Geoscience Reference
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Global Changeā€”A Dialectic Process
The striking appeal 'think globally, act locally' has long been the maxim of
grassroots movements and countless mainly environmentally concerned
initiatives. Its message is twofold, reminding us that local action must be
embedded within a global awareness, but also that in order to achieve
global results, local engagement is necessary. In its simplicity this appeal
perfectly captures the tensions inherent when thinking about global change.
It seems, in fact, that global change can very well be understood in terms of
such sets of polar opposites that go beyond a mere differentiation in terms
of scale, i.e., local vs. global.
First, there exists a principle dichotomy of attitude towards change.
Global change is on the one hand, driven by forces that promote change
by concentrating on the integration of the globally diverse (e.g., online
social networks). On the other hand, global change is affected by forces that
oppose change by concentrating on the preservation of the distinct (e.g.,
religious fundamentalism). Second, there is also a dichotomy of the actors
involved in global change. They are at one end, individuals who drive and
experience global change through their work and travel, their preferences
and tastes, in other words through the personal choices they make. On the
other end, there are institutions that result from and aim to handle global
change. These are intergovernmental organizations concerned with politics,
trade, fi nances, health, etc., but also multi-national companies, religious
groups, research groups, etc. A further dichotomy lies in the type of system
that is affected. There is the cultural system, which thus far has attracted
much of the focus of discussions on global change. Change within these
cultural system(s) is what is commonly understood by globalization. There
is also the natural system that undergoes change on a global scale, through
resource scarcity and pollution, biodiversity loss, desertifi cation and land-
use change, but most comprehensively through global climate change. The
various motivations for actions in the context of global change do also line
up between two polar extremes. There is the motivation of self-interest
leading to a behaviour that seeks to produce maximum personal gain in
the sense of the rational choice theory. Opposing that, there is the socially-
minded, globally aware, altruistic mind-set that informs and motivates a
multitude of social activities.
It seems feasible to understand the dynamics of global change in
the form of a dialectic process between such opposing forces. A deeper
understanding and active engagement within the processes of global change
means attempting reconciliation and the discovery of complementarity
within these tensions. The emergence of new scientifi c 'disciplines', such as
human-environment systems, social and political ecology, cybernetics, etc.
that focus on the connectedness of subsystems is a consequence of such an
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