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Select one of the two questions randomly generated at the beginning of class.  Write a well-organized, direct response to the question.

 

1. Select from the list of global problems (e.g., population, global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation, energy)  that which is the most serious and that which is least serious?  Justify your selection (e.g., What makes it different from the other problems?). Which problem is most likely and which problem is the least likely to be resolved?  Why?

 

2. Respond to the following statement: "Of all the concepts created in the last 40 years, sustainable development is, for a variety of reasons, the most crucial concept for the long term solution of most global environmental problems."  Defend your response and be sure to respond to counter arguments. 

 

3. Numerous authors comment on the extensive list of actors involved in global environmental governance: states, IGOs, NGOs, MNEs.  On the one hand efforts to create a supra-national World Environmental Organization (see question 5) must address the challenge of effectively including these diverse actors in a single organization.  On the other hand, authors such as Peter Hass propose a decentralized multi-level governance system where the functions of government would be divided among these actors.  Relying on the record of the last 30 years, identify the key functions of global environmental governance, then evaluate the ability of each type of actor to perform each function.

 

4. Evaluate the potential of soft laws, hard laws, and regimes as useful mechanisms for solving or at least ameliorating global environmental problems.   Which is the most promising mechanism for progress and which is the least promising mechanism? Your evaluation should note the range of governance functions that need to be performed.

 

5. Respond critically to the following. "The ineffectiveness of the current global governance system and fundamental disconnect between (a) truly global environmental problems, such as protecting the commons and global warming, and (b) the decentralized nature of the international political system, mean that environmental problems will not be resolved until an authoritative world government is created, or at least a supra-national World Environmental Organization." 

 

6. The year is 2038 and you are starting your 6th decade on planet earth, you and the other 11 billion inhabitants of this over crowded world.  Describe the existing state of global environmental problems, and the global governance system.   Have either changed since 2008 and if so, how?  What accounts for the changes that have taken place.  Explain.