Suchergebnisse

This article explores a paradox at the heart of climate bandwagoning. Numerous actors have hitched their efforts to climate policy formation in an effort either to advance their own interests or genuinely contribute to addressing this most urgent global dilemma or both. At the same time, the large number of stakeholders complicates climate negotiations as exceeding numbers of actors bring related but tangential issues into discussions and demand to be heard. The international community is thus faced with an almost existential situation: to address climate change in an effective manner requires nearly everyone in the room (regime bandwagoning); with everyone in the room, however, less is accomplished (regime sclerosis). This article explains such a paradox by stepping back from the cases presented in this special issue, and bringing into high relief the lineaments of regime congestion as they manifest in global climate affairs, and outlining the promises and perils involved. Adapted from the source document.

Over the past few years, environmental studies has been pushed to the sidelines of political discourse as environmental challenges have been overshadowed in world affairs by issues of terrorism, national security and global economic stability. However, a new Democratic Congress in the US and anticipation of a new US president, intensifying global concern about climate change and forward-looking environmental initiatives at the municipal and regional levels the world-over suggest that we may be entering a new era of environmental concern. How should environmental scholars position themselves in the emerging political landscape? This essay argues that, while critical environmental scholarship often occupies the margins of disciplinary space, it is more relevant now than ever before. The essay explains why and how critical environmental studies can adopt the mantle of genuinely effective scholarly engagement.

Over the past few years, environmental studies has been pushed to the sidelines of political discourse as environmental challenges have been overshadowed in world affairs by issues of terrorism, national security and global economic stability. However, a new Democratic Congress in the US and anticipation of a new US president, intensifying global concern about climate change and forward-looking environmental initiatives at the municipal and regional levels the World-over suggest that we may be entering a new era of environmental concern. How should environmental scholars position themselves in the emerging political landscape? This essay argues that, while critical environmental scholarship often occupies the margins of disciplinary space, it is more relevant now than ever before. The essay explains why and how critical environmental studies can adopt the mantle of genuinely effective scholarly engagement. Adapted from the source document.

Wapner reviews Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age by Bill McKibben.

This article provides a first-hand account of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and an analysis of how to advance environmentalist concerns in the post-Jo'burg era. It reviews some of the achievements and disappointments of the Summit and describes significant changes in global environmental affairs that the WSSD was unable fully to appreciate and which, therefore, must be addressed in the post-Jo'burg world. One change is a switch in emphasis in the North and South in terms of sustainable development. For too long we've been told that the North is concerned with the environment while the South is focused on development. At the WSSD it became clear, however, that this is no longer the case. Many in the North now claim a development focus although, to be sure, through the more fundamental goal of economic globalization. Concomitantly, many in the South voice a commitment to environmental sustainability as a way to reduce poverty. A second change has to do with the power of environmentalism. After enjoying much strength, concern for the environment is flagging throughout much of the world as key states find themselves distracted by geo-political concerns in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. Both changes indicate the need to rethink environmentalist strategies in a post-Jo'burg era. The article offers several suggestions including abandoning sustainable development as a policy objective (although keeping it as a conceptual framework) and resuscitating the older, more narrow and arguably less complicated goals of environmental protection.