Social, Economic, Ethical and Political Challenges in Climate Crisis

Introduction

Climate crisis describes climate change and global warming, the consequences they impact on the world. It’s a terminology used to define the impending threat that global warming poses to earth, and also to create a sense of urgency in developing an effective mitigation plan for climate change. Climate change is defined as an alteration in either regional or global weather patterns. This is mostly change that occurred during the mid to late part of the 20th century and has largely influenced the increase in carbon dioxide from the usage of fossil fuels. Global warming is described as the rise of greenhouse gases that have led to the increase of the earth’s temperature in the atmosphere (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013).

Climate change is seen to negatively affect the outcome of life today as a result of global warming. The increase in greenhouse gases has brought about a rise in temperature that has changed the typical structure of the ecosystem. (Hanjra&Qureshi, 2010). The world’s population growth has led to a demand in natural resources, of which the after-effects have profoundly affected the environment. An excellent point to consider is the mass clearing of forests to increase settlement space as well as for commercial livestock keeping. Generally, animal agriculture contributes about 13-18% of greenhouse gas emissions in the world (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013). .

Even so, other, more significant factors contribute to global warming today. The topmost contributor is the burning of fossil fuels for transportation and energy needs. Statistically, fossil fuel combustion registers about 64% of greenhouse gas emissions (Szyszkowicz, 2013). Deforestation is another factor that follows suit and contributes an average of 18%, and animal agriculture brings 13-18% of the emissions, as reported by Resource Institute, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (2009). Social, economic, ethical, and political challenges of the climate crisis are a result of adverse climate change today, and there’s a need to draw out mitigation plans for the same. Therefore, one needs first to understand the challenges facing the mentioned aspects concerning the climate crisis.

Facts and Figures Surrounding Climate Change

According to reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (2015), there has been a 1.4-degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature since 1880. Subsequently, the levels of carbon dioxide now read 400.71 parts per billion, and the rampant expansion of deforestation has brought a loss of 1.5 million square km of forest cover between 2000 and 2012. The snow-covered areas have also faced adverse changes with a yearly loss of about 287 billion metric tons of land ice. The rise in sea level is recorded at 3.2mm annually, while the loss of arctic ice cover is now at the rate of 13.3% in a decade (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013).

The result of these alterations depicts that there is an increase in the risk of facing irreversible changes because of the enormous climatic system shift. What shows the impending dangers of this risk? There are now more animals and biological life facing extinction, such as reptiles, ocean corals, and aquatic birds. Besides, several crop species are deteriorating in East African countries, a drop in potable water found in Southern Africa, and Mediterranean; and recurrent catastrophes such as flooding, forest fires, famine, drought, deadly heatwaves, and storm occurrences (Shen & Howard, 2010). These events have frequently been witnessed in Bangladesh, Australia, Africa, India, and U.S. A, respectively (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013).

The Process of Global Warming

Global warming occurs due to the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases include CO2, N2O, CH4, O3, water vapor, SF6, HFCs, and PFCs, which reflect some of the ultraviolet rays to the earth’s surface, causing a temperature rise in the atmosphere (Szyszkowicz, 2013). Activities such as deforestation also contribute to global warming by decreasing the capability to regulate CO2 levels from the atmosphere. There are also alterations in weather patterns based on seasons and in ocean currents, which all contribute to an ultimate change in the climate. Therefore, these statistics and facts show that there’s a need to develop a mitigation process that will eventually help deal with climate change, and come up with effective disaster risk management plans in the worst-case scenarios (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013).

Social, Economic, Ethical, and Political Challenges in Climate Crisis

Climate change today has brought a shift in business and society. Since resources are being diminished aside from the fact that climate change has become rampant now more than ever before, some companies have taken the initiative to reduce global warming. Companies are now considering climate change impacts, such as shifts in the supplier-consumer markets, the business costs experienced now and what is to come, perceptions of market shareholders, and possibly federal and state regulations. Nevertheless, there still a few enterprises that are shifting their business plans to incorporate the prospects and risks regarding the effects of physical, climatic change (Cottle, 2009). Below is a breakdown of the four aspects facing challenges in the current climate crisis experienced all over the globe:

Social

Society is designed and structured to function behind climate and historical conditions. In better words, people living in any community can only adapt to inevitable climate conditions considered to be reasonable, and may negatively be affected in the case where the threshold is far stretched to extreme levels. Society could face changes in various cultural, social, and natural resources as a result of climate change. Some of these aspects prone to impacts of climate change include infrastructure, human health, food, energy, and water supplies (Gilding, 2011).

