Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Let's Be Realistic
There is no question that climate change poses numerous inconveniences
and perhaps dangers for the United States and the world community.
Given a choice, most of us would prefer to keep the climate we are used
to. But this is not possible. Starting with the Industrial Revolution in
about 1750, we unknowingly took off on an unstoppable trip into the
unknown. Given human nature and the way the political systems of the
world operate, it is questionable whether the anthropogenic effect on
climate change can even be slowed. Climate change is a tragedy of the
commons unlike any other that humans have faced.
The atmosphere is egalitarian. It distributes itself equally over the
globe. This means that if climate change is to be slowed, there needs to
be worldwide cooperation. As of 2010, there is little sign that the world's
governments can accept the need for immediate drastic action. The eco-
nomic pain would be too great. Lots of international meetings and some
arguably useless agreements have been reached, but there is apparently
no way to enforce them, and the largest contributors of greenhouse gases,
the United States and China, have not signed onto the documents.
Getting different nations to agree on anything is like trying to herd
cats. Getting them to agree on what should be done about climate change
and how urgent is the need for action is like teaching cats to sit, shake
hands, roll over, and bring you the newspaper every morning. The lack
of agreement and the reluctance to act by many nations are understand-
able given the inequalities of economic circumstances that exist among
nations. Any mechanisms agreed to must be thought to be fair to all if
they are to succeed, but this is incredibly diffi cult because there is no
universally accepted defi nition of the word
fair
. What developed nations
believe is fair seems manifestly unfair to less developed nations. An
observer from another planet would have no trouble understanding and
sympathizing with the point of view of the downtrodden of the world.
They are the least responsible for climate change but are likely to be the
ones who suffer the most from it because they lack the means to adapt.
Several principles can be invoked to decide who should do what:
52
The Egalitarian Principle
states that every person in the world should
have the same emission allowance. This would benefi t the more populous
countries such as China and India.
The Sovereignty Principle
agues that each nation should reduce its
emissions by the same percentage amount. Major emitters such as the
