Category Archives: JP Kiefer

The Dangers of Climate Change Denial

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by JP Kiefer

While conspiracy theories are relatively common and well-studied, very little research has been done investigating climate change conspiracy theories and their especially harmful nature. According to Douglas (2015), conspiracy theories tend to develop around global-scale events with enormous significance that individuals have trouble believing can be explained by mundane or ordinary details. Climate change fits this description perfectly, as science has shown that it is caused by small, common actions such as driving a car. Because of this, a number of climate change conspiracies have developed, such as that scientists have made up climate change for political reasons, to get research grants, or to help those who invested in green energy technology profit. Continue reading →

The Dangers of Climate Change Denial

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by JP Kiefer

While conspiracy theories are relatively common and well-studied, very little research has been done investigating climate change conspiracy theories and their especially harmful nature. According to Douglas (2015), conspiracy theories tend to develop around global-scale events with enormous significance that individuals have trouble believing can be explained by mundane or ordinary details. Climate change fits this description perfectly, as science has shown that it is caused by small, common actions such as driving a car. Because of this, a number of climate change conspiracies have developed, such as that scientists have made up climate change for political reasons, to get research grants, or to help those who invested in green energy technology profit. Continue reading →

The Responsibility to Regulate the Emissions of Our Airlines

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by JP Kiefer

The governing body responsible for regulating greenhouse gas emissions in aircraft, the International Civil Aviation Organization, has not passed any significant greenhouse gas regulation over the past fourteen years despite the industry’s contributions to climate change. Liu (2011), recognizes that there may be some technical reasons the ICAO has chosen not to do so, but ultimately states that the ICAO would be the proper organization to implement regulation if not for political issues within its leadership. Continue reading →

Pakistan’s Developing Economy in a Warming World

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by JP Kiefer

Despite contributing little to greenhouse gas emissions, the poorest countries and people will be negatively affected by climate change the earliest and most severely. This is due to an increased inability to adapt to changes in crop production, water resources, and human health. Akram and Hamid (2015) determined that Pakistan would be one of the countries hit hardest by climate change. Continue reading →

Can Religion Figure Out Whether We Should Use Geoengineering?

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by JP Kiefer

Clingerman and O’Brien (2014) believe that geoengineering has the potential to solve the disaster of climate change. Geoengineering is the process of changing the environment through any one of many diverse methods, like solar radiation management or fertilizing the ocean to create algae blooms as a means of combating climate change. Each of these methods has unintended side effects, but can be summarized as cheap, fast, and imperfect ways of reducing the effects of greenhouse gasses on the environment. Continue reading →

Climate Change Tourism: A Mere Luxury for the Rich?

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by JP Kiefer

The small archipelago nation of Tuvalu is home to 10,000 people likely to soon become climate refugees when their islands fall below sea level due to climate change. Tuvalu is attempting to take on an image of both victim and hero of climate change by becoming an extremely green chain of islands run by largely renewable sources of energy. It is able to take on this image with help from foreign aid and charities. Its people are also portrayed as model citizens without the issues of overconsumption and essentialized consumerism, though they fail in this in some ways. Tuvalu’s tourist board attributes these failures to an invading and corruptive imperial force. Overconsumption and essentialized consumerism are tied hand in hand with climate change, so by rejecting these values Tuvalu hopes to show that man’s carbon footprint truly can be reduced. Continue reading →