$9
- Besides price, are two of the issues/criticisms/worries about China’s ETS?
i. Rely on self-reporting
ii. Corruption of monitoring, state own firms
iii. Ets not expanding as they plan
- T/F. Despite China’s overall dominance of the market, CATL, the world’s leading battery maker, is an American company located in Detroit, Michigan.
F
- T/F. China’s EV market makes up over half of all EV sales globally.
T
- What is ‘the first major reason why China’s companies were able to develop their EV battery’?
Huge amount of government support
- What were the three big motivations for developing an EV industry?
i. Energy independence
ii. Air pollution
iii. Can’t compete in already establish internal combustion engine market, can compete in new emerging EV market
- Which of the following does the video list as among the policies the Chinese government used to supported the development of the EV sector? (mark all that apply)
Subsidies for each sale
Cheap land leases
Cheap loans from state-owned banks
R&D spending
Tax breaks
Contracts to electrify bus and taxi fleets
Discounts, parking, lane advantages, tax breaks for consumers
All
- To protect their own battery industry, when foreign firms wanted to sell their EVs in the China market, what policy did the Chinese government adopt?
Must use Chinese made batteries
- What milestone in EV sales was reached in China in 2024?
Over 50% of new car sales
- Control over what is the second way that Chinese battery companies became dominant?
Control over the supply chain (materials)
- T/F. While China dominates the global mining of many of the critical materials for batteries, it is currently dependent on the advanced refineries of first world countries and regions like the US and EU.
F
- T/F. China has a 70% or over market dominance of the four main components of the EV battery cell.
T
- BYD, a major EV producer in China, started as what kind of company in the 1990s?
Batteries for electronics
- T/F. Historically, the major competitor to China in battery making was not the US, but Japan and Korea.
T
- What policy rule did the Biden administration pass in an attempt to limit China’s market dominance in batteries?
Chinese components cannot be over 50%
- T/F. China is not only the world’s leader in EV battery manufacturing, but has now become the epicenter of EV battery innovation.
T
- What is the significance of LFP batteries?
Less critical materials
Smaller and more powerful
- What are the three ‘concerns’ expressed about China’s EV battery industry?
i. Government support is unfair economic practice
ii. Human rights of abuse
iii. Environmental concerns
- T/F. In Spain, many people did not get the alerts sent by authorities at all or until it was too late, with many people driving or walking in suddenly flooding streets and underground garages that became death traps.
T
- Provide three of ways climate change may have contributed to the Spain floods.
i. Air warmer holds more precipitation
ii. The movement of Jetstream, pouring water to areas that not acceptable for this type of levels
iii. The Mediterranean water is very hot, getting warmer
- What climate change related problem had Spain been suffering from in 2022 and 2023?
Drought
- T/F. When the Spanish royals visited the site of the flooding, the people welcomed them and cheered with hope, since the royals were showing they cared and things would get better quickly.
F
- As a GHG, methane is _____ times more potent than carbon over the short term.
4 10 40 80
80
- T/F. In 2020, the growth rate in methane emissions doubled in a sudden, sharp spike upward, baffling scientists.
T
- What has a group of scientists now identified as the ‘culprit’ of the sudden spike in methane emissions?
Microbes
- How did scientists determine that the increases in methane emissions were not from fossil fuels (which, to be clear, are a major emitter of methane!)?
Methane from fossil fuels is heavier than those from microbes
They weight the methane
- Scientists fear that warming temperatures and rising methane emissions might be forming a dangerous F____________ L___________.
Feedback loop
- Describe the possibly ‘vicious cycle’ between warming temperatures and rising methane emissions.
Warming –> more methane, warm weather, permafrost –> warming
- T/F. Some good news related to methane emissions is that, if wetlands as part of a natural cycle are releasing methane faster than ever, scientists say that we do not have to push as hard to curb methane from the sources humans can control, such as cows, agriculture and fossil fuels.
F
- Over 100 countries have collectively pledged to reduce their methane emissions by ____% by the year ______ from 2020 levels.
