International audience ; Political attention has increasingly focused on limiting warming to 2°C. However, there is no consensus on both questions "Is the 2°C target achievable?" and "What should be done with this target that becomes increasingly difficult to achieve?". This paper aims at disentangling the points of deep uncertainty underlying this absence on consensus. It first gives simple visualizations of the challenge posed by the 2°C target and shows how key assumptions (on the points of deep uncertainty) influence the answer to the target achievability question. It then proposes an "uncertainties and decisions tree", linking different beliefs on climate change, the achievability of different policies, and current international policy dynamics to various options to move forward on climate change.
International audience ; Political attention has increasingly focused on limiting warming to 2°C. However, there is no consensus on both questions "Is the 2°C target achievable?" and "What should be done with this target that becomes increasingly difficult to achieve?". This paper aims at disentangling the points of deep uncertainty underlying this absence on consensus. It first gives simple visualizations of the challenge posed by the 2°C target and shows how key assumptions (on the points of deep uncertainty) influence the answer to the target achievability question. It then proposes an "uncertainties and decisions tree", linking different beliefs on climate change, the achievability of different policies, and current international policy dynamics to various options to move forward on climate change.
Do motivational limitations due to human nature constrain the demands of justice? Among those who say no, David Estlund offers perhaps the most compelling argument. Taking Estlund's analysis of 'ability' as a starting point, I show that motivational deficiencies can constrain the demands of justice under at least one common circumstance – that the motivationally deficient agent makes a good faith effort to overcome her deficiency. In fact, my argument implies something stronger; namely, that the demands of justice are constrained by what people are sufficiently likely to be motivated to do. Thus, contrary to the prevailing wisdom, it is the business of ideal theory – not just nonideal theory – to work with the motivational capacities people are likely enough to have.
This work takes as its starting point a social vision of science and technology, the two latter being considered as socio-economic phenomena which interrelate and complement each other at the same time they uncover and improve the real relations between them and society. On this ground, it is justified the need of assessing the contribution of Politic Economics of Capitalism to the formation in Science, Technology and Society. Within the framework of the pedagogical innovation project, "Strategy for integrating Formation-Production-Investigation", developed in School 6, an answer was given to this problem of the University of Informatics Sciences: How to contribute to the formation on science, technology and society of the Informatics engineer in the University of Informatics Sciences from the syllabus of Politic Economics of Capitalism. The solution to the identified scientific problem was offered through a redesigning action; it was evaluated the feasibility of the performed modifications by different methods and procedures with professors of the subject and students of the group used as a case study. ; El trabajo que se presenta tiene como punto de partida la visión social de la ciencia y la tecnología, vistas éstas como fenómenos socio-económico, que se interrelacionan y se complementan, develando y perfeccionando las verdaderas relaciones existentes entre ellas y la sociedad, fundamento que justificó la necesidad de valorar la contribución de la asignatura Economía Política del Capitalismo (EPC) a la formación en Ciencia Tecnología y Sociedad (CTS). En el marco del proyecto de innovación pedagógica, ¨Estrategia para la integración de la Formación-Producción-Investigación¨, que se desarrolla en la Facultad 6 de UCI, se le dio respuesta al problema: ¿Cómo contribuir, a la formación CTS del Ingeniero Informático en la UCI, desde el programa de la asignatura EPC? La solución al problema científico identificado se ofreció a través de la acción de rediseño y se valoró la factibilidad de las modificaciones realizadas a través de diferentes métodos y técnicas aplicadas a profesores de la asignatura y estudiantes del grupo utilizado como estudio de caso.
