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2) I started my systems diagram at the original cause of all the spying and diplomatic activity, the Copenhagen Accord. Without the hastily written accord in the last moments of the Copenhagen climate change summit, the United States would not have had any drive to diplomatically influence other countries. I then highlighted 3 of the biggest events that were influenced by the U.S. secret cables. The first example was the Saudi Arabian negotiations. The article points out these negotiations with Saudi Arabia were driven the most by financial assistance. The Saudi Arabian oil industry is one of the biggest in the world, as we have learn throughout this course the combustion of fossil fuels produce lots of greenhouse gasses, which directly effects climate change. The United States won over the support of the Saudi Arabian’s government by promising to help transition the source of income of their economy. The second example was low income counties that were easily influenced by 30 billion dollars. This money went to project similar to those highlighted in the carbon offset video.  The final issue I outlined in my system diagram was the significant divide between high and low income nations. The United States, through a secret cable, was able to bully Ethiopia, a low income country, into supporting the accord. I feel this example really helps show the ethical issues involved with getting so many parties to collectively agree on a common issue. Finally, I had all three U.S. cable influenced events linked to preventing climate change as long as countries that received financial assistance used it properly.

3) After reading this module and the assignment article I am honestly scared for what the future holds. Climate change is an issue that can theoretically decimate humanity if left unchecked. The module stated that this severe climate change can push the earth’s planetary boundary. The isotope data suggest civilization thrived because of relative stability, the change in climate is threatening to disrupt the earth’s stability. The only way the world is making any progress to fix it is through spying, cyber-attacks, and large amounts of financial assistance. I believe it is good that these U.S. State Department cables were leaked. Hopefully showing the dirty diplomacy will cause some organization or country to step up to help stop it. As the module stated climate change is a collective action problem, this means everyone should be working together to fix the issue, not one rouge nation (the United States) bribing other countries to follow plans that benefit them the best. While I believe the United States had the right idea by trying to stimulate action, their means of doing so were wrong. I believe the countries involved in the UNFCCC, need to act like adults and understand that this issue is not a financial gain opportunity. I do believe a large scale implementation of carbon offsetting would help solve the climate problem. As the carbon offset video said before the funds that are gained by countries and private businesses need to be used honestly. While just capping the amount of carbon dioxide is a good start, the best case scenario would see the total amount of Carbon dioxide begin to decline.