Preface: The Anthropocene is the year that Crutzen and Stolmer hypothesized that the Anthropocene began in 1784, the year James Watt invented the steam engine. Their study shows that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have increased since this approximate date.
2015 later asserted the idea more strongly, claiming that 1945 rather than 1784 was the real beginning of the era.
However, the theory is not without critics. Back in 2003, Radiman proposed the "Early Anthropocene hypothesis," proposing that the emergence of not modern industry but agriculture contributed to the level of change in CH4 and CO2, and therefore in Earth's climate. According to this view, the Anthropocene does not represent a new geological epoch at all, but rather "coexists with the Holocene."
Proponents of the Early Anthropocene acknowledge the modern acceleration, but see it as part of a longer-term, more gradual trend. A phased model has even been proposed to explain human development more fully, with the earliest stages dating back 2 million years, when primitive humans first used fire, and the development of agriculture and the Industrial Revolution marking other stages.
These contrasting views of the Anthropocene exist mainly because in defining it, we are "reading what has not yet been written" – that is, imagining how they will view the current era from the perspective of scientists in the distant future. It is impossible to reliably say how our distant descendants will portray the Anthropocene. But what is clear is that wherever the dividing line is, development is accelerating at an unprecedented rate.
I. History of optical materials
While the United States continues to lag behind in climate change education and broad consensus on humanity's role in it, the rest of the world has taken action. In November 1988, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which remains the driving force behind international climate negotiations.
After several years of negotiations and UN meetings, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted at United Nations Headquarters in New York and at this meeting the Berlin mandate was established to lay the groundwork for commitments by developing countries.
The first major outcome of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change took place at its Third Assembly. However, it took several years for the outline of these emissions targets to translate into concrete practices and operating rules. The resolution argues that the agreement fails to require developing countries to reduce emissions and raises concerns about damage.
Discussions on mitigation and adaptation finance at Optical Materials15 also led the Green Climate Fund to support mitigation-related projects and set a global target of mobilizing $100 billion annually for developing countries to reduce carbon emissions by 2020.
At Optical Materials 18 in Doha, Qatar, in 2012, the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol established a second commitment period, extending it to 2020 and setting 2015 as the date for the development of the successor document. Subsequent optical materials, notably Optical Materials 20 in Lima, Peru, laid the foundation for Optical Materials 21, held in Paris, France, in December 2015.
2. Paris Agreement
In 2014, expectations for Lima Optical Materials 20 were low due to a treaty reached at the previous Optical Materials 21 conference in Paris, France.
Instead, Optical Material 20 aims to set the framework for negotiations one year later, form the elements of an agreement text, and make progress on the loss and damage regime. Optical Material 20 reluctantly adopted a text, and negotiations continued for a day after the meeting was originally scheduled to end.
In addition, in a similar reaction to the previous copper oxygen-binding protein, many described the result as "kicking the can down." "The agreement reached is only the minimum needed to maintain a year, and most decisions on Optical Materials 21 and the Paris Agreement have been postponed to future meetings in early 2015. Among these key decisions are the controversial issue of common but differentiated responsibilities and differences on how rich and poor countries should share emission reductions.
Based on proposed nationally determined contributions, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change estimates that global per capita emissions will be reduced by 8% by 2025 and 9% by 2030. However, while the NDC is far more ambitious than previous commitments, it will still result in a temperature rise of about 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2100 (well above the previous 2 degrees Celsius baseline in Copenhagen).
Other independent analyses using various methods have also estimated temperature changes of about 3°C. So in Paris, delegates and party representatives were working to bridge the gap between NDCs and the expected outcome of keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. Since the International Nuclear Data Commissions are already ambitious and will face challenges when trying to ask for more countries,
Climate change accounts for 99 per cent of casualties (deaths) in developing countries. At the same time, the world's 50 lagging behind developed countries account for only 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions due to global warming.
3. Poverty
Global poverty levels have continued to decline significantly over the past century, from 44 percent in 1981 to 12.7 percent in 2012. At the higher poverty line, however, progress has been much slower. Similarly, while poverty rates have declined in all regions of the world, progress has been uneven. In 2012, about 77.8% of the world's "extreme poor" lived in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
In recent years, climate change has become a relatively new challenge to global poverty eradication. World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim went so far as to say, "If we don't address climate change, we will never end poverty." "Unstable and more extreme weather patterns, including but not limited to rising sea levels, tropical cyclones, heat waves and floods, are having a significant impact on human well-being, especially among rural populations.
According to the World Bank, climate change is likely to reduce agricultural productivity, especially in the tropics. As many poorer countries become more dependent on agriculture and climate-sensitive natural resources, climate variability increases, including more frequent and erratic extreme weather.
Attitudes towards climate change
As mentioned earlier, it is valuable to take into account the uneven distribution of the devastating effects of climate change. Countries with lower CO2 emissions, mainly in Africa and Asia, tend to have higher climate change concerns. In the United States, because its concern is disproportionately low, it is necessary to examine more closely the wide differences in attitudes towards climate change.
