2:10 - 4:00
Thursday November 1, 2007
Classroom C - Flavelle House
78 Queen's Park
Climate change is all about inequality: in who has caused the problem, in who is suffering worst and first from the consequences, and in who is doing something about it. Below that injustice lies discontent over global inequality in wealth, which dampens cooperative efforts and requires striking a new global bargain that combines environmental protection, development and trade. In this talk, Professor Roberts will consider climate inequality from the perspective of world-system theory, reporting results from his new book "A Climate of Injustice: Global Inequality, North-South Politics, and Climate Policy" (2007, MIT Press, co-authored with Bradley Parks). The presentation documents new measures of fatalities and homelessness from climate disasters, systematizes data on "emissions inequality," and develops explanations of rates of participation in environmental treaties. The work reveals the importance of how nations are incorporated into the global economy, and suggests what steps will be needed to improve their situations and their willingness to address climate change. The workshop will conclude with reflections on whether foreign assistance (aid) can serve as compensation for damages due to climate change.
J. Timmons Roberts is Professor of Sociology and Interim Director of the Program in Environmental Science and Policy at the College of William and Mary, USA. He completed his PhD at Johns Hopkins University in 1992 and taught for ten years at Tulane University in New Orleans. During 2006-2007 he was James Martin Research Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His books include "The Globalization and Development Reader (2000, 2007, Blackwell Publishers, with Amy Hite), "Chronicles from the Environmental Justice Frontlines" (2001, Cambridge University Press, with Melissa Toffolon-Weiss), "Trouble in Paradise: Globalization and Environmental Crises in Latin America" (2003, Routledge Publishers, with Nikki Thanos), and "Greening Aid?" (forthcoming 2008, Oxford University Press, with three colleagues). His current work concerns foreign aid's role in addressing the impacts and causes of climate change.
For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca
