Mainstream Approaches to Climate Change: Why They Are Too Little, Too Late

Climate change and environmental degradation are contemporary worldwide concerns that have significantly affected human life. These changes can take decades to millions of years and, in the end, have disastrous consequences. As a result of risky activities such as burning fossil fuels and improper waste disposal, there have been substantial fluctuations in global temperatures and environmental conditions. Several measures aimed at recovering the situation and overcoming climate change and environmental deterioration have been developed in response. In this context, initiatives such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the growth of greentocracy movements have been in place as remedy strategies. Technical strategies have been at the forefront of data gathering, monitoring, and interpreting climatic and environmental issues. Despite these attempts, climatic changes and environmental challenges are cumulative, which renders the intervention techniques ineffective. In that case, the deteriorating climate and ecosystem conditions have continued to ravage human life irrespective of approaches that have been in place to restore the conditions to normalcy.

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Background Information

Climate change and environmental degradation are a consequence of the economic activity of nations worldwide. In this situation, when a country’s wealth increases, its consumption and emissions likewise increase (Newell, 2019). It also indicates that global emissions that would cause climate change are unequal. In other words, the political economy is a problem that resides within the purview of larger economies with more fossil fuel businesses. Considering this paradigm, it becomes even more challenging to address the issues of climate change and environmental degradation (Nordhaus, 2019). In addition, the development of industrial operations compels businesses to continue protecting their interests and disregard the adoption of greener technologies. Climatic changes and environmental degradation have been intertwined with economic growth, which has been the main priority of nations worldwide.

A critical outlook on climate change and environmental degradation show that it will take a considerable time for people to notice climate change and ecological deterioration.

In addition, the response efforts demonstrate that most existing techniques pay great attention to abstracts and disregard the particulars of climate change and environmental deterioration. In most cases, humans are hardwired to respond to the most obvious risks in their environment so that the methods in place have minimal impact on the final result (Peng et al., 2021). Moreover, it is evident that the future of climate change and environmental degradation is more unclear and that interventions are focused on the present (Chien et al., 2021). It has also been advocated that some climatic changes and environmental deterioration occur outside human influence; the response gets slower after this point. For that reason, people have a limited scope when implementing the mainstream techniques hence responses to climatic changes and environmental degradation take a considerably long time.

The connection between mainstream approaches to tackling climate change and environmental degradation has found acknowledgment in scientific, policy, and legal contexts. However, contemporary techniques have provided little to no support based on the debilitating consequences of climatic change and environmental degradation on human growth (Singh et al., 2020). Since the inception of several of these climatic and ecological management tactics, droughts, floods, and irregular rainfall patterns have increased. Unexpectedly, the situation has worsened despite efforts such as policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Therefore the advancement of the strategies for climatic changes and environmental degradation has fueled the development of scientific, policy, and legal processes as an intervention approach.

Policy Approach

The Kyoto Protocol is a classic example of a policy enacted to promote global emissions reduction. The agreement aimed to establish binding emission targets in the industrialized world, particularly among EU members (Kim et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2019). The joint agreement’s goal was to reduce emissions by at least 8% among member states (Wang et al., 2019). Although the deal targeted EU countries that produced at least 10% of global emissions, it excluded the two rapidly-growing economies, China and the United States (The Conversion Africe, Inc., 2022). Rather than improving global climatic conditions, climate change and environmental deterioration are now unavoidable. In this scenario, the failure to reach an international consensus during the formulation of the Kyoto protocol renders the initial aim of managing climatic and environmental conditions unattainable.

The global economy will continue to expand, and the Kyoto agreement has failed to manage the emissions resulting from global industrialization. The forecasts are uncertain; the initial projections during the agreement will fluctuate significantly over time as other sectors continue growing in rising economies (Grainger & Kim, 2020). In the future, it will be apparent that the estimates were based on generalizations, as the variability of the fastest-growing economies, such as China and the United States, remained unknown (The Conversion Africe, Inc., 2022). It also indicates that the Kyoto Protocol will fail despite the best-laid intentions to combat climate change and environmental deterioration because of the lack of inclusivity of larger economies. In that case, the climatic and environmental control agreement (Kyoto protocol) has minimal to no effect on addressing climate change and ecological degradation.

Additionally, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a pioneering UN organization that has long monitored global warming due to increased greenhouse gas levels caused by human emissions and activities. The agreement was established when countries collaborated with a variety of parties to address issues regarding climatic changes and environmental degradation (Chen et al., 2018). The parties acknowledged the need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, which have significantly contributed to climatic changes and environmental deterioration. In essence, IPCC generates evaluation reports on socioeconomic, technical, and scientific knowledge about future implications of climatic changes (Cointe et al., 2019). Consequently, the assessment reports contribute to developing greenhouse gas inventories, a crucial strategy for tackling global climatic and environmental changes. Thus, the IPCC plays a central role in providing scientific reports on climatic and environmental changes, which consequently assist in initiating various interventions.

The IPCC has been under scrutiny for its distortion of climate change, even though it has been delivering accurate information on climate change. There are several claims that most reports have not received timely and significant responses, which makes them fall behind current climatic changes (Lahsen & Ribot, 2022). With the recent advances in suppressing critical information, it is evident that the IPCC cannot fulfill its responsibilities regarding the severity of climate change and environmental destruction (Lahsen & Ribot, 2022). Moreover, the reports do not receive the necessary interventions, which indicates that the attempts to address the report’s findings are relatively little concerning the rates of climate change. Some UN members, for instance, lack the resources necessary to combat the causes of climate change and environmental degradation, rendering IPCC’s services ineffective. In that case, the climatic changes lack the essential response that would contribute to constructing a sustainable global climate and environment.

Digital Technology Approach

In addition to conventional methods, digital technologies significantly assist in combating climate change and environmental degradation. These solutions have a more practical approach to helping nations and people adjust to practices that reduce the dangers of environmental degradation and climatic change (George et al., 2021). For instance, technology facilitates the monitoring, interpreting, and comprehending of climate change and environmental degradation. Consequently, people can have more accurate forecasts, which aids in tackling some of the difficulties linked with climate change and environmental deterioration. Technologies also provide options for alleviating climatic and environmental challenges, thereby accelerating achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and numerous global climate targets (George et al., 2021). Additionally, sufficient data sets on climate change are provided, ensuring that crucial decision-making processes are in place. These technology efforts have played a vital part in aiding policymakers in making informed decisions, which aids in achieving sustainable adaptation requirements to climate change.

Although technology has significantly impacted tackling climatic and environmental concerns, it is the most negligible sustainable factor on a bigger scale. The strategies have minimal impact on reversing environmental and climatic damage due to more requirements at the initial stages (Ferreira et al., 2020). For example, technological advancements in climate monitoring have prompted the development of numerous data centers, accompanied by an increase in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, despite the digital world’s efforts to recycle technological devices, the problem of e-waste is on the rise. Because e-waste concentration is a cumulative issue, the overall impact will diminish regardless of technological advancements in environmental management. Additionally, technology increases the demand for electricity generated from coal and fossil fuels. Technology improvement will lead to an increase in electricity demand, which significantly influences the climate and environment.

Given the current global climate and environmental situation, authorities use digital technology to enhance the transition from fossil fuels to an essential strategy. These measures will unquestionably cost individuals their employment and impact the firm’s ability to realize their benefits (Muttitt & Kartha, 2020; Hickel & Kallis, 2020). However, the advantages of these adjustments will be slower due to the companies’ failures to reduce emissions. It indicates that the success of these initiatives will take years to achieve. Governments are also in a difficult situation because they impose measures, putting them in an awkward position to implement technologies with minimal returns. With time changes, Climatic and environmental conditions are significantly worse than the moves away from fossil fuels as solutions. Likewise, governments and authorities know they cannot accomplish more than their current tactics. With the rising challenges and the development of climate border strategies, there are complicated questions that the dominant approaches fail to address.

Analysis

Notably, despite the rationality of global policy methods such as the Kyoto Protocol and the IPCC, climate change and environmental degradation demand a collective action strategy. For instance, particular nations have no interest in managing climatic changes even though other economies are focused on leadership (Abbass et al., 2022. The total impact of such interventions will be minimal at best. Furthermore, few nations’ efforts are to facilitate climatic conditions and the environment, suggesting they will waste resources and time. Long-term climatic changes and environmental degradation will deteriorate owing to the acts of countries that do not actively participate in climate and environmental management. Approaching the collective problem in isolation, regardless of the soundness of the plans, has generally failed to address global climatic change and ecological degradation due to the rational nature of the policies.

Implementing policies to address climate change and environmental degradation is likely to take longer than anticipated to achieve the desired results. Climate change and ecological deterioration were visible during the creation of regulations such as the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 (Whyte, 2020). It would be difficult to make accurate predictions for a decade or even a century because some economies change while others adopt new policies slowly (Meerow et al., 2019). The problem with climate change and environmental degradation management programs is that they are cumulative. It indicates that the longer the implementation takes, the worse the difficulties develop and the more difficult they become to overcome. For that reason, structuring the environmental policies produces a feedback loop that will make it difficult to create solutions for managing climate change and ecological deterioration in the modern world.

Greentocracy is one of the contemporary ways to promote the restoration of the earth’s health. The strategy is characterized by imposing significant limits on society, particularly in regions with extreme weather conditions (Booth, 2019). Some of the world’s most influential economies, such as the United States and China, have been at the forefront of turning these accords into laws to combat climate change and environmental degradation (Booth, 2019). Most governments employ the gerontocracy strategy when addressing climate change and ecological deterioration, although it is an authoritarian measure. The administrations believe a healthy environment will unquestionably lead to greater prosperity among the nation’s communities. While a healthy planet is crucial for the well-being of society, greentocracy has failed to meet its intended goals in tackling the global climate and instead has increased social separation and discontent.

Some of the greentocracy’s goals come at an increased cost to society. For example, it requires limits on eating, travel, and residence. These abrupt and harsh changes have resulted in insurgence, making achieving some goals more difficult (Curator, 2020). For instance, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations have implemented gerontocracy and successfully moved away from oil-based fuels; others have yet to do so (Curator, 2020).  Other countries struggle to implement the strategy and are still stuck with fossil fuel assets, which slows the efforts of other nations. In contrast, greentocracy has led to the development of Surrogate Pseudo-Proteins (SPPs) due to the lack of protein sources and acreage for nature. Apparently, instead of the greentocracy approach reviving climatic changes and environmental degradation, it has complicated society’s life while offering few remedies.

On the other hand, technology solutions to climate change containment are insufficient and inadequate. Since the same technologies are also the primary contributors to waste, the existing technological tactics have minimal effect on the market (Prasanna et al., 2022; Agovino et al., 2019). E-waste is a pervasive air and water pollutant, meaning that the few strategies in place have little impact on restoring the deteriorating climate and environment. Alternatively, most technological advancements to address the current climatic conditions and environmental deterioration required extensive design and development time before reaching the market. With the sluggish adoption of technologies as climatic change remedies, it is possible that obsolete technologies will be in the market and will not address climate and environmental problems.

The adoption of technological solutions to reduce emissions takes time. Such a pattern is typical of energy-related initiatives that will undergo extensive testing between the incubation and implementation periods (Myeong & Shahzad, 2021; Surana et al., 2020). In this situation, authorities must simultaneously look for funding and address technologically-driven difficulties, which makes technological approaches challenging to implement. In the worst-case scenario, they can purchase patents for specific inventions that render their efforts ineffective. A comprehensive examination of these tactics reveals that the optimal method for developing clear technology ideas that provide a faster return on investment, particularly during the incubation period, remains uncertain. Additionally, practical technological breakthroughs in controlling climatic conditions and environmental degradation necessitate that investors have a clear and prompt grasp of the level of climatic and ecological damage.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the mainstream approaches to addressing climatic changes and environmental degradation fall short in climatic and environmental restoration. For example, programs such as the Kyoto Protocol are behind schedule, given the current climate and environmental conditions. The policy cannot address current challenges such as global warming, flooding, and wildfires. Secondly, because climate change and environmental degradation are cumulative, IPCC reports fail to detail their precise status, giving a false state of the phenomena. Over time, the imposition of gerontocracy has proven challenging to implement and insufficient to address. Even though climate change and environmental degradation are global challenges, not all nations actively participate in the implementation of greentocracy. Regarding tackling climatic and environmental challenges, the technology approach is ineffective because it requires more time in the incubation phase before reaching the market. In that case, at that time, the technology will be at the implementation stage, climatic and environmental conditions would have changed, and solutions would be far from reach.

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