Globalization has eradicated great power war, dedev reverses
Impact Debate – Warming / Environment
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- Growth key to address warming
Impact Debate – Warming / EnvironmentWarming Impact Growth Good – Warming Economic decline diverts public attention from climate change and decreases investment in renewables Geels ‘13 Frank W., Professor of System Innovation and Sustainability @ the Sustainable Consumption institute @ Manchester Institute of Innovation Research @ the University of Manchester, “The impact of the financial-economic crisis on sustainability transitions: Financial investment, governance and public discourse”, http://www.foreurope.eu/fileadmin/documents/pdf/Workingpapers/WWWforEurope_WPS_no039_MS205.pdf 4. Conclusion ¶ The article started with four views on the effects of the financial-economic crisis on sustainability ¶ transitions, three of which highlighted positive potentials, while the fourth predicted negative ¶ impacts. Based on the empirical assessments, I conclude that the effect on public attention has ¶ been mainly negative, with the crisis leading to a decline in attention for climate change and ¶ sustainability.23 The effect on finance was initially positive, because the green growth discourse ¶ resulted in major green stimulus programmes. But this positive effect seems to be coming to an ¶ end with the winding down of stimulus packages (because of austerity), and recent declines in ¶ most other investment categories (Table 3). The decline in feed-in tariffs and other renewable ¶ energy support schemes is also likely to result in declining investments in 2012. With regard to ¶ governance, the effects seem mainly negative. Although government decisions regarding green ¶ stimulus packages (from 2009) were positive, many other trends suggests that austerity and ¶ changes in public and political priorities are leading to a weakening of climate and sustainability ¶ policies (failure of Copenhagen 2009, no successor of Kyoto, reducing feed-in tariffs and ¶ renewable support, failing ETS). Most environmental policy analysts agree that the current ¶ policy change is ‘too little, too slow’. Although some of the local initiatives (by cities and ¶ activists) are pointing in the right direction, my overall assessment is therefore that the early ¶ crisis years provided a window of opportunity for sustainability transitions, but that this window ¶ may now be shrinking.
Collapse can only make things worse --- Environmental benefits from economic decline are short-term and small-downturn massively increase overall environmental damage.Bauer & Anbumozhi 2010 Armin, Senior Economist at the Asian Development Bank, and Venkatachalam, Capacity-Building Specialist at the Asian Development Bank Institute, July 2010, “Impact of Global Recession on Sustainable Development and Poverty Linkages,” http://www.adbi.org/files/2010.07.08.wp227.impact.global.recession.dev.poverty.linkages.pdf The global financial crisis and the resulting economic slowdown may be assumed to have at least the benefit of also reducing environmental degradation in the individual countries. This paper discusses the consequences of the crisis for energy use, pollution prevention, and land use in Asia and the associated emissions of greenhouse gases—the principal global warming pollutants—as well as their linkage with poverty. There are some short-term benefits to the global environment from the economic slowdown. Such benefits include reduction in the rate of air and water pollution from reduced energy use—which has direct implications for the urban poor’s health. However, modest benefits to global and local environments arising from the economic slowdown are likely to be much smaller than the costs associated with many environmental conservation measures, related to energy savings, natural resources protection, and water environment. Both supply and demand side investments in energy and environment are being affected. Many ongoing projects are being slowed and a number of downward revisions are being made in expected profitability. Meanwhile, businesses and households are spending less on energy efficiency measures. Tighter credit and lower prices make investment in energy savings and environmental conservation less attractive financially, while the economic crisis is encouraging end users to rein in spending across the board. This is delaying the deployment of more efficient technology and equipment. Furthermore, solution providers are expected to reduce investment in research, development, and commercialization of more energy-efficient models, unless they are able to secure financial support from governments. The economic slowdown is likely to alter land use patterns by increasing the pressure to clear forests for firewood, timber, or agricultural purposes—the livelihood opportunities available with the rural poor. Further, the likely additional delay in many countries in the construction of effluent treatment plans for limiting the discharge of pollutants into the rivers is expected to harm the water environment. Thus on balance, the modest benefits to global and local environments arising from the economic slowdown are likely to be much smaller than the costs of many environmental conservation measures for improving the livelihood conditions of the poor. Growth key to address warmingWiener, 1 (Anthony J. Wiener *, Department of Management, Polytechnic University, Technology in Society 23 (2001) 515–521, ““The ‘De-materialisation’ Myth” and the Limits to Growth: a Commentary on Dr. Trainer’s Paper” accessed online via Science Direct, jj) How much the world will be able to afford, and how much scarcity can be overcome, depends on economic growth. Our ability to cope with the long-term effects of growth, such as global warming and other negative externalities, scarcity of resources, such as water, and other long-term price changes already underway, depends on wherewithal and economic growth. Population growth levels off while food remains ample only when less-developed countries become industrialized and literate; the developed countries have all been through this “demographic transition” 10 and most are now more concerned about population decrease than increase. In order to manage the transition to the “just and ecologically sustainable society” Dr. Trainer calls for, the world will need a great deal more economic development and technological improvement. At the same time, market failures such as externalities deserve much more attention. Institutional arrangements that will structure incentives, such as making better use of markets to set appropriate prices, are at the heart of the sustainability problem. To construct these arrangements we will also need a great deal more moral improvement and political development. In order to achieve the worldwide alleviation of poverty and ignorance that sustainability will require we need to use economic growth to help overcome our limits to generosity and fairness. These goals are still very far away. It is much too early to call for zero growth. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 1.56 Mb. Share with your friends:
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