Misplaced Ethics of Climate Change: Political vs. Environmental Geography

摘要

Climate change diplomacy is routinely characterized by preoccupation with narrow and short-term perceived national interests rather than the pressing need to mitigate global warming and respond aggressively to its impacts. This was amply demonstrated by the much-anticipated December 2009 United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen, which failed to reach any formal or binding agreement on steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or to deal with the impacts of global warming. The Copenhagen conference revealed a fundamental flaw in the international politics of climate change, namely underlying norms and ethics that place nearly all value and importance in states and their national interests, rather than in the people who ultimately cause and are affected by climate change.