Class Research Resources and Assignments

Week 13

Climate Change and Environmental Justice Issues:
  Consider the following documentary reports on hurricane Katrina...
   
NOVA
  "The Storm that Drowned a City," PBS - NOVA, (November 2005).
Frontline
  The Storm," PBS - WBUR - Frontline, (22 November 2005).
Democracy Now
  "New Orleans Residents Rally for Lower 9th Ward Recovery," Democracy Now, (30 April 2007).
  ...as well as recent trends in "oil producing" areas like Equador and Nigeria:
   
Democracy Now and Sandy Cioffi
  "As Hundreds Die in an Oil Pipeline Explosion in Lagos, A Look At the Fight Over Nigeria's Natural Resource," Democracy Now, (26 December 2006).
Democracy Now
  "Ecuador President Backs Amazon Residents’ Case Against Chevron," Democracy Now, (30 April 2007).
 
  ...and then consider the IPCC - Group II - Report - Summary for Policymakers issued in April:
   
IPCC - Working Group II
  Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Summary for Policymakers: Working Group II Contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007 [ IPCC WGII Fourth Assessment Report ], (Geneva, Switzerland, Brussles, Belgium, 6 April 2006)
CNN
  "New, Grim Global Warming Study," CNN News Online, (7 April 2007).
CBS News
  "U.N. Forecasts Dire Weather," CBS News Online, (7 April 2007).
 

 

Then, ask yourself: what are the environmental justice implication's of China's current trajectory?
  Xinhua News Agency
    "Official says China attaches importance to climate change," Xinhua News Agency, (25 April 2007).
  China's Reaction to IPCC Group II
 
BBC - Newshour - (1300hrs GMT - 6 April 2007).
  China and Climate Change Policy + Evolving U.S. Position
 
BBC - Newshour - 1300 (1 May 2007).
  Bush Rejects Placing Caps on Carbon Emissions
 

In environmental news, the New York Times is reporting that climate scientists may have significantly underestimated the power of global warming from human-generated heat-trapping gases to shrink the cap of sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean. Meanwhile President Bush met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday to discuss global warming. They agreed that more must be done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but the Bush administration remains opposed to placing caps on carbon emissions.

President Bush: "As I reminded the people around the conference table today, the United States could shut down our economy and emit no green house gases and all it would take is for China about 18 months to produce as much as we had been producing, to make up the difference about what we had reduced our green house gases to. So this is a very important issue. It has global consequences. The good news is that we recognize there is a problem."

In viewing these documentaries and news clips, ask
yourselves, what concerns about environmental justice
are raised by these patterns of events?

What trends do you think might unfold in the coming years in the perceived
connection between environmental justice
and climate change?

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