Climate Change GSSS 2010 Debate

Climate Change Debate Notes (as of Jul 16)

Other Critical Issues - Air pollution Conflict Education Diseases Global warming Malnutrition and hunger Sanitation and water Subsidies and trade barriers Terrorism Women and development

Climate change is the number one global problem.

Arguments – Pro:

• Not acting climate change nullifies our efforts in solving other problems • Aggravates many of the other problems, e.g. conflicts, mass migration • Climate change is happening now and is real; most urgent of the problems; necessary transformation needs time, we need to start now, delaying action makes mitigation more costly • Co-benefits: air pollution, energy security • Effectiveness, feasibility, already on the political agenda, heads of state at Copenhagen

Rebuttal: • Can be addressed as a universal problem; a lot of bottom-up action, evidence that tragedy can be overcome, first-mover advantage • Uncertainty; risks higher – catastrophic climate change, low probability-extreme impacts events

Arguments – Contra

• Solving climate change will not solve other problems • By solving other problems we will address climate change (adaptation, impacts) • (What is REDD doing for other problems) • Climate change co-opts funding for other problems

Choreography

Moderator: Dana

Maria Pro-Climate1: 1) Climate change is real and exist, IPCC consensus, consequences of climate change already today, risk of climate change in the future; describe catastrophic impacts; Sure other problems exist -> nullifying + aggravating (exacerbating) other problems; 2) most urgent of the problems; necessary transformation needs time, we need to start now, delaying action makes mitigation more costly

Christian Con-Climate1: a) Other problems at least as important: e.g. 1 billion people hunger, aids; by addressing climate change you don’t address other problems adequately b) severe climate impacts happen in the future, people in the future will be better off then we today, it makes more sense to deal with climate change in the future and address urgent issues of today

Veronika Pro-Climate2: a) address second point first: people in the future not necessarily richer than today, growth is not a given, history has shown times of long-lasting stagnation; risk of high impact/catastrophic events, e.g. shut-down of major ocean currents, dieback of Amazon rainforest, even if you are very rich, you can’t make up for these consequences b) Climate affects all facets of society, list co-benefits, air pollution, energy security; health (indoor air pollution)

Carolina Con-Climate2: Co-benefits don’t play out, REDD, it would be cheaper and more effective to address the problem directly

Tao Pro-Climate3: a) By including projects into climate regime (emission trading) - new source of money; the goal is not the problem, bureaucracy might have failed, humans are imperfect, b) climate change high up on the political agenda,

Mary Con-Climate3: a) heads of state come to negotiations because climate change trendy, developing countries care about alleviating poverty, discourse dominated by industrialized countries, media dominated by rich b) climate change is just a symptom; resilience by addressing everything else