There has been a constant agitation of environmentalists, trying to raise people’s awareness about the impact of their actions on the welfare of the environment due to the adverse climate changes taking place in the modern world. Statistics show that the wealth patterns are becoming increasingly unpredictable and over time led to the catastrophic loss of lives and properties. One of the most adverse climate changes is the increased global temperature, which is caused by greenhouse gasses, particularly carbon dioxide. The rise of temperatures has led to prolonged droughts or wet seasons, which, in turn, has affected people’s way of life, not to mention health complication particularly due to an increased level of dust and carbon dioxide. Climate change is, therefore, a part of reality, and all those in authority need to appreciate their effect on the environment since nature always reacts to harm by putting the humanity in jeopardy. Seriousness, goodwill and collective responsibility for all the policymakers need to be highly integrated into the policies formulated as a means of safeguarding the welfare of humans through the clean environment.
Executive Summary
The purpose of the discussed policy is to shed light on how the climate change is affecting people around the globe. In the line with demonstrating the seriousness of the challenge, the policy briefly covers the challenges, existing solutions and potentially better solutions to the problem of climate change. The policy utilizes retrospective auditing methods as a means of elaborating how the challenge of climate change has been handled as well as identifying the possible solution that will be helpful in solving the problem. The results of the analysis demonstrate that there is s need for policymakers to rethink the policies to deal with climate change since it is clear that existing ones have done little if anything in solving the climate change issue. Therefore, to win the war on climate change, one needs to have a firm set of values that will act as a driving force in changing the culture of climate negligence in the society. It can also be concluded that climate change poses a serious danger to the welfare of humanity through extreme weather conditions. It is, therefore, it is recommended that all policymakers and people in general get actively involved in solving matters leading to climate change.
Statement of the Issue/Problem
What is the most useful role that policymakers need to play to combat the consistent climatic change?
Background Information
Effects of climate change have now become very clear to everyone through a continued increase in the global temperature. The world’s temperatures are gradually but constantly rising. Thus, since the end of the last century, there has been a consistent increase in the temperature by an average of 1.5°F. What a devastating is the fact that even a small change in temperature leads to dangerous shifts in the climate. Besides, it is expected that if this trend persists, the temperatures are projected to rise by another 0.5 to 8.6°F in the following one hundred years. Moreover, climate change is posing a threat to people’s health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is projected that between 2030 and 2050 climate change is projected to cause 250 000 additional death as a result of malnutrition, diarrhea and heat stress, to name but a few. Climate change has also inflicted considerable harm to both humans’ health and the environment as a result of increased pollution. In this perspective, it is estimated by the WHO that by 2030, climate change will attract the cost of US$ 2-4 billion annually in the health industry globally. This is an evident indication that if nothing is done to curb the factors leading to climatic changes, a tough time will await the humanity soon.
Climate changes are also heavily affecting animals across the globe since their habitats are changing, thus highly undermining their comfort. For example, a research that was done by the University of Washington and commissioned by NASA established that ice used to melt earlier in spring and form later than now during fall, which was common in all the 19 sublocations of the polar bear. This trend highly jeopardized the bears feeding patterns. While the sea ice is the polar bear’s hunting ground, the effect of climate changes are threatening the lives of these animals. The worst thing about this situation is that these animals are paying for human misdeeds. This was an assertion seconded by NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), which found a constant decline in the extent of the Arctic Sea cover. The sea ice is crucial in stabilizing the global temperature and also forms an essential aspect of the lives of arctic people.
Researchers have interlinked climate change with the continuing changes in winter storms, particularly in the USA. According to the results of scientific research, 35% of rain that was accompanied by sandy hurricanes were caused by climate change. Moreover, it is the assertion that climate change is the factor behind the frequent occurrence of such storms that have posed significant challenges to the humanity. This is particularly the case due to the constant increase of the temperature in the US Atlantic Ocean, which in 2015 experienced an increment of 2F. These are but a few examples of the adverse effects of climate change. Therefore, to prevent aggravation of the problem, policymakers need to identify their role in safeguarding the only home for all living things.
Statement of Interest
Сlimate change is a challenge that is posing a huge danger to any living organism in the world. Given a constant rise in the number of deaths from heat stroke, storm damages in the countries such as Haiti, increased risk to Polar bears due to the reduced level of Sea Ice, etc., there is a need to ensure that policymakers appreciate the seriousness of climate change. What is devastating about the effects of climate change is that the majority of those who are paying heavily make the smallest contribution to problem solution. A good example is the hurricane Matthew, which caused severe damage in Haiti as compared to Florida. However, if one makes an analysis on who contributes most to climate change, Haiti is far behind Florida. I am a strong believer in equality, and climate change is killing this spirit in the society. Therefore, if policymakers believe in equality and accountability, then a change of mind is highly needed so that the working policy caters for total welfare.
Pre-existing Policies
The first international policies on climate change are the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change formulated in 1992 and enacted in 1994. The aim of this policy was to ensure the green gas emissions were restricted to minimize the dangerous effects on the climate system. This was followed the Kyoto Protocol policy in 1997, the primary intention of which was to ensure reduction of greenhouse gas effects from the premise of appreciating that CO2 is the primary human-made cause of the climate change. The policy was enacted in 2002 and currently enjoys the support of 192 parties. In 2007, the International Carbon Action Partnership was founded, an international forum where nation and sub-nations representatives jointly agreed to support the introduction of emission trading systems, the key objective of which was to encourage clean-tech investment. Lastly, there is the Muslim Seven Year Action Plan on Climate Change formulated to govern Muslim actions in safeguarding climate in 2010-2017. It appeals to the Muslim world to adopt and encourage green lifestyle, thus restricting the emission of C02.
Potential Courses of Action for Policymakers
Although the above-mentioned policies are enacted, climate change is still present and leading to dangerous consequences more than ever. There is, therefore, a considerable demand for more effective policies. One possible course of action is to establish the people-empowerment policy that educates people on the matters of climate change. Another effective policy can be imposition of strict regulations with mandatory financial costs for the major pollutants. Besides, policymakers can also formulate a policy that will act as an international policing force, investigating how the parties comply with the agreed international policies and imprisoning the leaders of parties that violate them.
The Case For and the Case Against Each Policy Option
- People empowerment policy can be very effective in dealing with climate change since people will be more involved in the preservation activities. This is a rationale supported in the Christian view under the Ecclesiastes 7:12 that says, “For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.” Besides, this approach is clearly stated in Proverbs 4:13, which says, “Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.” However, this policy can be expensive due to a vast territory involved, not to mention the cost of supervising on the progress.
- Strict regulation with mandatory financial costs is the policy that can highly discourage people and companies from pollution due to the accompanying heavy charges. However, this policy can be difficult to enact, as seen in case of the Kyoto Protocol.
- International policing with arresting power can also instill fear and urge leaders to take precautionary actions towards upholding the international set standards. However, due to the existence of different jurisdictions around the world, the success of the policy greatly depends on the jurisdictions that ratify the policy.
Recommendation
The best policy that the policymakers need to enact is empowering people on the climate change matters. This policy can be effective since it will create a collective responsibility on the matters of climate change. This responsibility will result in more people involved in taking preservation efforts at the village level. As a result, this approach will facilitate huge gains in safeguarding the climate system.
Personal Reflection
Climate change is a matter that needs more attention due to the imminent danger that is soon coming if nothing is changed. Besides, it is clear that policymakers need to appreciate that existing policies have done little to amend the lasting climate changes. This is particularly due to the lack of coordination or political will needed to enforce the policies that were formulated earlier. In appreciation of this aspect, there is a need for everyone to have firm beliefs, which will act as a motivation to change the culture of continued neglect of the issue of do climate change. Dealing with climate change demands one to have strong, objective and evidence-based values that will act as a driving force in making the right decision in situations that attract conflicting emotions and ideas. These firm beliefs will be helpful in ensuring that a person stands for his or her values on climate change. However, it is evident that such an approach is currently lacking among the policymakers. Any effort to change the modern culture of indifference faces enormous resistance, particularly because it entails changing the status quo and encroaching on the comfort of the many policymakers. This is the price that the major players in the world are currently not ready to pay. Therefore, the last hope for winning this battle is the empowerment of the policy where people are more aware of what is happening on the matters climate change and their role in safeguarding the climate system so that it benefits everyone.
