Hverjum er ekki sama um neyðarástand í loftslagsmálum?

Stefan Gaardsmand Jacobsen, lektor við alþjóðsagnfræðideild Háskólans í Hróarskeldu, flytur fyrirlestur á vegum Heimspekistofnunar sem hann nefnir Hverjum er ekki sama um neyðarástand í loftslagsmálum, eða “Who cares about climate emergency?”

Umfjöllunarefnið er yfirlýsing stjórnvalda um neyðarástand í loftslagsmálum og afstaða félagasamtaka til þeirra. Lýsing á fyrirlestri:

“By early August 2019, over 900 political jurisdictions globally, including governments or parliaments of 18 countries, have declared a climate emergency. This includes the Argentinian Senate, the British Parliament, Ireland, the council of Paris and NYC (CEM 2019). The rise of climate emergency declarations have happened within 3 years and have increased rapidly in 2019. Representing over 200 million people totally, these very different political bodies in principle now have the opportunity of making extraordinary and fast-tracked decisions for climate protection. On the face of it, this could be seen as a victory for radical climate movements such as UK-based Extinction Rebellion and US-based Climate Mobilization who have demanded political declarations of climate emergency in recent years. No one knows, however, what the real consequences the declarations will be for climate protection or local politics more generally. Further, the recent debates in political theory have resulted in strong warnings against modern versions of a state of exception that enables governments to enlarge spheres of sovereignty and gradually strip citizens of democratic rights (Agamben 2005, Mann & Wainwright 2018). In this talk, I will outline a few possible lines of critique, discussing pivotal arguments for and against climate emergency politics. 

My approach will include an assessment of how urgency and tipping points are interpreted by social movements in favor of emergency declarations and why climate risks might force critical theorists of sovereignty to consider a corrective in ecological temporalities – how fast can and must societies act to change their mindset, infrastructure and ecological footprints in the face of the challenges posed? International researchers and research bodies (IPCC, IPBES continue to produce observations and assessments of both emergencies, remedies and deadlines. In this situation, social theorists, politicians and activists have an urgent task of updating their assumptions – both about political, social, ecological and temporary limits.”

Agamben, Giorgio. 2005. State of Exception. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wainwright, Joel, Geoff Mann. 2018. Climate Leviathan. London: Verso.

CEM – Climate Emergency Declaration. 2019.