Leading green criminologist Rob White asks what can be learned from the problem-solving focus of crime prevention to help face the challenges of climate change in this call to arms for criminology and criminologists.
Industries such as energy, food and tourism and the systematic destruction of the environment through global capitalism are scrutinized for their contribution to global warming. Ideas of ‘state-corporate crime’ and ‘ecocide’ are introduced and explored in this concise overview of criminological writings on climate change. This sound and robust application of theoretical concepts to this ‘new’ area also includes commentary on topical issues such as the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate agreement.
Part of the New Horizons in Criminology series, which draws on the inter-disciplinary nature of criminology and incorporates emerging perspectives like social harm, gender and sexuality, and green criminology.
Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Climate change is the main challenge facing developed countries in the 21st century. To what extent does this agenda converge with issues of poverty and social exclusion? Climate change and poverty offers a timely new perspective on the ‘ecosocial’ understanding of the causes and symptoms of, and solutions to, poverty and applies this to recent developments across a number of areas, including fuel poverty, food poverty, housing, transport and air pollution. Unlike any other publication, the book therefore establishes a new agenda for both environmental and social policies which has cross-national relevance. It will appeal to students in social policy, public policy, applied social studies and politics and will also be of interest to those studying international development, economics and geography
1 ONE Climate change and criminology Introduction This book is the first to describe its subject matter as Climate Change Criminology. As part of this, it brings together existing research and scholarship on climate change from a criminological perspective, while forging a blueprint for further work in this area. In terms of overall orientation, the project reflects a critical criminology perspective since its approach places power and social interests at the centre of the analysis. Issues of social and ecological justice, and inequality, feature highly
79 FIVE Climate change victims Introduction Social division features greatly in any discussion of climate change justice and victimisation. It is the disadvantaged (those living in poverty), the vulnerable (the very young and the very old) and the dispossessed (Indigenous peoples subjected to colonisation) who are most likely to suffer the worst effects of global warming. These divisions are overlaid by entrenched disparities based upon class division, gender differences and inequalities based upon ‘race’ (a social rather than biological construction) and
179 ELEVEN Energy and climate change Introduction This chapter considers the nature of global climate change, the threat it poses to Hong Kong, the contribution that Hong Kong and China make to the problem, and some of the implications of these factors for sustainable development, and especially sustainable energy, in Hong Kong (see Harris, Chow and Symons 2010). There is no doubt that China plays a vital role in the context of climate change. China’s energy demand has increased rapidly over the last three decades. As a consequence, it has become the
315 19 Farming and climate change Rob White and Jasmine Yeates Introduction Global temperatures are changing quickly, and it is human activity that is the main cause (IPCC, 2013, 2014). This is part of a longer- term and rapidly acce lerating trend toward even greater warming. Farming practices are implicated in both mitigation (stopping and/or curbing of the drivers of climate change) and adaptation (adjusting to the impacts of climate change) in regards to global warming. Indeed, farming of various kinds (that include non-food purposes) and food
ontologies of climate change – how people see the relationship between themselves, others and the changing climate – play an important role in mitigation, adaptation and willingness to assume responsibility for environmental stewardship. In this chapter, we examine contrasting moral readings of climate change, considering how urban residents’ perceptions of climate change in terms of its remoteness or proximity are interwoven with beliefs about the blameworthiness of local and global actors, individual efficacy and personal agency (Jamieson, 2010 ). The extent to which
139 EIGHT Criminological responses to climate change Introduction This chapter provides a short conclusion to this book by summarising the main propositions and areas of concern for Climate Change Criminology. The chapter emphasises the role of criminologists as public intellectuals and political activists, and the necessity that there be stewards and guardians of the future. This translates into prioritising research, policy and practice around climate change themes – so that we collectively address the key problem of this age, flowing into the future
The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development makes climate change and responsible consumption key priorities for both industrialized and emerging economies. Moving beyond the Global North, this book uses innovative cross-national and cross-generational research with urban residents in China and Uganda, as well as the UK, to illuminate international debates about building sustainable societies and to examine how different cultures think about past, present and future responsibility for climate change.
The authors explore to what extent different nations see climate change as a domestic issue, whilst looking at local explanatory and blame narratives to consider profound questions of justice between those nations that are more and less responsible for, and vulnerable to, climate change.
Drawing on practices and theories of environmental justice, ‘China’s responsibility for climate change’ describes China’s contribution to global warming and analyzes its policy responses. Contributors critically examine China’s practical and ethical responsibilities to climate change from a variety of perspectives. They explore policies that could mitigate China’s environmental impact while promoting its own interests and meeting the international community’s expectations. The book is accessible to a wide readership, including academics, policy makers and activists.
All royalties from sales of this book will be donated to Friends of the Earth.
