Policy Briefing

From this week’s reading, I was able to get a better understanding of different networks and groups involved with climate change as well as how their interactions and meeting work.  I realized that there is a great deal of trade-offs and negotiations made in order to reach goals.  It was interesting to see how meetings are prepared, run and the outcomes of them, or in other words meeting culture.  I learned that the structure and processes of the meeting influences what happens and what is accomplished during the meeting.  Some of the things that happen is sharing observations and addressing a common set of questions.  This way the agenda is set for everyone to bring their own take and opinion to the meeting instead of starting from scratch.  The document noted that there are two areas of concern when having conversations, actors and scale.  These two determiners can cause tension because of different views on these two areas.  That nature of trade-offs is naturally difficult and it is not easy to point directly at a person, place and time that they are made.  Trade-offs help discussion stay on track with what needs to be accomplished according to many people.  This calls for better understanding of how to decrease the underlying tensions between members first and foremost.  For me, being able to see how meetings are structured was very helpful in understanding what the outcomes of meetings are.  I have high hopes for all of the meetings to come in Paris this upcoming week.  

Climate Policy and Politics

The guest speakers this week helped me see the economic and political side when looking at the climate.  I had never even heard of chlorofluorocarbons before.  I learned that this caused significant ozone depletion and that we were able to make a change and decrease our use of that to stop damaging the ozone.  I realized that the way we word things and the emphasis we put on certain topics can give it importance and make it an issue to focus on.  Ozone depletion was a much easier task to take on than is climate change for many reasons, but maybe this means that if we broke up climate change into smaller and simpler parts, we could see more of an affect happening.  People will have their own way of looking at concepts and I was able to look at the different motivations behind various world views in class.  The Tragedy of the Commons was a very interesting look that we applied to climate change.  At the beginning of class, I thought that when there were things open to the public and everyone didn’t own everything that might be good for sharing and everyone’s enjoyment.  A new idea with privatization was that if someone owns something then they are going to take care of it, because they can call it their own.  This could be helpful when looking at climate change or other issues we are facing.  Overfishing our oceans seems to be a big problem today, maybe because the oceans serve everyone as a common resource.  I wonder what would happen if certain countries took ownership of parts of the ocean and it was their job to protect it.  I understand that we couldn’t just put boarders in the ocean, and that if one country polluted their area, it would have a negative impact on the other parts but it might be an interesting idea to look into.  Setting regulations on what one can do to their part of the ocean may be part of this idea.  The whole idea I realized when making a positive impact, whether it’s sharing a common good or looking to make a global change, is that everyone must work together.   

Technological Solutions

It seems like climate change is getting more complicated the more I learn about it, but this is also so exciting that I am gaining a fuller understanding of the topic.  From playing the computer game on Tuesday, I realized how tough decisions could be when trying to reduce carbon dioxide but also maintain a happy and healthy country.  It was very difficult to balance out everything and reach our goal of carbon dioxide reduction.  The reading and Thursdays class was the first time I had learned about geo engineering.  At first the idea of fighting the symptoms of climate change rather than focusing on prevention seemed a little backwards to me.  As I began to see all the different ideas people have come up with I was really impressed by the research and development produced.  One thing that really stood out to me was when Troy showed the class the equation of how to measure the temperature if we emit so much carbon dioxide.  That equation was only the beginning of climate modeling and it was very eye opening to see all of the work that scientists are putting into climate change.  Some of the ideas of geo engineering seemed a little out there but my biggest take away from the week is that we are constantly innovating and creating.  This leaves me with a more optimistic view for the future and how we could help our environment instead of lessening our effect on the environment.  This week very interesting and I would like to look more into the ideas people are coming up with in geo engineering. 

Resource Guide

Adger, W. Neil, Jon Bamett, F.S.. Chapin, III, and Heidi Ellemor. "This Must Be the Place:

Underrepresentation of Identity and Meaning in Climate Change Decision-Making." Global Environmental Politics 11.2 (2011): 1-25.

This article describes how localized values are undervalued when pertaining to climate change policy and science.  Climate change policy needs to emphasize the psychological aspects of settlements, relocation and the risks that some people are having to face.  Climate change is causing a cultural loss and a loss of identity because people are being separated from their homes where they are attached to.  The North American Arctic indigenous people have a subsistence lifestyle and their traditional knowledge of living off the land allows them to monitor and observe climate change.  Hunting, and gathering help these communities have close ties with the land and sea. 

This document would be useful for policy makers to understand the connection the indigenous Arctic people have with the land and sea around them.  The government cannot simply relocate these people who share their identity with the land, if these people are to move, many social and cultural aspects need to remain intact.  Conferences and councils have been established to assert the rights to indigenous Arctic people to address their rights that have been violated due to climate change.  Policy can be difficult because some aspects cannot be monetarily compensated for, like the loss of culture for example.  Changes in the environment induce changes in their lifestyle, the indigenous arctic people feel they have not been responsible for these changes and at minimum deserve to have some control over their destinies as part of who they are. 

Anderson, Patricia A. "Assessing the Consequences of Climate Change for Alaska and the Bering Sea Region." Ed. Gunter Weller. Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research University of Alaska Fairbanks (1998): 1-85.

This text looks at the affect the climate change has had on multiple aspects for Alaska.  Alaskan fisheries, forests, policies, economics, infrastructure, subsistence lifestyle and seabirds are examined on the adaptions made due to climate change.  The paper looks at short-term as well as long-term effects of climate change on different areas of study.  The text documents the changes already made and the adaptions that the Alaskan communities have had to make.  The document also offers suggestions for ways in handling climate change, one of which allows the Alaskan people to have a voice in decisions and policy made regarding their well being. 

This document would be useful for anyone involved with policy or economics.  It is clear to see the adaptions that have been made and must be made in the near future to keep Alaska in a healthy position in many areas.  This text gives estimates and projections of possible harms that may occur if no action is taken, therefor making a call to action to safe this extremely vulnerable state. 

"Asksik: Stories about Adaptation and Subsistence." Aksik.org. St. Lawrence University: Environmental Studies Department, 2014. Web. 6 Nov. 2015.

This website gives information about adaption and changes that the people of two indigenous communities in Alaska have experienced.  The documentaries and articles describe that changes in lifestyle these communities have had to make due to a change in their environment.  These communities live off of the land and sea and when the vary aspect that defines their culture and identity changes, the communities are forced to make changes as well.  Many of the people from these communities do not want to move from their home or way of life of hunting and gathering but are left with little help in options for maintaining their home.  The sense of community is strong in these communities and it is unfathomable for them to picture leaving a culture where everyone is looked after and threated as family.

This website would be useful for policy makers and people in the government to hear to voices of those often overlooked when it comes to making decisions.  These people have the first hand accounts of what changes they are encountering in their environments and way of life.  The animals that these communities live off of are changing their migration patterns, causing less time to hunt and creating a more dangerous endeavor.  A native Savoonga man shared that subsistence way of life is the foundation of their culture and that by doing so they honor the system that has been passed down to them by their ancestors.  Climate change is not only changing the food supply of these communities but it is stripping them of their culture. 

Black, Richard, W. Neil Adger, Nigel W. Arnell, Stefan Dercon, Andrew Geddes, and David S.G. Thomas. "The Effect of Environmental Change on Human Migration." Global Environmental Change (2011): S3-S11.

This text discusses the effect that climate change has on the migration of people.  There are many reasons why people relocate including economic, political, social, demographic, and environmental factors.  Sea level rise is a main aspect of environmental change that causes permanent migration due to permanent loss of land.  When the environment is destroyed it can cause many other disruptions in the other realms including economics, politics, social and cultural.  Therefore climate change is affecting more than the ecosystems, but many parts of life in the area.  The text differentiates between slow-onset and rapid-onset environmental events that prompt migration.  Another part of the text addresses the future of climate change and the possibilities for migration to come. 

This document would be useful for policy makers as well as anyone who would want to be informed of the effects of climate change and the effects it is having on people and communities.  The drivers of migration assessed here are all related when it comes to environment factors because it is all encompassing.  The document is helpful with looking at why, where and for how long people move to a new location. 

Bronen, Robin. "Forced Migration of Alaskan Indigenous Communities Due to Climate Change: Creating a Human Rights Response." Resilience and Adaption Program: University of Alaska (2009): n. pag. Web.

“Forced Migration of Alaskan Indigenous Communities due to Climate Change: Creating a Human Rights Response” addressed the difficulties of environmental relocation.  The text describes the complication of describing climate-induced migration.  The text uses the term “climigration” to describe forced migration due to climate change.  The text shows how government agencies are not meeting the needs of communities forced to migrate.  The text pushes for the incorporation of environmental-caused displacement to be incorporated into the international human rights framework of refugee protection and humanitarian assistance.  There is much controversy over categorizing environmentally displaced people and what rights and assistance they should receive.  

