scholarly journals Sustainable Stories: Managing Climate Change with Literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 4049
Author(s):  
Gesa Mackenthun
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Octavia Butler ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Texts ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Near Future

Literary and cultural texts are essential in shaping emotional and intellectual dispositions toward the human potential for a sustainable transformation of society. Due to its appeal to the human imagination and human empathy, literature can enable readers for sophisticated understandings of social and ecological justice. An overabundance of catastrophic near future scenarios largely prevents imagining the necessary transition toward a socially responsible and ecologically mindful future as a non-violent and non-disastrous process. The paper argues that transition stories that narrate the rebuilding of the world in the midst of crisis are much better instruments in bringing about a human “mindshift” (Göpel) than disaster stories. Transition stories, among them the Parable novels by Octavia Butler and Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future (2020), offer feasible ideas about how to orchestrate economic and social change. The analysis of recent American, Canadian, British, and German near future novels—both adult and young adult fictions—sheds light on those aspects best suited for effecting behavioral change in recipients’ minds: exemplary ecologically sustainable characters and actions, companion quests, cooperative communities, sources of epistemological innovation and spiritual resilience, and an ethics and aesthetics of repair.

scholarly journals The Silent Killer: Consequences of Climate Change and How to Survive Past the Year 2050

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3757
Author(s):  
Anna Laura Huckelba ◽  
Paul A. M. Van Lange
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Social Dilemma ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The World

There is strong scientific consensus that the climate is drastically changing due to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and that these changes are largely due to human behavior. Scientific estimates posit that by 2050, we will begin to experience some of the most damaging consequences of climate change, which will only worsen as the world becomes more populated and resources become scarcer. Considerable progress has been made to explore technological solutions, yet useful insights from a psychological perspective are still lacking. Understanding whether and how individuals and groups cope with environmental dilemmas is the first step to combatting climate change. The key challenge is how can we reduce a tendency to inaction and to understand the psychological obstacles for behavioral change that reduce climate change. We provide a social dilemma analysis of climate change, emphasizing three important ingredients: people need to recognize their own impact on the climate, there is conflict between self-interest and collective interests, and there is a temporal dilemma involving a conflict between short-term and longer-term interest. Acknowledging these features, we provide a comprehensive overview of psychological mechanisms that support inaction, and close by discussing potential solutions. In particular, we offer recommendations at the level of individuals, communities, and governments.

Insurance Fund as an Adaptation Measure for Increasing Water Security in Basins Under Change

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Gesualdo ◽  
Felipe Souza ◽  
Eduardo Mendiondo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Spatiotemporal Variability ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Insurance Fund ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
Adaptation Measure ◽  
The World

<p>Extreme weather events are increasingly evident and widespread around the world due to climate change. These events are driven by rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns, which lead to changes in flood frequency, drought and water availability. To reduce the future impacts of natural disasters, it is crucial to understand the spatiotemporal variability of social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities related to natural disasters. Particularly, developing countries are more vulnerable to climate risks due to their greater economic dependence on climate-sensitive primary activities, infrastructure, finance and other factors that undermine successful adaptation. In this concept, adaptation plays the role of anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and taking appropriate measures to prevent or minimize the damage they may cause. Thus, the insurance fund is a valuable adaptation tool for unexpected losses reimbursement, long-term impacts prevention and encouraging risk mitigation. Although this approach is successful throughout the world and major organizations support insurance as an adaptation measure, the Brazilian insurance fund only provides support for rural landowners. Thus, we will evaluate the implementation of an indexed multi-risk insurance fund integrated with water security parameters, as an instrument for adaptation to climate change. We will use the SWAT+, a hydrosedimentological model, to assess the current conditions and future scenarios (up to 2100) of water security indices considering two International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). Then, we will incorporate those parameters to the Hydrological Risk Transfer Model (MTRH). Our results will provide optimized premium in current and future scenarios for supporting adaptation plans to climate change. Furthermore, to contribute to technical-scientific information addressing possible effects of climate change on the hydrometeorological variables and their spatiotemporal variability.</p>

scholarly journals Premediating climate change in videogames: Repetition, mastery, and failure