Based on different factors, others may experience more significant challenges. One factor is based on financial and geographical positions such as those living in poverty-stricken areas such as immigrant camps, and those in regions experiencing frequent drought, rise in sea level, and coastal storms in that particular order. Additionally, industries and professions that closely relate to weather and climate, such as tourism and agriculture, are most likely to experience severe effects of climate change (Gilding, 2011).

Geographic location poses a significant influence on climate change affecting people. Therefore, those living in areas with an incapability to cope with hazards of climate are likely to experience further damage to their existing vulnerabilities. Here are some of the social challenges on climate crisis experienced by people living in highly vulnerable areas:

• The societies based in the Mountain West are highly prone to shortages of water as well as impromptu occurrences of wildfires that have intensified over the years.
• People living across the Western part of the U.S. are prone to natural disasters despite demands for water, transportation, and energy infrastructure due to population growth.
• Coastal areas, southern and western regions have experienced a steady rise in population. These areas are highly prone to air pollution, increased heat waves, coastal storms, and drought hence making them more prone to adverse climate change impacts.
• Residents in the northern regions face challenges in their way of livelihood due to the reduction of sea ice, and the melting of permafrost.

Different groups of society may face challenges on climate crisis based on their ability to cope with the changes in climate. Some of the points to consider are included below:

• Poverty-stricken areas may find it to be challenging when coming up with measures and techniques to cope with climate change. A good example is during the occurrence of hurricane Katrina that took place over New Orleans in 2005. The consolidated city-parish was faced with a crisis where thousands of evacuees were left stranded on the street with no food and no place to go.
• In the U.S., the older age group of people makes up a more significant portion of the population in the warmer regions. These areas are more prone to extreme changes in the future, such as tropical storms, increased temperatures, and lengthy periods of drought. The aged are considered to be the last group that would cope with harsh changes in the climate.
• Residents in areas that have a high number of minors may also face difficulty. This is because young children are a sensitive group and may entirely rely on their guardians to take care of them in the case of a disaster.

One other group to shed light on is the indigenous people found in remote or rural areas in various parts of the globe. A good example is the Red Indians in the U.S., who are still living in poorly developed areas that cannot withstand extreme changes in weather. These communities still depend on natural resources and the surrounding environment for food and sources of livelihood (Shen & Howard, 2010). Climate change can affect indigenous groups of people due to their separation from the developed world, transforming their source of food, water, transportation means, and health.

Economic

Climate change today has posed a devastating topic for several businesses to reflect. The challenges are mostly experienced as a result of the climatic change effects such as temperature increase, extreme events, and precipitation patterns. The question to ask is, what threat do these changes pose on both localized and global economic markets? Ideally, enterprises that rely on natural resources and weather patterns may be at the risk of extinction in case no mitigation plans are made for climate change (In Dryzek et al., 2014).

In 2009, the administration under former president Barrack Obama developed new standards to regulate auto mileage and emissions. The main objective was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% over a projected period of 7 years. This was later followed by the Senate Democrats failure to push a bill forward that was touching on climate change. However, the biggest challenge faced was coming up with a practical approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions without drastically affecting the economy of the nation (National Research Council U.S. & National Academies Press U.S., 2011). Considering the economic drop that was facing the country at the time, coming up with a solution was nearly impossible. The U.N. initiated the Kyoto Protocol, but the Senate of the U.S. failed to ratify the treaty amid fears of losing a competitive advantage over countries such as India and China that were not involved in the emission caps.

