User:Jesmyth/sandbox

*Link other articles to my article

*Add images

11/27

Emerging Nations

Brazil, Russia, India, and China are rapidly industrializing and are increasingly responsible for global carbon emissions and the associated climate change. Other forms of environmental degradation have also accompanied the economic growth in these nations. (Carnegie article) The motivations to deal with these issues are often stronger when the problem is environmental degradation rather than global warming, since air and water pollution cause health problems, and because pollutants can damage natural resources, hampering economic potential.

With rising incomes, environmental degradation tends to decrease in industrializing nations, as depicted in the Kuznets Curve. Citizens demand better air and water quality, and technology becomes more efficient and clean when incomes increase (Carnegie). More developed nations can facilitate eco-friendly transitions by investing in the development of clean technologies.

Laws implemented in response to these environmental concerns vary by nation (see List of environmental laws by country).

Image: Environmental Kuznets Curve

http://carnegieendowment.org/ieb/2012/03/01/choking-on-growth

China

http://www.cfr.org/china/chinas-environmental-challenge-political-social-economic-implications/p5573

link here Environmental policy in China

India

http://www.academia.edu/6475203/Environmental_Politics_and_Policy_Perspectives_in_India

New Materialism and Environmental Justice heading

"No justice […] seems possible or thinkable without the principle of some responsibility, beyond all living present, within that which disjoins the living present, before the ghosts of those who are not yet born or who are already dead […]. Without this non-contemporaneity with itself of the living present […] without this responsibility and this respect for justice concerning those who are not there, of those who are no longer or who are not yet present and living, what sense would there be to ask the question “where?” “where tomorrow?” “whither?” (Derrida [1993] 2006, xviii; original emphasis)." http://openhumanitiespress.org/Dolphijn%20and%20van%20der%20Tuin%20-%20New%20Materialism.pdf

New materialism is a strain of thought in philosophy and the social sciences that conceives of all material as having life or agency. It criticizes frameworks that center on human attributes like consciousness as insufficient for modern ethical problems that concern the natural environment. It is a post-humanist consideration of all matter that rejects arguments of utility that privilege humans. This politically relevant social theory combats inequality beyond the interpersonal plane (Newman, 2002). People are ethically responsible for one another, and for the physical spaces they navigate, including animal and plant life, and the inanimate matter that sustains it, like soil. New materialism encourages political action according to this world vision, even if it is incompatible with economic growth (Newman 2002). All material, living and dead, is interrelated in "the mesh" as described by Timothy Morton (link to wiki page). As all matter is interdependent, humans have obligations to all parts of the material world, including those that are unfamiliar.

Lance Newman 2002 "Marxism and Ecocriticism"

10/13

Environmental politics

Democracy:

• Democratic Challenges
  • Climate Change and Order, Beth Edmondson and Stuart Levy Effectively responding to global climate change necessitates some form of international governance to achieve shared targets related to energy consumption and environmental usage (p.50). Climate change complicates political ideology and practice, affecting conceptions of responsibility for future societies as well as economic systems (p. 51). Climate change mitigation strategies can be at odds with democratic priorities of prosperity, progress, and state sovereignty, and instead underscore a new collective relationship with the environment. The international political community is based on democratic principles that prioritize individual freedoms and capitalist systems that make quick and ambitious climate responses difficult (p.54). Material inequality between nations make technological solutions insufficient for climate change mitigation (p.55).

• Deliberative democracy and the environment
  • Deliberative Environmental Politics, Walter F. Baber and Robert V. Bartlett In political theory, deliberative democracy has been discussed as a political model more consistent with environmental goals. This definition of democracy emphasizes informed discussion among citizens in the decision making process.
  • Guerrero article The long timescale of climate change impedes responses by politicians who are elected and re-elected on much shorter timescales. In political theory, the lottery system is a democratic design that allows governments to address problems with future impacts. Deliberative bodies comprised of randomly selected representatives can draft environmental policies that have short-term costs without considering the political consequences for re-election.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10/4, Possible articles to edit throughout semester:

Politics of global warming

Deliberative democracy (make new section on deliberative democracy in context of environmental/climate policy)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Writing to add to wiki article, week of 9/28:

Compulsory referendum subjects the legislation drafted by political elites to a binding popular vote. This is the most common form of direct legislation. Popular referendum (also known as abrogative or facultative) empowers citizens to make a petition that calls existing legislation to a citizens' vote. Institutions specify the time frame for a valid petition, the number of signatures required, and may require signatures from diverse communities to protect minority interests (Graham-Smith 2009).

The initiative allows citizens to draft and propose legislative action, such as a constitutional amendment. In direct initiative, the proposed law is accepted or rejected by a binding popular vote. In indirect initiative systems, propositions pass through the legislature before proceeding to a popular vote.