30%, 2030
- T/F. Lahore, home to 14 million people, and only 25km from the border with India, recently suffered its worst air pollution day in history, and currently the worst levels on Earth.
T
- What Indian city frequently trades places with Lahore as the most air polluted city in the world?
Delhi
- Give three causes of India and Pakistan’s current bad air quality.
i. Coal fired power plants
ii. Farmers burn agriculture waste
iii. Cold air slow down wind, air pollution stays above the same area
- T/F. Indians affected by the air pollution can lose up to 8.5 years off their life, according to a study by the University of Chicago.
T
- Rich Indians and Pakistanis with access to what make the smog issue an example of ‘climate apartheid’ according to climate activists in the region?
Air purifier
- T/F. The Indian government, in a surprise to many, responded enthusiastically to overtures from Pakistani officials to conduct some ‘smog and climate diplomacy’ between the two traditionally bitter rivals.
T
- Which of the following is true about Indonesia’s coal sector? (mark all that apply)
Opened up the third most coal-fired power capacity in the world, behind India and China.
Coal is 60% of Indonesia’s electricity generation
World’s largest exporter of coal
Accounts for 75% of al planned coal power construction in South and Southeast Asia
All
- Provide three of the main reasons that coal has become so central to Indonesia’s economy.
i. Indonesia is poor, it uses coal to fuel the economy
ii. Incentives to use coal for industries
iii. Political lobbing and corruptions of the leader
- T/F. While many climate activists, scientists, and policymakers criticize Indonesia’s increased coal
usage, there is a widespread acknowledgement that Indonesia has passed significant environmental
safeguards that protect its forest, water, and air from the effects of coal mining and burning.
F
- What problem does coal burning make much worse in Jakarta?
Air pollution
- Briefly explain the two ways that the coal sector in Indonesia prevents it from developing a renewables sector.
- Government giving money to coal sector which could be use for renewable sector
- Lower price of coal compare to renewables
- Besides bountiful rainforests, Indonesia also has large and critically important mangrove forests and peat swamps. What climate functions do both of these serve?
Mangrove Forests:
Peat Swamps:
Mangrove Forests: costal erosion protection
Peat Swamps: carbon sinks, huge amount of carbon in peat sources
- How much of Indonesia’s original forest cover remains?
Half
- What crop is the largest driver of deforestation in Indonesia?
Palm oil
- (a) In addition to the plantations, timber, and mining industries, local communities are often
responsible for deforestation in Indonesia due to what farming technique? And (b) what additional
problem does this cause?
a. Slash and burn
b. Fire often get out of control, leading to forest fire
- What climate and population related program of the Indonesian government is exacerbating rural
tensions over resources?
Transmigration program
- List four costs of deforestation and fires in Indonesia.
i. Lose of carbon sink, sink to source
ii. Air pollution, affect public health
iii. It’s a source of geopolitical tension
iv. Increase the risk of spread of disease, pushing animal to human
- How does Singapore illustrate how Indonesia’s forest dynamics often become a geopolitical issue?
Fire break out leading to smoke cloud spreading to other countries affecting air quality
- (a) How many people live in Indonesia? And (b) how many live in Jakarta (the greater metropolitan
area)?
a. 270 million
b. 30 million
- What are the two main causes of Jakarta sinking?
i. Rising sea level
ii. Land subsidence, pumping of ground water
- What kind of project is Indonesia building (with Dutch and Korean help) at a cost of 40 billion
dollars in order to address its sinking capital?
Massive building of sea walls an island in the shape of a bird
- What other issue prevents Jakarta from pursuing a strategy of artificial recharge’ like Japan did when
facing land subsidence?
No alternative source of water
- T/F. Merely the flooding of Jakarta’s streets causing terrible traffic congestion is estimated to cost
the Indonesian economy 4.5 billion dollars a year.
T
- T/F. Only 15% of Indonesia’s farmland is taken up by large-scale plantations.
