Rethinking Strategies
Featured Climate Change and COVID-19: Lessons from the Pandemic for Ameliorating the Effects of Climate Change View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gary Wilson
It is increasingly accepted that climate change constitutes a threat to international peace and security, which derives from the manner in which its effects operate and interact with other triggers which endanger global stability. However, notwithstanding its otherwise harsh consequences for human mortality and health, as well as broader economic, social and cultural indicators, an inadvertent outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic has been to see a positive shift in respect of some of the factors which mitigate the worse effects of climate change. These have essentially arisen as a result of restrictive measures introduced by governments, and ensuing changes seen in working and social practices more generally. With reference to published official data, this paper attempts to draw lessons from developments to have taken place during the pandemic to consider how these might inform longer term efforts to mitigate the causes and effects of climate change. Whilst it is acknowledged that the gradual return to relative normality will inevitably mean that many measures which indirectly contributed towards positive gains in the fight against climate change will need to be removed, it will nonetheless be argued that experiences during the period of the pandemic have served to demonstrate that some things can be done differently with relative ease while carrying positive environmental effects. The key issue to address moving forward is to determine how some of these experiences can serve to inform the creation of a blueprint for societal change.
Ubuntu as a Social Response to the Burden of Climate Change View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gabriel Ayayia
I argue that Ubuntu as a philosophy that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living things and importance of community and mutual support, can be used as a social framework to address the problems of climate change and promote environmental sustainability. I demonstrate that Ubuntu is an ideological concept that encourages collective action on climate change, with the emphasis on individual and collective commitment to taking concrete action to address the problems of climate change. Etymologically, the term "Ubuntu" is from the Bantu languages of southern Africa, which is frequently translated as "humanity" or "human kindness. It is based on the knowledge that an individual's well-being is inseparably linked to the well-being of the community as a whole. Thus, the work would show that Ubuntu can be employed as a social tool that would enhance the cultivation of shared identity and promote the sense of shared response responsibility to develop the resilience to cope with climate change. The study demonstrates the imperative of mutual support and cooperation through the lens of Ubuntu as a human-centered scalable response to the debacle of climate change. I use analytical, critical, and evaluative tools in addressing the topic.
