Category Archives: Week 14: Climate Change

The Bush administration had a climate policy referred to as “no regrets”. Focused on the economy, this plan was uncertain of the new science of climate change and advocated for a traditional environmental remediation plan that holds up to a cost versus benefit analysis (183). Climate change, like many other policies, revolved around the economicContinue reading “Climate Change and Regrets”

In Behind the Curve: Science and Politics of Global Warming, Joshua P. Howe critically examines the complex history of climate change science and its intersections with political actions, advocacy and public policy. He uses the concept of the “Keeling Curve”, which visually represents the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from 1958 to present. The KeelingContinue reading “Science vs Action”

The assumption that more science will lead to better policy is often overly simplistic. Historian Joshua P. Howe, in Behind the Curve, shows that even as climate scientists reached a consensus on the dangers of CO₂ emissions, political divisions deepened. This disconnect between scientific certainty and political action became especially evident during the late 1980sContinue reading “Is Science the Answer”

Almost 20 years after the 1972 Stockholm Conference, the United Nations gathered and held what would come to be known as the Rio Earth Summit. The point of meeting in Rio was to establish guidelines for developed and developing countries as far as climate change protocol. Within historical context, Rio is significant because it beganContinue reading “The U.S. and Its Economic Rubric”

We are often taught to believe that knowledge leads to action, that the more certain science becomes, the more inevitable political change will be. But after doing Howe’s reading, that assumption doesn’t hold up. Even as climate scientists became more unified in their warnings about CO₂ and global warming, U.S. political responses didn’t follow theContinue reading “Which “Change” Really Matters?”

There was some hesitation to sign the Kyoto Protocol. The article says that the U.S. had disagreements on developing world responsibilities and positions internationally. Also, the article says that Congress would not have approved of the budget that Japan wanted to set. He also didn’t want criticism from home and abroad if it failed, andContinue reading “Climate Change”

The Keeling Curve is a visual representation of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory, and it has been climbing since 1958. You would think that such horrific scientific findings would eventually lead to actions by politicians and leaders. But what happened is that the politicians froze, while the curve kept goingContinue reading “The ignored Keeling Curve”

Reading Howe’s article reminds me that the US does a decent amount to say it will work on its carbon footprint and sign laws, but often doesn’t follow through on it meaningfully. This is shown primarily by the Kyoto Protocol, but the article goes into many deeper reasons for this. One of the largest reasonsContinue reading “Bark Without Bite: The US, Climate Change, and the Kyoto Protocol”

In Behind the Curve, Joshua Howe challenges the idea that more scientific knowledge automatically leads to political action regarding climate change. Howe’s explanation of U.S. climate policy (especially during the Bush Sr. administration) shows that even as scientists grew more confident about the dangers of rising CO₂ levels, political progress actually became more difficult toContinue reading “Economy Over Environment”