CLIMATE CHANGE DISCUSSION- Instructions
Climate Change is arguably the largest scale, most profound conflict of all time.
The issue of climate change is of course rife with conflict and debate on many levels –
Whether climate change even exists and is real Who is responsible and for what
Whether and how to regulate
‘Climate justice’
Economic impact
Medical/health issues
Issues of international relations and security
And on and on and on
Against this backdrop, we want to focus the discussion on these questions:
- What is the social role of conflict as it relates to the issue of climate change? What are the possible opportunities embedded in the problem?
- What are the different types of power involved?
- What would a socially constructive dialog look like? In your opinion, has there been a constructive dialog? How could the dialog be improved?
Groundrules
Our purpose is to discuss this from the vantage point of professional mediators, i.e., without taking sides. We request that this forum NOT be used to debate substantive climate change issues, or engaging in problem solving, tempting as all that may be. We are not interested in who is “right” and who is “wrong.” We are interested in how we can take what we know as conflict resolution professionals and apply it in ways that will make a difference in the world. Please self-enforce!
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by ADRhub.com - Creighton NCR on
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Thank you Norris-
To Werner Students, please post your intitial posts as a separate theread- NOT as a reply to this thread, thanks! -
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Permalink Reply by Allison Powell Sharpe on
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The social role of conflict as it relates to this issue of climate change will lie in how seriously different parties take this issue. For many years, we've had the "tree huggers" who have tried to bring awareness to this issue while many others see it as not convenient (to crib Al Gore) or not specifically their problem. I think this is confounded by the fact that no one really knows what the end result of this crisis will be because no one has ever experienced it. Even with all the data and graphs and charts presented to us, we do not have a frame of reference for what the world will be like after another one hundred years of our current trajectory. Both sides have their positions and interests; hopefully a shared interest is continued life on earth. It is the positions of what is reasonably attainable that will drive the conflict on this issue.
"Many conflict resolvers have not looked at the world through conflict-colored glasses" (Cloke, 9). This is where the opportunity lies as once we take this view on the conflict, conflict resolution systems design can get its foot in the door to help make radical changes to the different parties' mindsets.
The major challenge is formal authority in the forms of governments, beaurocracy and big industry versus the more grassroots organizations that may have great ideas but have a hard time being heard. For instance, in the recent spill in the Gulf, there were hundreds of companies offering many inovative solutions for the various problems related to the oil spill but many complained that the beaurocracy wasted time and it was difficult to get to the real decision maker. Once the decision maker was reached, more issues of power come into play and more conflicts develop. In the meantime, the oil was still gushing and the problem was getting worse and worse.
I like Ken's suggestion from the You Tube interview of turning the discussion "90 degrees" and by using many mediators to help facilitate even very large conferences with thousands of participants. Using all the most basic techniques of reframing, clarifying questions, open ended questions, and the power of silence, this could help participants gain necessary understanding of the other side(s), even if they cannot ultimately agree. Having that "go between" would also help keep discussions on track, especially if time is of the essence, and mutually agreed ground rules might help engender respect where little or none had existed before. It is a very exciting idea.
Bibliography
Cloke, Ken. Conflict Revolution. 2010. -
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