This text calls for international and national intervention and aid in the process of relocation due to climate change.  The article gives information on the need to relocate yet there is no government funding explicitly allocated to begin this process.  Adaption strategies have proven ineffective for an environment that is becoming more uninhabitable by the day, therefore making migration the only option.  The call for guiding principles on climigration based in human rights doctrine needs to be developed.  There must be an understanding of the relocation of indigenous Alaskan communities in order to protect the well being, and cultural identity of these communities. 

Durrer, Patrick. "Boreas: Moving an Inupiaq Village." European Science Foundation. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Nov. 2015. 

This website looks the relocation and resettlement from the Circumpolar North.  Articles are present on different communities on the changes they have had to make as well as the process they have gone through to relocate.  Documentation has been made on responses these communities have made to climate change.  Issues such as identity are addressed in when re-creating a community in a new area.  The ultimate goal of the website is to document everything that goes into relocating communities and learn how to be relocate entire communities due to climate change.

This document would be useful for anyone concerned with climate change as well as how people are adapting and the process of relocation.  Anyone who is interested in the process could look into the documentation and outcomes of migration of some communities in the arctic.  The website continues to give up to date information on the state of communities that are forced to relocate due to environmental changes.  Policy makers should find this helpful to understanding what has worked previously for relocating communities and where improvement is needed.  

Hinzman, Larry D. "Evidence and Implications of Recent Climate Change in Northern Alaska and Other Arctic Regions." Climate Change (2005): 252-287. Web.

This article gives the evidence that has been recorded in the Arctic.  The article shows that the climate is warming from a longer thawing period combined with increased precipitation.  There have been increases in wind speeds, air pressure, precipitation, and thawing.  The article goes on to discuss the many ecological areas that are affected by these changes in the climate.  The article addresses the human dimensions of change.  Due to the decrease or absence of snow and ice, hunting and fishing has becoming more dangerous.  The indigenous people in Alaska live off of subsistence hunting and fishing, which has shown to be very vulnerable to climate change.  There are noted changes in distribution, abundance, and seasonal availability of subsistence fish and wildlife.  Due to less frozen ice, there is shorter time available for industrial or private transit in some regions of Alaska.  Indigenous people have reported that recently there has been less predictable weather.  Climate change has also caused changes in behavior and movement patterns of wildlife the indigenous people hunt. 

This article could be useful for policy makers because it shows concrete data as to how the Arctic has changed over years and the impacts that this is having on many areas, including the people who call the Arctic home.  The article stresses the need for better monitoring programs to increases the data received from the Arctic.  There needs to be an understanding of the interconnectedness that climate change plays out in the arctic, affecting many areas. 

Larsen, Peter H., Scott Goldsmith, Orson Smith, Meghan L. Wilson, Kendra Strzepek, Paul Chinowsky, and Ben Saylor. "Estimating Future Cost for Alaska Public Infrastructure at Risk from Climate Change." Global Environmental Change (2008): 442-457.

This article looks at the costs that come from rebuilding infrastructure that naturally needs construction but with the additional impacts on it from climate change.  The study found that the costs of dealing with infrastructure are enormous especially when looking at the effect climate change plays on the maintenance of infrastructure.  Models have shown varies communities and infrastructures within those communities that are affected by climate change.  Climate change reduces the life of infrastructure and so the costs only continue to increase.

This document would be helpful for people who develop infrastructure as well as for governments in understanding the worsening effects of climate change.  The article describes the costal erosion that is destroying foundations due to less protection of shore-fast ice that protected these buildings previously.  Overall this article described the cost of Alaska’s public infrastructure and the risks that are present and increasing due to the costs of climate change that only seems to be getting more severe as time goes on.  Governments could use this information to see that the costs of infrastructure are becoming more unrealistic to maintain in Alaska and that plans need to be in place for decreasing climate change as well as to protecting the residents of Alaska. 

Marino, Elizabeth. "The Long History of Environmental Migration: Assessing Vulnerability Construction and Obstacles to Successful Relocation in Shishmaref, Alaska." Global Environmental Change (2011): 374-81. Web.

This article addresses the financial and organizational challenges with relocation of Alaska communities.  There is debate over whether environmental migrants should receive refugee status and therefore receive those rights or not.  The argument is that forced migrants are unprotected by both national and international policies.  The Alaskan town Shishmaref is one that is under great threat to relocate.  This relocation threatens the cultural, individual and family security.  Shishmaref faces some possibilities to dealing with climate change but there is the issue of funding and rebuilding that is unrealistic without outside aid. 

