Transcript Slide 1

‘Think Global, Act Local’
Coping with climate change
Understand why most people argue for ‘think global,
act local’.
Understand that management is needed at all scales
and progress is likely to be incremental
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’
What does this mean in terms of
coping with climate change?
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’
Coping with climate change
Adaptation
• Most strategies are
local
• …because they need
to be tailored to local
impacts of climate
change
• E.g. compare the
African continent
with the Arctic
Mitigation
• Can happen at a
range of scales
• Global/international
agreements are
important
• Individual
governments must
decide how to
implement them
‘Think global, act local’
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’
Global: The Kyoto Protocol is
a global agreement
National:
The UK government set a target:
30% of domestic waste is to be recycled
by 2010.
The government fund advertising
campaigns.
For
example:
Local:
Local government provides bins, boxes
and skips and fine people who refuse to
recycle.
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’
Local Action
• Local action is critical in
tackling climate change.
• Local Agenda 21 (LA21) came
out of the Rio Earth Summit in
1992.
• It calls on governments to
encourage local authorities
(councils in the UK) to
implement sustainable
strategies to improve the
environment, and reduce carbon
emissions.
• Without local strategies, it hard
for individuals to ‘do their bit’.
Do you agree?
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’
E.g. ‘Action Today to Protect
Tomorrow’
The was launched in London in 2007 and plan
commits the city to reduce its carbon dioxide
emissions to 30% of 1990 levels by 2025 using:
•
•
•
•
•
the Green Homes Programme
new building standards for energy efficiency
‘waste to energy’ schemes
clean, efficient public transport
local, small-scale renewable energy schemes
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’
Viewpoints
There is no point in me
reducing my carbon
footprint. It will make
no difference!
In that case, everyone
should be made to
reduce their carbon
footprint.
Use the Climate change and you section on page 72 of
the Warn textbook to respond to this viewpoint.
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’
Contraction and Convergence Model
Ecological footprints by country
(hectares per person)
12
10
8
6
4
2
6+: USA,
Canada,
Sweden,
Kuwait
Contraction
Convergence
Developed nations
work to reduce
their ecological
footprints
Developing nations
increase their
footprints, bringing
levels closer to
contracted developed
nations
4-6: UK,
France,
Japan,
Greece
Current
ecological
footprint
Average
footprint
required to
equal Earth’s
biocapacity
2-4 Mexico, Iran,
Latvia, Poland
1-2: China, Jamaica,
Nigeria, Egypt
Future
footprint
based on
contraction
and
convergence
<1: India,
Haiti, Nepal
0
Time
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’
Incremental Progress
There is a scientific consensus that
• global warming is happening and that action
should be taken
• >550ppm CO2 in the atmosphere will lead to
dangerous climate change
There is also a political consensus that action is
required.
But change is likely to be incremental (gradual
and slower than many would like).
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’
Why is change likely to be
incremental?
Copy the diagram below and use page 75 of the Warn
textbook to add to it.
International
agreements
Uncertainty
Costs
Barriers to action
Economics systems
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
Political inertia
‘Think Global, Act Local’
Examples of Strategies
1. Assess the successes and failures of schemes
using the table you have been given.
2. Reach a rank order of which type of group you
think has been most successful in cutting
carbon emissions.
Homework:
How far do these organisations prove that, in
order to cut emissions, we need to ‘think
global, act local’?
What are the strategies for dealing with climate change?
‘Think Global, Act Local’