In 2009, the Yale Climate Change Communication Program conducted an audience segmentation analysis study that looked at the "six Americas" of global warming. The survey showed that the six viewers ranked most concerned about climate change to least concerned about climate change: vigilant (18%), concerned (33%), cautious (19%), non-engaged (12%), skeptical (11%) and dismissive (7%).
People who "care", while recognizing the magnitude of the problem and supporting the national response, are unlikely to be personally involved in the problem. "Cautious" people may see climate change as a problem, but not as a threat large enough to deal with it personally.
"Detachment" is the audience most likely to change their minds, who have barely thought about it and do not know much about the topic. "Duspicious" is mostly made up of individuals who do believe global warming is occurring, but attribute it to natural causes, claim it won't harm them, and believe the U.S. has done enough to deal with the threat. Finally, the "dismissive" are convinced that global warming is not happening and is not a problem that requires a national response.
These and other similar studies show that there are wide variations in international and even in single countries such as the United States. But overall, it is worth noting that over the past decade, awareness and concern about climate change has generally increased worldwide as the negative impacts of climate change have increased.
One mechanism that is extremely important in addressing climate change and offsetting future greenhouse gas emissions is renewable energy. As highlighted by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, energy is also an important component of economic development and poverty reduction. To effectively balance these goals of ending energy poverty and promoting sustainable development, renewable energy must be used.
Over the past few decades, the energy needs of the poor in developing countries have been met mainly by petroleum-based liquid fuels and the expansion of grids, fueled mainly by fossil fuels and hydropower, largely due to government subsidies and the widespread availability of these resources worldwide.
While this is sufficient in more developed areas, it still excludes people in remote areas and even urban slums due to high costs or inaccessibility. It is also important to note that most of the fossil fuels and technologies used in these developing countries are imported.
The argument for renewable energy is supported in practice. In rural areas, traditional grid expansion is neither practical nor economical. Research by the International Energy Agency shows that renewable energy technologies in developing countries, while reducing CO2 emissions at the same rate as developed countries, actually have lower associated costs due to their cost competitiveness in the decentralized energy sector.
These technologies could also provide reliable energy access to some 1.5 billion people in rural and developing areas without traditional grid access. In addition, renewable technologies can provide energy for activities such as cooking, heating and lighting, thereby indirectly contributing to poverty alleviation and raising living standards.
This, in turn, contributes to higher levels of education, reduced health risks, and other positive benefits for local communities. The positive impact of the use of renewable energy technologies in developing countries can be seen in Bangladesh, which was previously highlighted as the world's most vulnerable country to climate change and a leader in climate change adaptation and mitigation practices. In 2007, an estimated 40 per cent of the country's population did not have access to electricity.
With support from the World Bank, the government launched the Solar Home System project to provide electricity to homes without grid access. Since 2009, more than 50,000 new systems have been added every month, reaching 3 million in 2014 and expected to reach 6 million by 2017. Thanks to the SHS scheme, the Bangladesh government is working to achieve universal access to electricity by 2017, just a decade after the project was first proposed.
In order to make effective use of renewable energy, especially in developing countries, subsidies must first be switched from fossil fuels to renewable technologies. In particular, in order to maximize the benefits to local communities, plans should focus on small-scale off-grid projects in less developed rural areas.
In addition, as previously emphasized for all adaptation and mitigation practices, there is a need not only to exchange financial capital, but also to share technical information to accelerate the diffusion of renewable energy technologies, especially in developing countries where such knowledge may be limited or non-existent. Therefore, a significant amount of time and money needs to be invested specifically in the development, transfer and education of this technology.
Fifth, potential solutions
The impacts of climate change are often difficult to assess, so while many strategies have been proposed (and some have been adopted), it remains a challenging problem. One challenging approach to climate change highlighted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is sequential decision-making.
The strategy recognizes that any decision on climate change will be based on incomplete data, especially on long-term impacts.
Historically, while this has been implemented in many countries around the world, it has been resisted by many of the world's largest emitters, including the United States, Russia and China. In addition to creating incentives for energy savings, a carbon tax could make it difficult for renewables such as solar or geothermal to develop binding agreements in the Paris Agreement, which is unlikely to materialize.
Alternatively, another insurance strategy is to trade "risky securities" between countries, a practice akin to betting on specific climate outcomes. Ideally, this would lead to a fairer distribution of climate change risks and could provide an honest check to understand a country's true perception of climate change. For example, countries that believe that climate change risks are lower are more likely to hold securities to address these risks.
6. Conclusion
In short, climate change is a global problem, largely due to the actions of developed countries. This has led to some progress, particularly in funding climate-related adaptation and mitigation measures, but much remains to be done.
When considering global policy solutions, future work must take into account the inequalities between those who cause climate change and those affected by it. In addition, there is an exchange not only of financial capital, but also of ideas, leadership and new technologies in order to simultaneously address global climate change and poverty.
The author thinks
1. Shabekov, "Philip": "Global warming has begun, experts told the Senate. The New York Times, June 23, 1988.
2. Dolan, Peter, "Examining the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change"; American Geophysical Union, 20 January 2009.
3. Shepherd, "Paris Climate Agreement: Why 2 degrees Celsius? Forbes Magazine, December 13, 2015.