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-199
Author(s):  
Laura op de Beke
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
Its Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Affective Dimensions

Abstract This article starts with the observation that growth-oriented, techno-futurist narratives are predominant in climate change videogames. It then accounts for the lack of variety by arguing that these videogames are privileged expressions of premediation. Premediation cultivates a multiplicity of future scenarios, while at the same time delimiting them to suit presentist concerns, evoking a sense of inevitability and predictability strengthened by repetition. The iterative, branching temporality at work in this logic is deeply ingrained in videogames, as the trope of mastery through repetition and its analysis requires attentiveness to the affective dimensions of gameplay. If videogames are to engage with the climate crisis more productively, they must develop different temporalities in which the potentiality of the future is preserved. In this article, I analyse the games Fate of the World and The Stillness of the Wind to demonstrate how videogames premediate climate change and how they can explore other temporalities latent in the present.

scholarly journals An Option to Avoid the Sudden Mass Influx of Migrants Resulting From Worldwide Environmental Threats

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hirotaka Fujibayashi ◽  
Mikiyasu Nakayama
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
The World ◽  
Mass Influx ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Slow Onset

This study attempts to explore useful and practical measures to mitigate the anticipated impacts on host communities caused by the mass influx of migrants resulting from worldwide environmental threats. Concern for worldwide environmental threats such as climate change, deforestation, and sea -level are on the rise, meaning that many people from all over the world may become environmentally displaced persons (EDPs). Unless we take some corrective measures, the world could face grave difficulties resulting from massive displacement of EDPs in the near future. Human migrations generally occur for a variety of reasons and under different circumstances, and they potentially have strong effects on host communities. When massive numbers of migrants flow into one country all at once, worries about severe conflicts between migrants and residents in the host community emerge. Against those concerns, we propose an option that avoids the sudden mass influx of migrants resulting from environmental threats and; resettling them instead as economic migrants in a manageable fashion. This option seems preferable both for migrants and for the host community, rather than tackling a mass migration that would occur after the slow-onset effect of environmental threats.

scholarly journals Optimized Planning of Different Crops in a Field Using Optimal Control in Portugal

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4648
Author(s):  
Rui Pereira ◽  
Sofia Lopes ◽  
Amélia Caldeira ◽  
Victor Fonte
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Optimal Control ◽  
Optimal Control Theory ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Agricultural Field ◽  
Water Requirements ◽  
Best Management ◽  
The World ◽  
Near Future

Climate change is a proven fact. In the report of 2007 from IPCC, one can read that global warming is an issue to be dealt with urgently. In many parts of the world, the estimated rise of temperature (in a very near future) is significant. One of the most affected regions is the Iberian Peninsula, where the increasing need for water will very soon be a problem. Therefore, it is necessary that decision makers are able to decide on all issues related to water management. In this paper, we show a couple of mathematical models that can aid the decision making in the management of an agricultural field at a given location. Having a field, in which different crops can be produced, the solution of the first model indicates the area that should be used for each crop so that the profit is as large as possible, while the water spent is the smallest possible guaranteeing the water requirements of each crop. Using known data for these crops in Portugal, including costs of labour, machines, energy and water, as well as the estimated value of the products obtained, the first mathematical model developed, via optimal control theory, obtains the best management solution. It allows creating different scenarios, thus it can be a valuable tool to help the farmer/decision maker decide the crop and its area to be cultivated. A second mathematical model was developed. It improves the first one, in the sense that it allows considering that water from the rainfall can be collected in a reservoir with a given capacity. The contribution of the collected water from the rainfall in the profit obtained for some different scenarios is also shown.

