Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:33:50.726Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Global Dimension of Environmental Challenges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Paul Wapner
Paul Wapner*
Affiliation:
The American University, USA
Get access

Abstract

While human beings have always been able to visualize and seemingly care about the entire globe, it is only recently that the world has come to know genuinely global problems. Global warming, ozone depletion, and threats to biological diversity represent the first, bona fide global challenges, because they threaten the fundamental organic infrastructure that supports life on earth. If they come to pass, they will have universal physical consequences, in contrast to the more circumscribed consequences of non-global issues. This understanding conflicts with much contemporary thinking, which tends to see all problems—from poverty and hunger to war and human rights abuses—as global in character and thus in need of globalist responses. Proper understanding of what constitutes a genuinely global challenge will work against this tendency, and thus encourage addressing problems at the most appropriate level of governance. This article tries to provide such an understanding. It delineates the global dimension of global warming, ozone depletion, and threats to biological diversity and—after differentiating local, regional, and global issues—argues against addressing all common, transboundary challenges at the global level.

Type
Global Environment
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , August 1994 , pp. 173 - 181
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brown, L. (1989). “Reexamining the World Food Prospect.” In Brown, L. et al. (eds.), State of the World 1989. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Carroll, J., ed. (1990). International Environmental Diplomacy. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, B. and Rosewicz, B. (1991). “Panel Sees Ozone Thinning, Intensifying Political Heat.” Wall Street Journal (October 13):B1.Google Scholar
Day, G. (1953). “The Indian as an Ecological Factor in the Northeastern Forest.” Ecology 34:329–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devall, B. and Sessions, G. (1985). Deep Ecology. Salt Lake City, UT: G.M. Smith.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, A. and Ehrlich, P. (1981). Extinction: The Causes and Consequences of the Disappearance of Species. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P. (1988). “The Loss of Diversity: Causes and Consequences.” In Wilson, E. O.(ed.), Biodiversity. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P. and Wilson, E. (1991). “Biodiversity Studies: Science and Policy.” Science 253:758–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliot, D., ed. (1986). Dynamics of Extinction. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Ellis, W. (1988). “Brazil's Imperiled Rain Forest.” National Geographic 174:772–99.Google Scholar
Falk, R. (1972). This Endangered Planet. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Falk, R. (1975). A Study of Future Worlds. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Gore, A. (1992). Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Haas, P., Levy, M., and Parson, E. (1992). “Appraising the Earth Summit: How Should We Judge UNCED's Success?” Environment 34:6211 +.Google Scholar
Hardin, G. (1972). Exploring New Ethics for Survival. New York: Viking.Google Scholar
Hardin, G. (1985). Filters Against Folly. New York: Viking.Google Scholar
Holsti, K.J. (1985). The Dividing Discipline. Boston: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Hoose, P. (1981). Building an Ark: Tools for Preservation of Natural Diversity Through Land Protection. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Horgan, J. (1992). “Volcanic Disruption: A Giant Eruption Frays the Tattered Ozone Layer.” Scientific American 266:28–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, D. (1975). Ecology in Ancient Civilization. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1990). Policymakers Summary of the Scientific Assessment of Climate Change: Report Prepared for IPCC by Working Group I. Washington, DC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.Google Scholar
Johansen, R. (1980). The National Interest and the Human Interest. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovejoy, T. (1986). “Species Leave the Ark One by One.” In Norton, B.(ed.), The Preservation of Species: The Value of Biological Diversity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mann, C. (1991). “Extinction: Are Ecologists Crying Wolf?” Science 253:736–38.Google Scholar
Mendlovitz, S. (1975). On the Creation of a Just World Order. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Miller, K.R. and Reid, W.V. (1989). Keeping Options Alive: The Basis for Conserving Biodiversity. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute.Google Scholar
Miller, L. (1985). Global Order: Values and Power in International Politics. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Moran, E.F. (1993). “Deforestation and Land Use in the Brazilian Amazon.” Human Ecology 21:1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, N. (1989). Deforestation Rates in Tropical Forests and Their Climatic Implications. London: Friends of the Earth.Google Scholar
Norton, B., ed. (1986). The Preservation of Species: The Value of Biological Diversity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ophuls, W. (1977). Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Ramphal, S. (1992). Our Country, The Planet: Forging a Partnership for Survival. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Russell, C. and Landsberg, H. (1972). “International Environmental Problems—A Taxonomy.” In Dorfman, R. and Dorfman, N.(eds.), Economics of the Environment. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Ryan, J. (1992). “Conserving Biological Diversity.” In Brown, L. et al. (eds), State of the World 1992. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Schneider, S. (1989). “The Changing Climate.” Scientific American 261(3).Google Scholar
Shea, C. (1989), “Protecting the Ozone Layer.” In Brown, L. et al. (eds.), State of the World 1989. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Stevens, W. (1989). “Skeptics Are Challenging Dire ‘Greenhouse’ Views.” The New York Times (December 13):A1.Google Scholar
Stolarski, R. et. al. (1991). “Ozone and Temperature Trends.” In World Meteorological Organization et al. (eds.), Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization.Google Scholar
Taubes, G. (1993). “The Ozone Backlash.” Science 260:1580–83.Google Scholar
Thatcher, P. (1992). “Evaluating the 1992 Earth Summit.” Security Dialogue 1.Google Scholar
United Nations Environment Programme (1992). The Impact of Ozone-Layer Depletion. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme.Google Scholar
United States Environmental Protection Agency (1990). Policy Options for Stabilizing Global Climate: Report to Congress. Washington, DC: United States Environmental Protection Agency.Google Scholar
Utton, A. and Teclaff, L., eds. (1987). Transboundary Resource Law. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Walker, R.B.J. (1988). One World, Many Worlds. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Wolf, E. (1988). “Avoiding a Mass Extinction of Species.” In Brown, L. et al. (eds.), State of World 1988. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
World Meteorological Organization et al. (1991). Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization.Google Scholar
World Resources Institute (1988). World Resources 1988-1989. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
World Resources Institute (1992). World Resources 1992-1993. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar