Module 9- Climate Change

marabunting_module9

  1. In my diagram, I wanted to illustrate the connection between the WikiLeaks cables to climate change. I began my diagram by demonstrating how climate change is taken place. The burning of fossil fuels produces greenhouse emissions, which in the end causes changes in the atmosphere. The change in the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is then led to climate change. The need to reduce greenhouse gases then leads to the need of the Copenhagen Accord. This accord would allow countries to set their own goals for cutting greenhouse gases, but it didn’t guarantee the greenhouse gas cuts needed to avoid dangerous warming. The United State as a whole is one of the top producers of greenhouse gases and with this being said, they were extra careful coming up with a plan to reduce greenhouse gases that was selfish and that would benefit them. Next, the United States used secret cables, aiding, threats, spying, and bribery to target other countries. It seemed that the money was a huge motivation for other countries to sign the accord. In the end, it led to 116 countries agreeing to this accord, 26 countries saying they would also like to associate with it, coming to the total of 140 countries that intended on associating themselves with the accord. The 140 nations that support the accord represented 75% of the countries that are parties to the UN climate change convention and are responsible for over 80% of the current global greenhouse gas emissions. Ultimately, if people continue to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases used, then this collective action problem can be solved and we can eventually reach climate mitigation.
  1. In Module 9, we learned that climate change is a problem and is becoming a serious issue in today’s society. As members of society, if we continue using greenhouse gases, sustainability might not be a possible solution in the future. I’m concerned that we’re not taking the proper action to solve this problem and climate change in the future will only become worse. I think as a whole we can come up with a collective action that involves every nation working together in unison towards effective action. I believe that the small and poorer countries need to work together with the large and richer countries to somehow negotiate and discuss climate change mitigation. Also, another important concept I took away from this module is what really causes climate change. Climate change is not caused by temperature increases or the increase in radiation from the sun. People need to be more educated on the topic of climate change and know that, climate change is caused due to greenhouse gases from everyday human activity. Lastly, on the topic about if the State Department cables should have been made public, I believe it was right for the cables to be leaked. Even though the United States approached this situation in a selfish manner and resulted in countries to not trust them, the public had the right to know. In conclusion, I have learned that climate change is a huge issue in today’s society and that nations worldwide need to work together towards reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases to better the world that we all live in.

 

2 thoughts on “Module 9- Climate Change

  1. Hi Mara, my name is Kelsey! Our diagrams were basically set up the same way. Your were straight to the point. I agree with you how climate change is a serious issue that needs to be solved in the right way. I also stated in my blog that the State Department cables should have been made public. The US didn’t handle things the correct way with going about this. Other measures could’ve been taken by the US to get other countries to favor the Accord. Nice post!

    Here’s a link to my post if you would like to look at it:
    https://wp.me/p3RCAy-dZn

  2. Hi Maria my name is Jonah and here is a link to my Blog:

    http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/04/08/module-9-jonah-kim/
    Your system diagram drew me in. A couple of the other system diagrams I was looking at were too wordy and I didn’t think they were getting the main idea of the wikileaks story. I thought you used the diagram well and it was very clear. Also, your response to the second question was interesting I did not think to talk about much from the module, I responded more by how I felt after I read the article.

Leave a Reply