T
- Indonesia faces the possibility of significant declines in what three core crops listed in lecture, crops
critical to their domestic food security and export earnings?
i. Rice
ii. Palm oil
iii. Coffee production
- Indonesia is the world’s ___ largest marine fisheries producer.
Second Seventh Tenth Seventeenth
Second
- What type of area is reaching a tipping point that severely threatens Indonesia’s fishing industry?
Coral reef areas
- Briefly explain how climate change creates a one-two punch that makes fishing in Indonesia much more dangerous.
Warming of water, lost of coral reef, lost of mangrove
Fisherman need go further out of the sea
- Roughly on its marine and coastal sectors. ___% of Indonesia’s current economic losses due to climate change come from its effects.
20% 30% 50% 70%
70%
- Low-to-middle income countries dependent on what are likely to be the primary sources of climate
migrants over the next several decades?
Agriculture
- Provide examples for each of the cumulative, incidental, and secondary events of climate change
cause climate migration.
Cumulative:
Incidental:
Secondary:
Cumulative: sea level rise, rising temperature
Incidental: storms, flood
Secondary: social conflicts, fighting resources in community
- Many of Indonesia’s migrants move towards other rising economies within Asia, as well as what other region?
Middle east
- Due to desperate migrants, inadequate government policies, and lax law enforcement, many climate
migrants from Indonesia end up caught in what other tragic problem?
Human trafficking
- T/F. The current Indonesian government envisions the construction of a new national capital called “Nusantara” by 2045 on the island of Borneo as a solution for the problems plaguing Jakarta, reducing its population while allowing the country to start fresh with a “sustainable city”
T
- The construction of a new capital for Indonesia is part of a resurgent trend in M______P____ around the developing world as countries seek to build whole new cities to both address current urban shortcomings and respond to the problems and opportunities of climate change.
Master Planning
- The shifting of large populations out of Jakarta is an example of what climate change researchers call “M____R____”, a large-scale withdrawal of populations from vulnerable areas.
Managed Retreat
- List three of the worries/ problems/ criticisms that are already or bound to plague Indonesia’s plans for a new capital.
i. The area chosen is a rain forest, leading to deforestation
ii. Funding not up to sufficient level
iii. Soil not suitable to large construction
- Which of the following are among the reasons for Indonesia’s recent success in lowering annual rates of deforestation? (mark all that apply)
Increased law enforcement cracking down on illegal mining, farming, and fires.
World economic slump and declining prices for palm oil.
International and national level forest protection spending projects.
Expansion of Indonesia’s social service safety net, including many pro-poor policies
and worker protections.
All
- T/F. Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer and exporter.
T
- T/F. Peatlands store twice as much carbon as the world’s forests.
T
- Prior to Indonesia’s recent success (and Malaysia, what country was the only example of a large tropical forested country that had achieved a substantial and sustained drop in forest loss (though it was then reversed under a new president)?
Brazil
- T/F. The number of coral reef restoration projects in Indonesia has increased dramatically in recent years, including the single largest coral reef restoration project in the world.
T
- Briefly, describe Coral Transplantation.
Taking healthy coral (more resilient to higher temperature) to a location of dying coral
- In a parallel to China’s program on tree planting, the role of what group has been a critical factor in the success of many of Indonesia’s recent coral reef restoration projects?
Local communities
- What country with a world famous coral reef in desperate need of protection and recovery is now turning to Indonesia for advice?
Australia
What are two problems that have undermined Indonesia’s coral restoration initiatives?
i. One off projects, doesn’t last for long time
ii. No funding for long-term monitoring
- How much have a group of rich countries offered Indonesia in an effort to help shift the country off coal?
$20 billion
- What does JETP stand for?
Just energy transition partnership
- List two other countries that JETP deals are either in place or also under discussion.
i. India
ii. Vietnam
- T/F. As part of the plan, Indonesia has pledged to redirect government subsidies away from the coal sector and towards renewable energy development.
T
- What sector is Indonesia perhaps most interested in shifting towards renewable energy so it remains attractive to climate-conscious international investors?
Nickel
- What year has Indonesia pledged to reach Net Zero?
2060
What are two of the problems that are already troubling the implementation of Indonesia’s JETP?
i. Mixed of funding, wants more grant
ii. Not a good country for renewable energy, low wind speed, cloudy sky for much of the year
iii. funding level is too low
iv. much of the economy is build on cheap coal
- Estimates suggest that Indonesia has around _% of potential global geothermal resources.
40%
- Briefly, explain how geothermal energy works.
Harnessing heat from earth, heat up underground water to power turbines
- Indonesia’s location near the R__ of F___ provides it with the extremely active seismic activity that provides ample geothermal potential.
Ring of Fire
- What is the greatest advantage of geothermal relative to wind and solar renewable energy sources?
Provide stable base load
- List two of the problems that have slowed geothermal growth in Indonesia so far.
- Pro coal policies
- Geothermal, you don’t know where it is, need to drill and find out
- Indonesia has roughly _% of the world’s supply of nickel.
5% 15% 25% 55%
25%
- Why is nickel so important to the Electric Vehicle market?
Essential for lithium ion battery
- Indonesia’s “D____” processing policy bans all raw nickel exports and requires domestic processing.
Downstreaming
- What is Indonesia’s purpose in banning raw nickel exports?
Move up the value added chain
- T/F. Indonesia’s nickel ban has led to considerable growth in foreign investment, nickel smelters,
and jobs.
T
- What climate-unfriendly fuel source powers much of Indonesia’s nickel industry?
Coal
- What rich country recently passed a law requiring domestic sources for battery materials, a clear counter to Indonesia’s policies?
Biden climate build
- How did the EU respond to Indonesia’s raw nickel ban?
Court case against WTO
- T/F. In the face of opposition from powerful rich countries Indonesia has announced plans to reform its nickel ban and scrap any plans for expanding the program to other materials.
F
- Briefly define ‘Extractivism’.
Economy that disproportionately depends on extraction and export of raw materials
- What is the term for how colonized areas were constrained by the European colonizing powers to have economies that focused on a small number of sectors, almost always agriculture and raw materials?
F_________________ S______________________
Forced Specialization
- A massive expansion in global demand for basic goods can be roughly dated from what 2001 event?
China join WTO
- What is the two word term for a generalized and sustained rise in prices for basic goods from increases in global demand?
C_________________ B_____________
Commodity Boom
- List three of the criticisms of extractivist economies.
i. Exports profits overseas
ii. Massive environmental damage
iii. Poor quality job, dangerous and low pay
iv. Prone to corruption and inequality
- Another name for the Resource Curse is the P___________ of P__________.
Paradox of Plenty
- Give a brief definition of ‘resource curse’.
Countries with high material wealth, tend to have low economic output
- What are the three reasons that the resource curse often leads to armed conflict?
i. Give incentive to conflict
ii. Materials to sell and fund the fights
iii. Controlled by corrupted government
- Briefly explain ‘Dutch Disease’.
Disproportionate resources and influence of one sector
- T/F. Studies show that oil wealth tends to lower levels of democracy and increase autocratic rule.
T
- (a) In the 1990s the world’s attention was drawn to the often bloody origins of what valuable commodity? And (b) more recently attention has been drawn to the bloody origins of what valuable commodity to many advanced technologies?
a. Blood diamonds
b. Cobalt
- Some analysts are increasingly worried over how so many of the S________ C________ for green technologies are dependent on transition materials sourced in violent, unstable regions.
Supply Chain
- 56% of what key transition material is found in problem-plagued Democratic Republic of the Congo?
Cobalt
- Briefly, explain how international law contributes to the materials conflicts in the DRC.
Low transparency in supply chains
- T/F. The DRC is an example of the fact that most conflicts over transition materials are likely to be intra-state conflicts (insurgencies, civil wars) but not involve other states.
