Ecology, peace-building, and human security
Parenti’s piece was by far the most engaging of the weekly readings. The format and way he wrote about history was appealing. Buxton and Hayes explore four arguments about why there has been no taken action with the threat of climate change. These four include: 1) Climate change as a “wicked problem,” (Rittel and Webber), 2) the production system which humans extract fossil fuels leading to more issues than just the emission of gases, 3) the fact there is prevention of investment and state intervention from trade policies, austerity and deregulation in governments and political states, (Klein), and 4) the development of neoliberalism, with the reinforcement of corporate power, and international post-democracy that has led to ignoring the huge issue of climate change. Similarly, in Chapter Five, Maas et al. identify three dimensions on how stakeholders can participate in the debate of environmental peace-building. These three 1) addressing environmental causes of conflict, 2) Environmental cooperation as a platform for dialogue and 3) Sustainable development as contribution to durable peace, all lead to how nations can cooperate while advocating for the environment. Watts explores political ecology and what it has to offer in the larger debate. He points out there is overlapping of human security, global environmental change and environmental security. Parenti in Part I dives into the merging of violence, poverty, and climate change as it contributes to catastrophic occurrences. His approach is to examine some of the prehistories of the current climate disaster in hopes to explain why the world is currently such a mess.
Due to the fact there is a collision of the political world, economic world, and all environmental disasters, which makes environmental security a hard concept to grasp. I am concerned with how the IPCC can be improved upon so it is more approachable for all. I am also wondering how can the Global North’s use and abuse of the Global South can be discontinued now and in the future. I want to explore more about how environmental climate change can be understood by everyone, and for everyone to understand the underlying issues. There needs to be a rethinking of climate change in order for to the government to provide support in changing the current system. For a paper topic to focus on would be to explore more into Parenti’s work regarding Haiti and the environmental security issues that surround that nation.