Economic Challenges and Opportunities

One industry that may face severe outcomes due to climate change is the construction industry. Companies in this industry may incur losses due to construction site disruptions such as delayed material delivery caused by damaged transportation infrastructure. An increase in temperatures could limit the amount of time in which the workers can perform heavy-duty tasks such as roofing. On the other hand, there are still some opportunities that the construction industry can seize. A good example is reduced frost as a result of increased temperatures hence making it possible for construction workers to extend their working hours during the winter seasons. Adaptation to climate change by the same industry can lead to the creation of new products such as proofing materials.

Another industry that may experience a threat to climate change is the agricultural sector. Prolonged changes in weather patterns such as drought may lead to increased food shortages, which may eventually result in famine (Hanjra&Qureshi, 2010). Conversely, temperature, and precipitation pattern changes may affect the viable crops meant to grow in a particular area. This may influence the need for new crop strain developments and suitable farming techniques hence generating incentives for farmers. The tourism sector may also experience fluctuations where business may decline during the winter season. Still, an economic uplift is possible during the summer due to summer and spring extensions on recreational opportunities (National Research Council U.S. & National Academies Press U.S., 2011).

Businesses can balance out the challenges and opportunities experienced by climate change by exercising superior management. Enterprises that can recognize and carry out analysis on possible/emerging risks in good time as compared to their competitors may find themselves in a better position to withstand the effects of climate change. This can reduce risk management costs and increase a better chance to thrive in the market as compared to other companies that may not have considered the impacts. The best way to address the need for change is by raising awareness via campaigns. Governments should alternatively come up with new rules and regulations that will meet mitigation plans for climate change. Eventually, some enterprises would have to not only change its structure to fit into the modern changing world but also to relocate and change company policies accordingly (National Research Council U.S. & National Academies Press U.S., 2011).

Ethical

Matters of ethics have also been debated when trying to come up with the right approach for mitigation and adaptation as a way of dealing with climate change. The main focus is on climate justice, which is the fair distribution of reimbursements and problems that come with mitigation. This emphasis stretches as far as how to achieve climate protection through addressing and initiating lifestyle changes, and giving justice to those being affected by climate change (Williston, 2019). Therefore, one way to address ethical aspects of climate loss and damage and the changing climate policy is by clearly distinguishing the challenges of mitigation and adaptation.

Mitigation is the initiative to cut down on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and further developing on reservoirs and sinks while adaptation in designing structures, practices, and procedures to help decrease the current negative climate change impacts. Climate Loss and Damage can be described as the approach taken in dealing with the remaining climate change impacts on the adopted measures taken in mitigation and adaptation (Williston, 2019). In a better term, this is referred to as the beyond adaptation approach. One main point that one needs to consider is whether climate change impacts today cannot or will not be avoided in future generations through the initiatives taken via mitigation and adaptation.

Take into consideration the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) members, who may face hardships dealing with the rise in sea level by facilitating the renourishment of beaches on a large-scale basis if not for international financial aid. Conversely, such an adaptation measure would be applied in the case where the allocation of funds was rendered. Therefore, one can conclude that the inability to affect the mitigation plans concerning climate change impacts is part of inevitable losses and damages (Thompson & Bendik, 2012).

In this case, these unavoidable impacts will gradually create a more meaningful sense of urgency to the necessary measures. An example is groups of the AOSIS members relocating as a result of a rise in sea level leading to the destruction of their homelands and valued assets, as mentioned by Handmer and Nalau (2018). Such severe losses are unavoidable regardless of any kind of financial aid or measures to adapt to the new conditions that were taken (Thompson & Bendik, 2012). Therefore, the need to address such an issue is by ensuring new mitigation plans are taken into consideration since adaptation measures may prove to be futile.

Political

Last but not least is the political aspect of the climate change crisis at hand. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the current data and records depict an unavoidable increase in atmospheric temperatures that are going to take place for the rest of the 21st century gradually. Since the Kyoto protocol of addressing the need to adopt early mitigation and adaptation plans in climate change, there is a growing need to make these actions effective, as discussed in political agendas. The impacts of climate change have altered the political approach globally in matters concerning governance.

