The Politics of the Final One Hundred Years of Humanity (2030-2130)

This book is the first book that looks at both the politics of maintaining the trajectory toward humanity’s final hundred years and the politics of those final hundred years. It is the first book to take up theoretical and practical aspects with respect to both the movement toward and events during these final hundred years. As a result, it is the first book that attempts to provide a more complete picture of the politics of catastrophic human-caused environment change. The fact that the book provides a way into the variety of policy problems that catastrophic human-caused environment change is creating means that it is also important to those in Public Policy. The book also raises a series of philosophical and ethical questions associated with human rights, which are significant to those who study Political Philosophy (and some of those who study Law), international action to mitigate the effects of climate change, the nature of science and the limitations of political institutions. Contents 6 Chapter 1: Introduction 9 Using Near Worst-Case Scenarios 13 Why Start from 2030? 14 Of Humanity 16 On Speculation 17 References 20 Chapter 2: The Politics of Science and the Science of Politics 22 Part One: Political Inaction 23 Part Two: The Politics of Science 25 Science and the Promise of Truth 25 The Ideal Scientist: Objectivity, Neutrality and Dispassion 26 Scientific Truth and Consensus 28 Part Three: The Science of Politics 33 A New Mode of Governance 34 The Science of Order (Ordering) 35 The Science of Politics and the Market 37 The Politics of Science, the Science of Politics and the IPCC 38 Politics of Science and the IPCC 40 The Science of Politics and the IPCC 43 Conclusion 45 References 45 Chapter 3: Ideology and the Inevitability of the Final One Hundred Years of Humanity 48 Because the Fundamental or Radical Changes Required to Address Catastrophic Human-Caused Environment Change Are Too Great for People to Accept (Conservatism) 53 Because the Problem of Catastrophic Human-Caused Environment Change Leading to the Final Hundred Years of Humanity is too Hard to Conceive (Scope) 55 Because the Change Required to Address the Problem of Catastrophic Human-Caused Environment Change is Too Much to Conceive (Scale) 56 Because Capitalism Seems Normal or Natural to Them and Political Action to Address Catastrophic Human-Caused Environment Change Is Not in Their Individual Interest (Selfish Individualism) 58 Because Political Action to Address Catastrophic Human-Caused Environment Change Threatens the Production-Projection of Identity Through Consumption (Consumerism) 61 Because They Have Been Brought Up to Believe in the End of the World, So Catastrophic Human-Caused Environment Change Is Not A Problem for Those in Positions of Political Power (Apocalypticism) 63 Because People in Countries of the Global South See Those in Countries of the Global North as Responsible for Catastrophic Human-Caused Environment Change (Postcolonialism) 65 Conclusion 69 References 69 Chapter 4: The Climate Change Denial Industry 72 Part One: Ignoring Science 76 Climate Scientists Are Not Skeptical About World Threatening Human-Caused Environment Change 76 But Enough People Are Skeptical About World Threatening Human-Caused Environment Change to Have Contributed to Inaction 78 Part Two: The Climate Change Denial Industry 80 Part Three: The Climate Change Denial Industry at the Beginning of the Final Hundred Years of Humanity 85 Conclusion 89 References 89 Chapter 5: National Adjustment 92 Part One: The Politics of Remaining 96 The Politics of Remaining I: Rights of Remaining? 98 The Politics of Remaining II: The Practicalities of Remaining? 101 The Politics of Paying for Remaining 104 Part Two: The Politics of Relocation 107 Establishing Rights in the Context of Forced Relocation Due to a Political Decision Not to Protect a Community 108 Compensating Those Who Already Occupy the Place to Which Others Are Moved 112 Conclusion 114 References 115 Chapter 6: Civil Wars and International Conflicts 118 Climate Wars 121 Civil Wars 123 International Resource Conflict 126 Water 128 Fish 129 Polar Conflict 132 Border Conflict 135 ‘Climate Change Refugees’ 136 Sinking Islands/Burning Lands 136 ‘Climate Change Refugees’? 138 Justifying Exclusion 142 Migrants/Refugees on the Borders 144 Conclusion 145 References 146 Chapter 7: The Politics of Desperate Measures 151 Part One: The Politics of Radical Population Reduction 154 The Politics of the ‘Problem’ of (Over)Population 155 The Politics of the ‘Who’ of Radical Population Reduction 158 The Politics of the ‘How’ of Radical Population Reduction 163 China’s One-Child Policy 167 Part Two: The Politics of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection 169 The Politics of Discussing Geoengineering 170 What Is SAI? 172 The Politics of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection 175 Research and Development 175 Provision 176 Monitoring and Assessment 176 Regulation 177 Maintenance 179 Compensation 179 Counter-Geoengineering – Weaponized SAI 180 Conclusion 180 References 181 Conclusion 186 This book will be the first book that looks at both the politics of maintaining the trajectory toward humanity's final hundred years and the politics of those final hundred years. It will be the first book to take up theoretical and practical aspects with respect to both the movement toward and events during these final hundred years. As a result, it will be the first book that attempts to provide a more complete picture of the politics of catastrophic human-caused environment change. The fact that the book provides a way into the variety of policy problems that catastrophic human-caused environment change is creating means that it is also important to those in Public Policy. The book also raises a series of philosophical and ethical questions associated with human rights, which are significant to those who study Political Philosophy (and some of those who study Law), international action to mitigate the effects of climate change, the nature of science and the limitations of political institutions. Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Ian Cook)....Pages 1-13 The Politics of Science and the Science of Politics (Ian Cook)....Pages 15-40 Ideology and the Inevitability of the Final One Hundred Years of Humanity (Ian Cook)....Pages 41-64 The Climate Change Denial Industry (Ian Cook)....Pages 65-84 National Adjustment (Ian Cook)....Pages 85-110 Civil Wars and International Conflicts (Ian Cook)....Pages 111-143 The Politics of Desperate Measures (Ian Cook)....Pages 145-179 Back Matter ....Pages 181-183