F
- Which of the following is true of the original Non-Aligned Movement? (mark all that apply)
Emerged in the early period of the Cold War and the era of decolonization of much of Africa and Asia
Advocated for a Third Way, independent from either the First World of the US and Second World of the Soviet Union
A key forum for developing nations to find their international voice and work collectively
Disbanded at the end of the Cold War since the end of that era meant the organization had lost its central purpose
Emerged in the early period of the Cold War and the era of decolonization of much of Africa and Asia
Advocated for a Third Way, independent from either the First World of the US and Second World of the Soviet Union
A key forum for developing nations to find their international voice and work collectively
- T/F. Indonesia and Brazil are considered leaders of the New Non-Aligned Movement.
T
- Partly what the New Non-Aligned Movement is trying to navigate is the possible transformation of the world from a post-Cold War American dominance to a more M________________ balance of power.
Multipolar
- The developing world’s reaction to what ongoing geopolitical conflict has become a clear indication of significant flux and uncertainty in international alliances?
Russia invasion of Ukraine
- List three of the objectives of the New Non-Aligned Movement.
i. Access to and development of core technologies
ii. Wants military hardware
iii. Alter trade negotiation with developed countries
iv. Better and more secure access to central resources
v. Restructure their debt
- Briefly, provide a definition of resource nationalism.
The management of energy and material flow with strong state interest
- Give three reasons for a recent resurgence in resource nationalism among developing countries.
i. Frustrated with Market development
ii. Role of the state and green technology development
iii. Geopolitical turmoil
iv. Increase importance of transition materials
v. Influence of opec
- Which of these is NOT listed as one of the five factors creating a unique present for resource wars?
The destruction, costs, transformations, and conflict intensifications associated with climate change
Scarce and/or valuable resources in areas that overlap between countries or exist in contested zones
Shifts in militaries around the world from resource-driven to ideology-driven geopolitical strategies
Increasing global demand from increased populations, continuing high per capital consumption in the global north, and increased middle class consumers in developing countries
Resource scarcities in basic commodities like water and timber driving increased prices, intensified competition, and perhaps conflict
Shifts in militaries around the world from resource-driven to ideology-driven geopolitical strategies
- What are three of the world’s resource conflict hotspots listed in lecture?
i. South China sea
ii. Russia and Ukraine
iii. East Africa
- What is the reason the Arctic is becoming more and more accessible to travel and resource extraction?
Massive ice melt
- T/F. According to one estimate by a global financial firm, already over a trillion dollars in projects are underway or planned for Arctic.
T
- What two countries have so far been the most proactive about developments in the Arctic?
Russia and Norway
- What country, not traditionally understood as an Artic country, is describing itself as a ‘near-polar’ country and has plans to make a big push into the region?
China
- Some routes such as the Northern Sea Route along Russia’s northern shore are already navigable — albeit not easily — during certain times of the year, this replaces the Suez Canal and trims some 30 percent to 40 percent off the distance ships would travel between what two regions?
East Asia and northern Europe
- T/F. In addition to the trillions of dollars due to the probable billions of barrels of oil and natural gas buried beneath the deep sea bed, the Arctic also contains a range of mineable minerals, including gold, silver, diamond, copper, titanium, graphite, uranium and other valuable rare earth elements.
T
- Briefly explain what EEZ stands for, how big it is, and what it means countries can do.
Exclusive economic zones, 200miles, countries have exclusive right to development
- T/F. Currently there is no forum, or mechanism, or agreement for settling territorial disputes between countries in the Arctic.
F
- Russia’s recent military activities in the region include which of the following? (mark all that apply)
Reopening old soviet era military installations
Deploying new weapons and radar systems
Jamming the GPS systems of other countries
Provocatively flying anti-submarine aircraft, for example during US-UK submarine military exercises
Simulating mock attacks by its tactical bombers on other countries
All
- The recent military activities by the US in the Arctic region include which of the following? (mark all that apply)
Navy warships now sail through Arctic waters conducting “freedom of navigation” patrols
Sending hundreds more marines to the region on long-term rotations
NATO conducting its largest military exercises since the end of the Cold War in the Arctic
the U.S. plans to re-establish the Navy’s Second Fleet, which will be sent to counter Russian activity in the North Atlantic
All
- An international treaty that governs the use of what other region is often cited as a model and hope for peaceful sharing of the Arctic?
