Climate Change: a Truly Global Issue

                                                        Climate Change: a Truly Global Issue                                         349

Alejandro Rubinstein-Nadeau

Although it may not immediately strike the average person as a global issue, climate change is perhaps the most global issue, in that the actions of the people of one nation, with no intention of international interaction, still affect the entire country. Due to increased Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere trapping more heat (known as the greenhouse effect), icecaps and glaciers are melting, causing sea levels to rise at an alarming rate- levels are projected to rise 59 centimeters between 2007-2100. Although this may not seem like much, it means that 6.2 million households in the U.K. alone will likely be unlivable well before 2100.

Climate change is not only an international issue in that respect. Socioeconomic status and access to resources will be an immense factor in losses suffered due to rising sea levels. It is actually a lamentable inequality that has arisen: the groups that have contributed the most to climate change, and specifically rising sea levels, will suffer the least; the groups that have contributed the least will suffer the most. 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) studies have concluded that climate change at this rate is certainly being caused by humans, and that 70% of Carbon Dioxide emissions in the past century have been output by 'developed' nations. However, the more wealthy people in developed nations will have better access to resources to relocate to safety and in general prosper, while the people of less developed countries that have contributed little to CO2 levels will likely have much more problems.

Lastly, climate change is a foreign policy issue. Numerous panels and United Nations conventions have been brought about, bringing about most famously the Kyoto Protocol (setting binding limitations on CO2 output for developed countries), which, notably, four U.N. members did not ratify, including the United States and Canada. Although this issue is being pushed very hard by many different parties and lobbying groups, and will be critical in the coming centuries, it tends to be put on the back-burner by many administrations. It will be interesting to see how things develop in the coming years.

"AR4 SYR Synthesis Report Summary for Policymakers - 3 Project climate change and its impacts." IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Sept. 2013. <http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spms3.html>.

"Global Warming Fast Facts." Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Sept. 2013. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming_2.html>.

"What are the social impacts of climate change? | Joseph Rowntree Foundation."Poverty, place and ageing society | Joseph Rowntree Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Sept. 2013. <http://www.jrf.org.uk/topic/climate-change>.