[SOLVED] The Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice

 
Class Exercise. Week 1
Introductions: The Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice
Instructions:  Please write brief responses to each of the questions in the exercise below.  Two to four points or a short paragraph for each prompt (ie. 2-4 points for prompt “1a”, another 2-4 points for point “1b” etc.) will typically be sufficient. I encourage you to quote specific points made by the authors as part of your responses as a way of grounding your observations. (The assignment might seem long at first glance, but the points really just attempt to walk you through a close reading of the texts).
Bullet point answers are fine, though I expect your answers to be spell-checked and use proper grammar. Please use 12-point size in a commonly used font.
Response papers will be graded for good faith engagement with the ideas of the readings. I do not mark down for “wrong” answers.  There is also no expectation that you agree with the views of any of the authors or me as the instructor. What I want you to do is to use the ideas presented as a point of reference to develop your own perspectives on the politics of climate change, whatever that may be.
Stated differently, this is an exercise in processing the ideas on your own terms, not regurgitating content.  All good faith attempts at completing the assignment will get full credit. Most students who lose points do so for simply failing to answer questions.
U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2021) Press Release of Working Group I Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report.
What is the UN IPCC (see the portion of the press release titled “About the IPCC”)?
What is the “Working Group I” report? How many authors and scientific studies are involved?
What does the UN body say about the state of global warming? What are some of the specific ways besides temperature that climate change will affect the earth (ie. water cycles, sea level rise etc.)?
What do UN climate scientists say about the role of humans on the climate?
What, if anything, offers any hope about the report?
What are your immediate reactions to reading this press release?
Oxfam report:
What connections does the Oxfam report make between income inequality and carbon emissions (what are some specific statistics)?
Oxfam argues that “the global carbon budget is being rapidly depleted, not for the purpose of lifting all humanity to a decent standard of living, but to a large extent to expand the consumption of a minority of the world’s very richest people.” What are your reactions, or what do you think?
What policy recommendations follow from this analysis (ie. what specifically does Oxfam encourage and how ideas are these proposals organized around)?
What does Fiona Harvey argue in The Guardian about tipping points? What do you think?
What are some of the specific examples of the earth’s vital signs worsening according to Patrick Galey in the Jakarta Post? What are your reactions?
Naomi Klein:
Klein notes that the basic science of climate change was understood and accepted as early as the 1980s but that the argument that humanity “blew it” misses the point. Why, according to Klein?
Klein argues that “the late ‘80s was the absolute zenith of the neoliberal crusade, a moment of peak ideological ascendency for the economic and social project that deliberately set out to vilify collective action in the name of liberating “free markets” in every aspect of life.” What specifically does she mean?
What do you think?
What points does George Monbiot make about currently dominant ideas of organizing the economy (neoliberalism)? What are your reactions?
COVID and climate (Vijay Kolinjivadi):
Kolinjivadi argues that both emergencies have their roots in “the pursuit of infinite growth at the expense of the environment of which our survival depends.” What specific connections does Kolinjivadi make between the use of natural resources and industrial activity?
What are the conditions that have created the emergence and mutation of new diseases according to Kolinjivadi?
While it is hopeful that the majority of countries in the world have taken strict measures to contain COVID, even at the expense of economic growth, why has the same not happened with climate change according to the Kolinjivadi?
What actions does Kolinjivadi advocate? What do you think?
Indigenous perspectives: We will look at the recent Standing Rock protests in a few weeks. Glen Coulthard wants us to take the next step from localized, land-based direct actions to developing Indigenous alternatives to the way we organize the economy. What does he mean? What do you think?