Climate change

Introduction

Human societies have to take urgent action to end their dependence on fossil fuels. They also have to prepare to adapt to the uncertainties inherent in global environmental changes, particularly climatic ones. We have to alter the whole path of our development and decision making in order to make our societies both environmentally adaptable and sustainable. This unit takes on the task of trying to chart some of the ways in which this might come about.

The context for these changes by going further into what the term ‘globalisation’ means in relation to the environment and sustainability. It introduces three different views on the relationship between globalisation and the environment. Each view is an argument about how we might get out of the mess we appear to be in. Section 1 asks how our decision making can advance sustainability to make our societies more adaptable to environmental change. It looks at the chances of achieving both accountable global governance and grassroots participation. The final brief section is in three parts. It takes the three views outlined in Section 2 and looks at cases and arguments to see how each sees sustainability being arrived at. The conclusion ties up some of the threads of the chapter by reflecting on the importance of the media, and specifically web media, as a key location for moving forward debates about sustainability.

This unit is an adapted extract from the Open University course The environmental web (U316). [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]