Antarctica
- Why are indigenous communities in the region conflicted about these recent developments?
Gaining access to development fund, at the cost of indigenous communities and land taken
- T/F. While some wars have been directly fought over water, struggles over water are more often results of conflicts with other causes, as well as water accessibility being among the frequent targets and costs of war between groups.
T
- In addition to drinking water, what two other uses of water are most often the source of struggles over its control?
i. Farming and irrigation
ii. Energy generation
- In water wars, water is often a T_________ (i.e. cause of conflict), a W_____________ (i.e. instrument of support or target of attack), and a C__________ (i.e. due to intentional or accidental ruination).
Trigger, Weapon, Casualty
- The United Nations and the World Bank estimate that ___% of the global population is already suffering from water scarcity issues.
40%
- T/F. Over the course of the 20th Century, global water use grew at more than twice the rate of population increase.
T
- Analysts worried about state-level violence over water are most concerned about “T____________” water systems.
Transboundary
- (a) Why are some analysts optimistic that water resource struggles are unlikely to lead state vs state violence? And (b) what kind of wars do they see as much more likely to increase in the future?
a. Internationally long history of water negotiations
b. Civil wars
- What are two of the types of projects countries have pursued to remedy their water problems?
i. Desalination campaigns
ii. Conservation programs
iii. Diversion projects
- While climate change may not ever be the sole primary cause of a conflict, it often acts as a key cause by intensifying or causing other problems that lead to war; that is, climate change often acts, as the US military has put it, as a “T__________ M__________.”
Threat Multiplier
- T/F. After coming into power in the 1970s, the Shia Assad family ruled over Syria which is a majority Sunni country; in order to stabilize their power, they used preferential water access to maintain the loyalty of Sunni farmers especially in northeast Syria.
T
- T/F. In the five years leading up to the civil war, Syria experienced one of the worst droughts in history, and areas of the northeast were especially badly hit.
T
- As climate migrants from Northeastern Syria moved into the shantytowns of Syria’s big cities, they were combined with flows of conflict refugees from what other two places in the Middle East?
Iraq and Palestine
- T/F. As part of their often brutal counter-insurgency strategy, the Assad regime has frequently denied water to areas held by the rebels, even when this meant denying water to hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians not involved in the fighting.
T
- T/F. Egypt has over 110 million people and depends on the Nile for almost all of its drinking and farming water, which is why it uses its position as the upstream riparian power to control so much of the Nile’s flow.
F
- T/F. The region that depends on the Nile water for drinking, industry, and agriculture is expected to grow by 300 million people over the next 50 years.
T
- What foreign country is helping Ethiopia build the 5 billion dollar Renaissance Dam?
China
- Besides water, what are the other two major motivations for Ethiopia to build the Renaissance Dam?
i. Domestic energy
ii. Exported energy
- What threat and what demand did Egypt make when Ethiopia announced plans for the Renaissance Dam?
Threat:
Demand:
Threat: Bomb it
Demand: 90% of the water
- A long and still ongoing civil war in what other country is tied to water supplies, including those from the Nile?
Sudan
- What is at the heart of the growing tensions between China and India in the Himalayas?
water
- Growing fears over China’s water policies in the Himalayas parallels the geopolitical tensions over China’s water policies in what other region?
Mekong delta
- In addition to loss of water, what are two other concerns that India has about possible dam construction in the Himalayas?
i. Energy generation issues
ii. Fish stock
- T/F. So far the dispute between China and India in the Himalayas has not led to any military confrontation or build-up.
F
- T/F. A central point of the term ‘Polycrisis’ is that sometimes multiple crises occur simultaneously and in interconnected ways that make them cumulatively more difficult to handle than a series of separate crises.
T
- Which of the following are key ideas associated with ‘Polycrisis’?
