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The opportunities of climate change
Submitted by Rachel Godfrey Wood
It’s not always a great idea to acknowledge that bad things can create opportunities – but they can. Bad things cause suffering and tragedy, but they can also destabilise the status quo, open space for new discussions, and give an impetus to groups looking for positive change.
This is particularly relevant for climate change, which is likely to challenge governments and social systems in a way that has never happened before. This point has been made by Mark Pelling, who in his new book, Adaptation to Climate Change: From Resilience to Transformation, argues that adapting to climate change should be seen as an opportunity to challenge existing social contracts and unequal relationships.
Good instability and bad instability
A good example is the discussion over climate change and its potential to cause “instability” and threat to “security”. This issue has apparently been rising up the priority list of military establishments and has been used by some environmentalists to advocate mitigation policies.
Aside from the debate over whether the climate “threat” to security is actually significant, there is a need to question the assumption that all forms of instability are bad.
In fact, a quick glance of history shows us that environmental shocks have led to sweeping political changes, some of which were positive. Pelling himself identifies Bangladesh, Nicaragua and Mexico as countries that saw an opening of democratic space following natural disasters.
Right now, in the Arab world, it has been suggested that hikes in food prices have encouraged populations to challenge their regimes, to date leading to two changes of governments and widespread unrest in other countries. If it is true that food price hikes provided the spark for the demonstrations, and if changes in the climate have had a role in those food price rises, wouldn’t that make recent events the Middle East a case of “good” climate change destabilisation?
Environmental shocks can expose governments that are corrupt, elitist or inefficient, such as the earthquake in Nicaragua that undermined the Somoza dynasty in 1972. Instability can also generate space for ideas and discussion, which is potentially empowering for societies.
This is not simply an issue for dictatorships – democratic politicians who are unresponsive to their populations may also find themselves challenged. By increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, could climate change force governments to respond to their citizen’s needs and establish transparent systems of governments?
Taking advantage of bad things
Of course, because climate change is clearly a global “bad” that will require some fundamental transformations if it is to be addressed, it stands to reason that advocacy groups tend to overlook any potential positive outcomes. Also, the very idea of taking advantage of tragic events to push for change is nauseous to many people.
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