The rapid impacts of the change in climate have made it difficult for governments to effectively apply implementations on adaptation and mitigation (Butler, 2016). However, this is coming after the ratification of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change already came up with adaptation measures and new policies to help deal with climate change. In most cases, initiated adaptation policies in countries that took early consideration don’t seem to result in permanent solutions hence being considered to be like empty shells. This is an issue affecting both the developing and developed countries (In Dryzek et al, 2014).

The leading causes of the political hardships faced in developing effective adaptation measures are limiting factors such as technological, economic, ecological, and state institution constraints. Take, for example, developing countries that lack the funds and equipment to adopt adaptation policies (Butler, 2016) successfully. In Africa, a country like Kenya reinitiated its coal mining industry in 2019 as a way of boosting economic growth. Since the country has been experiencing economic hiccups as a result of international financial debt, the government was left with no choice but to access other affordable sources of energy despite the negative contribution it may inflict on climate change. Additionally, Switzerland is one case of a developed country that has experienced ups and downs in implementing adaptation measures. This is a significant issue considering the country’s vulnerability to climate change because of its glacial landscape, snow cover, and alpine topography that are all being affected by climate change. Therefore, it’s crucial that governments strictly apply mitigation and adaptation plans, even if it means preceding economic benefits or simply finding alternatives.

Digging deeper into the Switzerland case, one needs to ask, why was it difficult for the government to initiate a national adaptation plan as early as 2008 when other European countries had already made the decision? The first point to take note of is that decision-makers chose to leave out the option of adaptation. Since the economic focus was not primarily dependent on their geographical and cultural heritage, then the choice of applying adaptation measures did not seem to be a pressing political and economic issue. Also, adaptation was observed to be a more serious problem for developing countries hence the bill rejection. Right-wing parties of the Swiss government considered an adaptation to be a small dimension in matters concerning climate change. Therefore, the way to best address this issue is by ensuring developing countries apply green energy solutions in their economies. In contrast, developed countries should consider changing their policies to best appropriate adaptation measures that will protect crucial economic sectors such as the energy industry.

Conclusion

In conclusion, one can say that climate change is an issue being experienced globally. With current statistics on global warming, there is a dire need to act fast and apply restrictive measures to deter factors contributing to climate change. By putting mitigation and adaptation measures into effect, the world may stand a chance to preserve the remaining natural resources hence bring a slow down to the extreme ecosystem imbalance. The current and impending dangers posed by climate crisis should be taken as a late wakeup call to shift social, economic, ethical, and political policies to fit the current global climate policy best.

References

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Cottle, S. (2009).Global Crises in the News: Staging New Wars, Disasters, and Climate Change. International Journal Of Communication, 3, 24. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/473

Gilding, P. (2011).The great disruption: How the climate crisis will transform the global economy. London: Bloomsbury.

Hanjra, M., & Qureshi, M. (2010). Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change. Food Policy, 35(5), 365-377. doi: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2010.05.006

In Dryzek, J. S., In Norgaard, R. B., & In Schlosberg, D. (2014). Oxford handbook of climate change and society.

In Field, C. B., In Barros, V., In Stocker, T. F., In Dahe, Q., In Dokken, D. J., In Ebi, K. L., In Mastrandrea, M. D., … Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,. (2013). Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation: Special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

National Research Council (U.S.).,& National Academies Press (U.S.). (2011). America’s Climate Choices. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.

Szyszkowicz, M. (2013).Remarks on Ambient Air Pollution and Health Outcomes. ISRN Public Health, 2013, 1-5. doi: 10.1155/2013/846297

Shen, S., Basist, A., & Howard, A. (2010).Structure of a digital agriculture system and agricultural risks due to climate changes. Agriculture And Agricultural Science Procedia, 1, 42-51. doi: 10.1016/j.aaspro.2010.09.006

Thompson, A., &Bendik-Keymer, J. (2012). Ethical adaptation to climate change: Human virtues of the future. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

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Williston, B. (2019). The ethics of climate change: An introduction.