By José Gálvez Contreras, Ph.D. Student in Public and Urban Policy
Disclosure: This discussion assumes that government acts in the best interest of people.
Climate change is a long-term problem. Today, more than yesterday, to contend this issue is pretty much arguable. The scientific community and scholarly researchers agree that if we do not take action now, then we are in big trouble for the future of humanity. So, in order to address the questions posed in the academic commentary by public and urban policy fellow Amanda Porter, it is necessary to ask ourselves, how can we solve climate change? Is there an actor in the political arena who can take active leadership in finding mitigation and adaptation solutions to climate change?
The idea of raising consciousness may seem far-fetched for the context of this discussion, but that is the only way how to lessen the burdens associated to the climate change problem. And although altogether climate change cannot be completely solved, at least there are mitigation and adaptation strategies that can lead to positive results which can bite us some time in finding more permanent solutions. The only way to accomplish this goal is by building a social culture that is consciously aware that climate change exists and that it takes collective action to find real answers to the problem. Under this light, I argue that government can take the lead role in creating consciousness towards building culture for a new environmental society that lives post-carbon world.
Let's think about this for a second. The government on its hands holds the legal structures and political frameworks that can tackle the problems associate to climate change. As scholar Porter alludes in her commentary, the government is an expert in following policy paths with the intention of accomplishing increase returns that ensure welfare of all citizens. The theory of path dependency, in fact, deep understanding of the roots of barriers in historical instances may help in designing adaptive solutions now. Systems thinking and tools such as causal loop diagrams can help explore dynamic interdependencies. Such diagrams can visualize dynamic patterns, thus contributing to the identification of opportunities for effective interventions. Under this same light, government as an entity exists in a political environment which constantly receives feedback from different constituent groups. Therefore, the government has the ability to adjust the path and generate policy that tackles pressing social issues, while it also engages in constant evaluation and educational research to solve the long-term climate change problem.
Food security, for example, has strong correlation to the burdens of climate change. Food security is a concern of people today. Food is a necessity for human survival and climate change has a positive effect on its production. During photosynthesis, sunlight causes reaction of CO2 plus water to give glucose and oxygen. The glucose produced is the energy the plant uses for its own cellular processes and the oxygen is what helps us breath. The intensity of the sun is directly proportional to the amount and intensity of sun we receive on the ground, thus with the climate changing the process of photosynthesis can be significantly altered threating our livelihood and future as a race. Governments play an important role in helping achieve food security while also raising awareness of climate change. When people become closely connected to other important aspects of the planet, then they are more likely to take action on their own. Government can perform this active role support for research and development, enhancements in agricultural infrastructure, and support of open trade all contribute to increased food security. But ultimately, government can generate policy that make this a reality.
Similarly, to food security, there are other multiple areas of innovation – energy, transportation, heating, housing infrastructure, communication, and more -- that can be explored by government through public policy to alleviate climate change. In fact, if no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth’s physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are probably to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now. However, although government plays a key role in creating a new way of thinking in society by re-evaluating the policy pathway the guide community structures today, it cannot do it all on its own. The responsibility to reduce the greenhouse gasses lays by both government and the population itself. Government has the duty to absorb the constant response on issues of various interest groups including civil society, academia and the private sector and make the best decision through policy for what hopefully the future of its people. The population has to engage in the process of decision making.
Disclosure: This discussion assumes that government acts in the best interest of people.
Climate change is a long-term problem. Today, more than yesterday, to contend this issue is pretty much arguable. The scientific community and scholarly researchers agree that if we do not take action now, then we are in big trouble for the future of humanity. So, in order to address the questions posed in the academic commentary by public and urban policy fellow Amanda Porter, it is necessary to ask ourselves, how can we solve climate change? Is there an actor in the political arena who can take active leadership in finding mitigation and adaptation solutions to climate change?
The idea of raising consciousness may seem far-fetched for the context of this discussion, but that is the only way how to lessen the burdens associated to the climate change problem. And although altogether climate change cannot be completely solved, at least there are mitigation and adaptation strategies that can lead to positive results which can bite us some time in finding more permanent solutions. The only way to accomplish this goal is by building a social culture that is consciously aware that climate change exists and that it takes collective action to find real answers to the problem. Under this light, I argue that government can take the lead role in creating consciousness towards building culture for a new environmental society that lives post-carbon world.
Let's think about this for a second. The government on its hands holds the legal structures and political frameworks that can tackle the problems associate to climate change. As scholar Porter alludes in her commentary, the government is an expert in following policy paths with the intention of accomplishing increase returns that ensure welfare of all citizens. The theory of path dependency, in fact, deep understanding of the roots of barriers in historical instances may help in designing adaptive solutions now. Systems thinking and tools such as causal loop diagrams can help explore dynamic interdependencies. Such diagrams can visualize dynamic patterns, thus contributing to the identification of opportunities for effective interventions. Under this same light, government as an entity exists in a political environment which constantly receives feedback from different constituent groups. Therefore, the government has the ability to adjust the path and generate policy that tackles pressing social issues, while it also engages in constant evaluation and educational research to solve the long-term climate change problem.
Food security, for example, has strong correlation to the burdens of climate change. Food security is a concern of people today. Food is a necessity for human survival and climate change has a positive effect on its production. During photosynthesis, sunlight causes reaction of CO2 plus water to give glucose and oxygen. The glucose produced is the energy the plant uses for its own cellular processes and the oxygen is what helps us breath. The intensity of the sun is directly proportional to the amount and intensity of sun we receive on the ground, thus with the climate changing the process of photosynthesis can be significantly altered threating our livelihood and future as a race. Governments play an important role in helping achieve food security while also raising awareness of climate change. When people become closely connected to other important aspects of the planet, then they are more likely to take action on their own. Government can perform this active role support for research and development, enhancements in agricultural infrastructure, and support of open trade all contribute to increased food security. But ultimately, government can generate policy that make this a reality.
Similarly, to food security, there are other multiple areas of innovation – energy, transportation, heating, housing infrastructure, communication, and more -- that can be explored by government through public policy to alleviate climate change. In fact, if no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth’s physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are probably to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now. However, although government plays a key role in creating a new way of thinking in society by re-evaluating the policy pathway the guide community structures today, it cannot do it all on its own. The responsibility to reduce the greenhouse gasses lays by both government and the population itself. Government has the duty to absorb the constant response on issues of various interest groups including civil society, academia and the private sector and make the best decision through policy for what hopefully the future of its people. The population has to engage in the process of decision making.