S4 SOCIAL CHANGE AND THE GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGE Flashcards
GOAL OF UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONCENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE (UNFCCC)
- Prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system
Anthropogenic : emissions from human activities
DEFINING DANGEROUS CLIMATE
Researches argued that to prevent dangerous consequences to arise it is needed to reduce the increase of temperature. No more than 2C above pre-industrial levels
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
- Certain process by which certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat
- Keeping the planet warm enough to sustain life
GREEN HOUSE GASES
- Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere
- Ex : CO2, Methane, H2O
GREEN HOUSE GASES : ORIGINS
2 ORGINS :
Natural origin ( volcanism, breathing, vegetation, decomposition of biomass)
Anthropogenic Origins ( land-use and deforestation, fossil fuel combustion, agriculture)
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS SINCE 1850
- Increase in emissions due to industrialization, fossil fuel combustion.
- Amplified the greenhouse effect
- Bc of the growing human demand for energy, transportation and deforestation activities “
IMPACTS OF EMISSIONS
- Ocean acidification
- Sea level rise
- Reductions in the sea ice cover
- Increases in the occurrence and strength of extreme weather “
EMISSION TRENDS
- GHG emissions have increased significantly due to industrial activities
- Despite efforts we have seen the highest emissions in 2023
- Sectoral contributions
- Regional differences : varies by regions, countries may shows reduction of increase.
- There is some policies put in place however the gap between current policies and the necessary reductions remains significant. “
BATHTUB ANALOGY OF CC
- Drainage of emissions is slower than inflow, concentration of GHG emissions is increasing
- The stopping of emissions will not directly reduce the concentration but slow their increase “
PARIS AGREEMENT
- Aspires to 1.5C
RISKS RELATED TO CLIMATE CHANGE
- High level of temperature
- Extreme weather events
«HOTHOUSE EARTH»
- Scenario human-caused, climate Change triggers self-perpetuating warming = impossible to control
- If global temperature rise beyond threshold = set off feedback loops
- Hotter and more unstable version of our current climate “
POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOPS
Processes that amplify or increase change (e.g., increased temperatures leading to more ice melt, which causes further temperature rises).
INGENUITY GAP
The gap between increasing need for innovative ideas to solve complex social, technical, and environmental problems, and the actual surplus of such ideas
- requirement for ingenuity incases in the event of rapid environmental change
= The ingenuity gap is basically the difference between the problems we face and the solutions we have.
As problems like climate change or resource shortages get more complex, we need new and creative ideas (ingenuity) to solve them.”
MALTHUSIANISM
- Theory predicting that population growth will outpace agricultural production, leading to societal collapse.
- The demand will be higher than the resource supply
ECONOMIC OPTIMISM
- belief that economic growth and technological advancements will solve resource shortages
SCARCITY
- Having seemingly unlimited human wants in a worlds of limited resources?
- Tensions >< limited supply and high demand
- Making choices about how to allocate resources effectively
INGENUITY
Ideas applied to solve practical technical and social problems
Technical ingenuity relies on social ingenuity
2 TYPES OF INGENUITY
DOMESTIC INGENUITY
TRADE SUBSTITUTION
DOMECTIC INGENUITY
Domestic institutional arrangements to solve scarcity problems
- Capital availability
- Science & technology (R&D)
- Social institutions
- Domestic Markets
TRADE SUBSTITUTION
Purchasing resources from abroad to reduce domestic scarcities
- International markets
STRATEGIES FOR TACKLING ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
SOCIAL NORMS
- Education
- Persuasion
POLICY INSTRUMENTS
- Penalties, regulations and incentives
- Ensure that the burdens are widely shared “
CHANGE SOCIAL NORMS
CHANGE SOCIAL NORMS
Rules governing and individual’s behavior that third parties diffusely enforce by means of :
- Social sanction for those who violate the norm
- Social reward for those who follow it
Policies can become more cost-effective, behaviors become self-reinforcing even in the absence of external regulations or penalties
Effective policies are ones that produce :
- Short-term changes in behaviour
- Long-term change in social norms “
