22nd April 2016 - The Paris Climate Agreement is signed into force amidst a backdrop of controversy and compromise. There is a split in the environmental and political communities - some fear the agreement functions as a neocolonial barrier to progress, others fear it simply does not do enough. Regardless of your position, the Paris Climate Agreement represents our most authoritative attempt to legislate change. It is our most recent and therefore most relevant attempt to combat climate change.
Critique leveled at the PCCA is easy to understand, however, for the purposes of this post I think it is worth focusing mainly on the practical implications of it - quite simply - does it do enough? I know by doing this I risk falling into disrepute with the sociologists and if any of you are here I encourage you to post below. I'm very much split on the idea of environmental neocolonialism, on the one hand, I believe it to be a necessary evil - on the other, I understand my perspective is biased by my upbringing. If it's something you would like to look into - or would like one of us to look into, please let us know!. Again, the underlying purpose of these posts is to raise awareness and cultivate a community.
So, what is the issue?
One of the primary stipulations of the Paris agreement was a pledge to keep global temperatures from raising more than 2c*. In their own words 'well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C'. Given that this is seen by many commentators and academics as massively optimistic it is perhaps useful to examine what exactly our 'best case scenario' looks like.
Dr. Philip Goodwin
Dr. Goodwin, University of Southampton - Recently concluded a series of experiments designed to predict potential rising in sea levels operating under the assumption that we meet the target purposed by the Paris Agreement. The results of the study were eye-opening. It was predicted that by 2100, 100,000,000 people will be directly affected by coastal flooding, and this flood is not limited to far-away countries.
[https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017EF000732.]
[http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/news/sea-levels-will-keep-rising-even-paris-agreement-latest-findings-show]
So, why post this?
I would love to hear what the community has to say, are we doing enough - and more importantly, is it possible to balance the industrial requirements of developing countries with an environmentalist agenda? This is an issue I am particularly struggling with.