EGS1003: Section on International Environmental Justice and the Climate Change Challenge Mary Lawhon This work by Mary Lawhon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Change lightbulb Use public transportation By Sean Wilson/ SEI
Solar geyser Hybrid car
Residential energy use is only about 20% of total, and even less of GHG emissions Need for full lifecycle accounting- where in the cycle are GHG emitted? Trade offs between carbon and other environmental problems (toxics, biodiversity)
Use purchasing power to demand change Engage in creating systemic change
Carbon trade or carbon debt? Transfers through carbon trade/clean development mechanism WangariMaathai, Marthinus van Schalkwyk (the remainder of the slides are based on Bond, 2010a)
These funds have not been able to address concerns of African countries on adaptation, Inadequate and inappropriately structured; Access to the funds has been made difficult, But, position of African governments on their preferred way forward remains vague
Who is at the negotiations? The delegations are full of those who “oppose fuel efficiency standards, tax on big cars, or tough penalties for polluters. But they will still talk glibly about low-carbon economies.” (Bond, 2010a)
South Africa vaguely promises 34% emissions cuts below anticipated 2020 levels Based on the “growth without constraint” model Which is based on unlimited resources and cheap energy- authors of the report say this scenario was not possible
Demand payment of carbon/ecological debt to global South Amount varies, but in the billions Need for South to agree on what to demand Political processes around this
“Some earlier, very ambitious demands -- such as the end of apartheid or access to AIDS medicines -- were only won after years of struggle, after initially appearing equally audacious and unrealistic” (Bond, 2010a)
Examples with countries of environmental justice Examples of international courts
Protests Disruption of production
Use for meeting basic needs rather than structural change? Through what channels (African governments?)