Climate change impacts on thermal comfort in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, Santorini Island, Greece

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Katavoutas ◽  
Dimitra Founda ◽  
Gianna Kitsara ◽  
Christos Giannakopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Control Period ◽  
Tourist Destination ◽  
Future Period ◽  
Distant Future ◽  
Tourist Destinations ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
The World ◽  
Near Future

<p>To date, climate change has caused serious problems both in human societies and in various ecosystems. Worldwide, the observed climate change hazards include increased droughts and floods, extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, storms and changes in natural land cover. Tourism, as an important pillar of the economy, is expected to be further affected until the end of the century by climate change hazards. An important factor in the selection of a tourist destination is the climatic conditions of the location.</p><p>This research aims to investigate the observed and projected heat stress conditions in a top world tourist destination, the island of Santorini, in Greece. The Mediterranean has been identified as a vulnerable region regarding the heat related risk. Simulations by Regional Climate Models downscaled over the island of Santorini were performed for the 1982–2005 control period, the near future period 2035–2058 and the distant future period 2075–2098. The data for the future simulations are under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 future emissions scenarios. Thermal stress conditions were evaluated employing the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), which has a thermo-physiological basis and derived from the heat exchange theory between the thermal environment and the human body.</p><p>The analysis reveals that the thermal conditions in Santorini that cause moderate heat stress and strong heat stress are expected to increase in both RCPs scenarios in near and distant future. In particular, the exposure time under at least strong heat stress reaches 1.8% in the control period (1982–2005), increasing to 5.3% in the near future (2035–2058) and to 7.8% in the distant future (2075–2098) under the RCP4.5 scenario. In the distant future (2075–2098), under the RCP8.5 scenario, the exposure time under these conditions will exceed 12%.</p><p>The increasing heat related risk in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world could be a wake-up call to the policy makers urging them to take prevention measures.</p>

The World Economic Forum Principles on "Climate Governance on Corporate Boards": can soft law help to face climate change around the world?

2020 ◽  
pp. 37-55
Author(s):  
Sabrina Bruno
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
World Economic Forum ◽  
Financial Factor ◽  
The World ◽  
World Economic

Climate change is a financial factor that carries with it risks and opportunities for companies. To support boards of directors of companies belonging to all jurisdictions, the World Economic Forum issued in January 2019 eight Principlescontaining both theoretical and practical provisions on: climate accountability, competence, governance, management, disclosure and dialogue. The paper analyses each Principle to understand scope and managerial consequences for boards and to evaluate whether the legal distinctions, among the various jurisdictions, may undermine the application of the Principles or, by contrast, despite the differences the Principles may be a useful and effective guidance to drive boards' of directors' conduct around the world in handling climate change challenges. Five jurisdictions are taken into consideration for this comparative analysis: Europe (and UK), US, Australia, South Africa and Canada. The conclusion is that the WEF Principles, as soft law, is the best possible instrument to address boards of directors of worldwide companies, harmonise their conduct and effectively help facing such global emergency.

A Compact Embodiment of Pluralities and Denial of Origins: Atwood’s The Year of The Flood

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Rana Sağıroğlu
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Margaret Atwood ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The World ◽  
Narrative Techniques ◽  
Why Questions ◽  
Near Future

Margaret Atwood, one of the most spectacular authors of postmodern movement, achieved to unite debatable and in demand critical points of 21st century such as science fiction, postmodernism and ecocriticism in the novel The Year of The Flood written in 2009. The novel could be regarded as an ecocritical manifesto and a dystopic mirror against today’s degenerated world, tending to a superficial base to keep the already order in use, by moving away from the fundamental solution of all humanity: nature. Although Atwood does not want her works to be called science fiction, it is obvious that science fiction plays an introductory role and gives the novel a ground explaining all ‘why’ questions of the novel. However, Atwood is not unjust while claiming that her works are not science fiction because of the inevitable rapid change of 21st century world becoming addicted to technology, especially Internet. It is easily observed by the reader that what she fictionalises throughout the novel is quite close to possibility, and the world may witness in the near future what she creates in the novel as science fiction. Additionally, postmodernism serves to the novel as the answerer of ‘how’ questions: How the world embraces pluralities, how heterogeneous social order is needed, and how impossible to run the world by dichotomies of patriarchal social order anymore. And lastly, ecocriticism gives the answers of ‘why’ questions of the novel: Why humanity is in chaos, why humanity has organized the world according to its own needs as if there were no living creatures apart from humanity. Therefore, The Year of The Flood meets the reader as a compact embodiment of science fiction, postmodernism and ecocriticism not only with its theme, but also with its narrative techniques.

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