This document is useful for policy makers and governments to understand the disconnect between the people of Shishmaref and the people making decisions for them.  The article explains there needs to be local representation in decisions and there needs to be a more permanent solution to organizing and relocating communities.  The historical construction of Shishmaref seems to play a role in climate change issues today.  Development decisions were made without local representation and the power over infrastructure became located beyond the reach of the local community.  This distances the local people from having control of their own future and leaves them dependent on outside decision-makers who might be out of touch with the realities in Shishmaref.  Some challenges the government faces is that any decision make in Shishmaref will be costly.  Another obstacle is that rebuilding cannot be done on an area that is uninhabitable; organizations need to consider more permanent options for these communities. 

McKinley, Brunson. "Institute for Public Policy Research Conference on Climate Change and Forced Migration." International Organization for Migration. N.p., 28 Apr. 2008. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

This document addressed four indigenous Alaskan communities that are at risk of their way of life due to climate change.  It addresses the challenges regarding emergency relief and humanitarian assistance along with preparedness and planning due to climate change.  This text expresses the need to launch a Global Research Agenda to develop more methods to approaching migration and the environment.  Along those same lines the text calls for support to the most vulnerable countries through partnerships aimed at improving the ability to cope the threats and hardships involved with climate change.  There is a call for financial and non-financial resources for migrants to make livelihoods more sustainable.  Lastly this text discusses the importance of assistance to national strategies that are in place for natural resources as well as for migration plans.  

This text is for regional, national and international leaders to look at migration and the environment as not two issues but linked together.  The text offers ideas for implementation in easing the process of environmental relocation.  The need for assistance to start a new life in a new area is essential to the main argument of this text.

Minteer, Ben A., and James P. Collins. "Move It or Lose It? The Ecological Ethics of Relocating Species under Climate Change." Ecological Applications (2010): 1801-804. Web.

“Move it or lose it?  The ecological ethics of relocating species under climate change”

This article focuses on preserving special that are at risk due to climate change.  This managed relocation is controversial because moving species to protect them with a safe environment brings up other ethical and political issues.  Plants and animals are not adapting quickly enough to changing environmental conditions.  Some species have already been relocated but moving is not an option for some species.  The polar bear cannot be moved to a different area if its habitat is becoming unlivable for it. 

This article can be useful to drawing attention to the problems climate change is causing to the loss of some species.  Scientists and policy makers might be interested in this.  Relocating species can be viewed as not addressing the larger problem of climate change but as dancing around the true problem with other solutions.  If more managed relocation is to take place mitigation and adaption policies must be viewed together with climate change.  The overall message of the article is that the options are becoming fewer for saving many species threated by global warming. 

Oliver-Smith, Anthony, and Xiaomeng Shen. "Linking Environmental Change, Migration and Social Vulnerability." Studies of the University: Research, Counsel, Education (2009): n. pag. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.

“Linking Environmental Change, Migration and Social Vulnerability” looks at the forced migration of people due to climate change.  This text looks at the controversy over defining environmental migration and what assistance these groups of people should obtain from their relocation.  Alaskan communities are the example that is used to show the environmental threat to these people’s lives.  Adaption strategies are looked at as to how the relocation of entire communities will change these people’s lifestyles, culture and identify. 

This text would be useful for local, state, and national governments to see that there is a growing amount of people who are vulnerable to climate change and are forced to relocate from their homes and change their way of life.  The text explains how the indigenous Alaskan communities live a substance lifestyle and how that has already changed and will change even more drastically as they move to a new location.  Governments need to search for sustainable solutions so that these people can easily relocate in the best way possible and so that more people and communities will not have to endure leaving their homes as well.  Government funding for the process of relocating has to be a priority.  The text shows that each migration pattern has unique needs it’s own plan of relocation to ensure the people’s rights are protected.  Ultimately, there needs to be an international institutional framework in response to climate induced migration to make the process of relocation a structured and individual process for each community. 

Warner, Koko. "Global Environmental Change and Migration: Governance Challenges." Global Environmental Change (2009): n. pag. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

This article looks at the challenges the government faces with environmentally induced migration.  There are questions over if institutions should support human mobility as an adaptive response to environmental change, including climate change.  A second focus is how institutions and policy can affect the outcomes of environmentally induced migration.  A third focus deals with what impacts environmentally induced migration has on existing institutions and policies.  The overall theme of this article showed that the government plays an important role in affecting whether and how people could become immigrants.  The question of where to give help is addressed.  This has the potential to create differentiated groups with different capacities and needs. 

This article is intended for governments around the world to look at how they are responding to environmentally induced migration and the support they are providing to these groups.  Most governments and humanitarian organizations mobilize to rapid-onset disasters.  However, institutional responsibility and governance becomes more blurred for slow onset events such as a drought.  This calls for changes in response to slower onset events that may be caused by climate change.