Politics and change

1
Politics and change

• Environmental problems are primarily political
  products reflecting governance systems
• Systems are based on nation-state prosperity not
  regional or global perspective
• No evidence the world has changed behaviour
  significantly at policy level relating to carbon
  consumption since it was identified
• Consuming world has some green lifestyles but
  not any major shift nationally
• Increased consumption in the East as economies go
  into high gear
• Can the world change when there is no incentive
  to change in the West?
• Can emerging countries change given the huge
  demand for poverty alleviation?

2
Denial and ignorance

• Western people are into denial, Eastern are
  into ignorance
• Too risky for Western politicians to advocate
  change when so much is at stake
• People are not pro- environment so actions will
  be resisted by voters
• Not an emergency compared to major issues like
  killing OBL
• There is no notion of the globe so global
  survival is a disabled term
• West wants to preserve existing life style, East
  wants to gain that .no common point

3
An inevitable future ?

• Idea of insularity/protection from Climate Change
  is high in the West
• Thinking is focussed status quo maintenance with
  the hope that the worst affected will disappear
• The high affected people will be the biggest
  problem as they may number nearly a billion
• Politics of violence is inevitable as the
  affected react through social violence and
  terrorism
• continued

4
An inevitable future ?

• continues
• Countries become embroiled in water and resource
  sharing conflicts leading to regional instability
  
• As regions South Asia and China- lose stability
  the global economy will be affected including
  irreversible meltdowns and terrorism many times
  larger than now
• Climate change discourse has become a scientific
  discussion ignoring political impact. . Most
  discussions on solutions which only the West can
  afford.
• What stake can the affected East/ world have in
  this discourse?