Alderson Creek (AC) is a small stream, approximately 2.4 km long, located about 100 kilometers from Kelowna, British Columbia. It passes through seven private properties that produce alfalfa-grass hay, raise cattle, horses and poultry. The creek and riparian corridor is substantially degraded, with sinking stream banks, siltation of the watercourse, loss of native riparian vegetation, and loss of fish habitat (Alderson Creek Remediation Plan, 2014). Channelization of the stream, lack of maintenance, as well as other inadequate management practices, have resulted in permanently flooded farmland (10.4 acre), cases of animals drowning in one part of the creek (due to unrestricted access for cattle) and disease problems such as foot rot for animals that are frequently in wet conditions. In 2014, landowners along the creek formed a non-profit society called the "Alderson Creek Restoration Environmental Society" (ACRES) to cooperatively address issues resulting from the state of the creek. In the same year, the proposal for a Group Environmental Farm Plan (GEFP) was submitted to BC Government. The plan proposed a set of solutions including fencing to keep cattle out of the creek, installing off-stream livestock watering and/or controlled livestock access to the stream, installing additional drainage infrastructure and planting natural vegetation to support the stream bank and provide shading and habitat. This document presents an accounting of the costs and benefits of the project. Some of these costs and benefits are experienced by the land owners themselves, while others impact the larger community. Riparian corridors in particular provide extensive environmental services which include water flow regulation, attractive visual aesthetics, and habitat for terrestrial and aquatic flora and fauna. This study relies on the Benefit Transfer methodology to attach values to the expected ecosystem services after the restoration. The analysis was conducted for two possible project scenarios, a three meter and a five meter riparian buffer on either side of the creek. The lifetime of the project was taken to be 20 years and the net benefits (Benefits – Costs) were discounted using a 3% and 5% discount rate. Results showed positive net benefits for both scenarios when cash flows are discounted at 3%. Results suggest that a five meter riparian buffer results in the largest net benefit, calculated as Net Present Value (NPV= $53,422). With a three meter riparian buffer and using a 5% discount rate, net benefits are negative (NPV= - $5,865). The internal rate of return (IRR) for the three and five meter buffer scenarios was 4.64% and 5.41% respectively. ; Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences (Okanagan) ; Land and Food Systems, Faculty of ; Economics, Philosophy and Political Science, Department of (Okanagan) ; Unreviewed ; Faculty ; Graduate
The article contributes to the debate on the feasibility of transferring democratic norms and institutions to the global level. A critical evaluation of previous efforts to bridge the gap between democratic ideals and the political reality of post-national governance is followed by an argument to classify forms of global governance as legitimate according to the extent to which they meet measurable criteria in the dimensions of input-, throughput- and output-legitimacy. Adapted from the source document.
Does it count against a normative theory in political philosophy that it is in some important sense infeasible, that its prescriptions are unlikely to be complied with? Though a positive answer seems plausible, it has proved hard to defend against the claim (most forcefully made by David Estlund) that this is not how normative theories work - noncompliance shows a problem with the noncomplying agents, not with the normative theory. I think that this line of thought - this defense of Utopianism - wins the battle but loses the war. It's right about what does and what does not refute a normative theory. It's wrong in misidentifying the problem. The right way to think about the feasibility worry is as essentially involving multiple agents, and how expected noncompliance by one agent may refute a normative claim addressed at another. Thus understood, feasibility problems may very well refute a theory in political philosophy. In this paper I develop this understanding of the feasibility worry, tie it to more general discussions in normative ethics (about the morally right way to take into account expected violations by others), and in political philosophy (about ideal and non-ideal theory; a long appendix engages that debate in detail).
Although widely accepted in medicine and health services research, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are often viewed with hostility by social scientists, who cite a variety of reasons as to why this approach to evaluation cannot be used to research social interventions. This article discusses the three central themes in these debates, which are those of science, ethics, and feasibility. The article uses three recent U.K. trials of social interventions (day care for preschool children, social support for disadvantaged families, and peer-led sex education for young people) to consider issues relating to the use of random allocation for social intervention evaluation and to suggest some practical strategies for the successful implementation of "social" RCTs. The article argues that the criteria of science, ethics, and feasibility can and should apply to social intervention trials in just the same way as they do to clinical trials.
Although widely accepted in medicine & health vices research, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are often viewed with hostility by social scientists, who cite a variety of reasons as to why this approach to evaluation cannot be used to research social interventions. This article discusses the three central themes in these debates, which are those of science, ethics, & feasibility. The article uses three recent U.K. trials of social interventions (day care for preschool children, social support for disadvantaged families, & peer-led sex education for young people) to consider issues relating to the use of random allocation for social intervention evaluation & to suggest some practical strategies for the successful implementation of "social" RCTs. The article argues that the criteria of science, ethics, & feasibility can & should apply to social intervention trials in just the same way as they do to clinical trials. [Copyright 2003 Sage Publications, Inc.]
A handbook of global economic policy. It develops practical, non-ideological solutions to the problems, and tests its solution's feasibility through economic, administrative, political, psychological, legal, international and technological obstacles.
