October 16, 2015 Post 7

“The saying ‘old wine in new bottles’ is widespread in Vietnam…” Pamela McElwee writes in her article from Climate Cultures. The topic for the week focuses on the inequality that correlates with development and what development looks like. As mentioned previously, McElwee focuses on Vietnam and the REDD+ policy that was to be put in place there. The wine bottle analogy refers to the policy, as it resembles previous, unsuccessful plans. Despite previous failure, the “new” policy would attempt limit/stop logging and pay governments and households the amount that would have been made from the destructive industry. This policy is not without its flaws. For example, where would the money come from and would the influx be consistent? And how would it be guaranteed that the amount made would equal profits that would have otherwise been made from logging? These along many others may be why doubt is left among the natives in reference to the plan.

            As Jessica Barnes highlighted in her article dealing with Egypt and their water crisis, climate policy is affected by scale and agency. In the case of the Egyptians, they are less likely to agree with the governmental policies put in place to prevent future climate change because they are being affected by the water shortage now. Why think of the future when you are looking to survive today? The same idea applies to the Vietnamese, in that they need the money and fuel made from logging today. They are not worried about what must happen to save the environment for the future when they are simply looking to make it through each day.

            Developed countries that create these climate policies are often removed from the problem and miss key beliefs held by the developing countries. We have gone through the industrialization that these developing nations hope to go through. We are now concerned with the future that we have damaged by establishing our power as a developed nation and are in turn preventing these other nations from gaining power in the same way. Hopefully this shines a light on why developing nations would be apt to reject these climate policies.

            Instead of focusing on what must be prevented with their implementation, perhaps climate policy could emphasize the benefits of renewable energy sources on the culture. If more of a focus was placed on getting developed nations to help the developing ones skip the fossil fuel stage and go straight to renewable energy sources, the benefits could be huge! The benefits would not only be climate related. Economies would thrive, children wouldn’t have to spend time mining coal and could go to school, and the overall health of the people could increase as well. A change in thinking when creating policy may be what is needed to finally connect with developing countries and change would be able to come about.