Complex, entangled systems
Disruptive systemic risks
Synchronized breakdowns
Amplified severity
Accelerated rates
All
- What are the two most important factors driving the amplification and acceleration of polycrisis conditions?
i. Climate change
ii. Greater connectivity
- T/F. The Sahel is a large transition zone that stretches across Africa from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea, and is in between the dry and semi-arid Saharan desert climate of North Africa to the humid and tropical conditions of Sub-Saharan Africa.
T
- What are the two impacts of climate change already negatively impacting life in the Sahel?
i. Decline food production
ii. Droughts
- The conflict between what two groups defines the central tension in many areas of the Sahel?
_____ vs. _____
Nomads vs. Farmers
- Less and less of what has increased the conflict between these two groups (from question 3)?
Grass
- A civil war which has followed Western military intervention in what North African country has led to a cascade of extremist violence southward throughout the Sahel?
Libel
- Extremist groups have thrived in the Sahel recently, especially within the region of west Africa defined by which of the following characteristics? (mark all that apply)
Rampant poverty
Neglectful or nonexistent government
Corrupt and violent militaries
Climate-change driven food insecurity
Large proportion of a vulnerable Muslim population
All
- Which European country is a former colonial power in West Africa, still exercises considerable economic and military power in the region, and invaded Mali in a several weeks operation that turned into a decade long, multi-billion dollar quagmire that left the region more destabilized than before?
France
- The Sahel has seen a large surge in refugees over the last decade, as well as IDPs. (a) What does IDP stand for? (b) And what makes them often harder to help than refugees?
a. Internally displaced people
b. Legal constrains
- In response to the increased flow of refugees from the region, Europe has increased funding for …
Borders
- T/F. Sahelian countries Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad and Mali are all among the top twenty countries with the fastest projected population growth, and the region is expected to double in size by 2050.
T
- What are three policy recommendations experts have given for better addressing the crisis in the Sahel?
i. Empowering women
ii. Provide aid to local farmers
iii. Infrastructure aid
- A shift in what terminology would likely provide greater protections and support for people fleeing from conditions damaged by climate change?
______ —> ______
Climate Migrants —> Climate Refugees
- Provide two arguments for and against Carbon Capture Technology.
For
i.
ii.
Against
i.
ii.
For
i. allows continue use of fossil fuels
ii. provide jobs
Against
i. Hard to abate, aviation, concrete
ii. It is expensive, opportunity cost
- Provide two arguments for and against Nuclear Power.
For
i.
ii.
Against
i.
ii.
iii.
For
i. Near zero carbon emission
ii. Provide huge amounts of energy, stable base load
Against
i. Long time to build nuclear power
ii. Melt down risk
iii. Intersection between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons
- Provide two arguments for and against Degrowth.
For
i.
ii.
Against
i.
ii.
iii.
For
i. Focus on human quality, higher quality of life
ii. Earth does not have enough material for infinite economic growth
Against
i. Decrease technological innovation
ii. Political non-viable
iii. Decoupling, can you decouple growth with emissions and input use/ resources
- Provide two arguments for and against Clean Energy Tech as Dirty.
For
i.
ii.
iii.
Against
i.
ii.
iii.
For
i. Far less environmental destruction
ii. Far less resources use
iii. It’s a necessary path to decarbonization
Against
i. Drive resource conflicts
ii. Concentration of geopolitical problematic countries
iii. Green washing
- Briefly explain ‘climate denialism’.
People who claim climate change is not a serious problem/ not a problem, deny that we need to do anything about it
- Trump’s reductions or eliminations of regulations around what GHG is likely to have tremendously terrible environmental impacts?
Methane
- What sector is a key target for Trump to undue Biden’s legislative legacy on climate?
Electric vehicle sector
- What is Trump’s objection to the Paris Agreement?
Paris agreement is a cost to US, but a benefit to China
- A continuing ‘war’ between the US and China will have far reaching impacts on the development of green technologies as well as political, economic, and environmental cooperation more generally?
Chip war
