Beyond Borders: How to Turn the Tide of Environmental Destruction? | Lecture by environmental philosopher Marc Davidson and political scientist Daniel DeRock

Announcement

To stop climate change, who wouldn’t want that? The Netherlands, Europe, the UN and other international organizations are all preoccupied with climate policy. But why aren’t these policies effective at stopping climate change? In what ways can we advance toward a more effective collective action? Learn from environmental philosopher Marc Davidson and political scientist Daniel DeRock about how we potentially create climate policies that work.

Cross-border environmental problems

Despite climate agreements and alarming messages from scientists, natural disasters and climate change continue to intensify. An important cause for this is the fact that environmental problems don’t care about borders. Something that works for one country, may cause extra problems in another. For example, the building of dams in China to generate green energy has had disastrous consequences for fishing and agricultural areas in countries downstream. Countries are mainly interested in their own backyard, despite the consequences for others.

The importance of international collaboration

All this underlines the importance of international collaboration to solve environmental problems on a global scale. These problems only seem to get worse, despite the best efforts of a number of organizations specifically established to solve them. Why do we seem to fail in our collective action to address these problems? Are the agreements not clear enough? Which other interests play a part? Are we all equally accountable for a better outcome, or are some more than others? And what is necessary to turn the tide toward a constructive collaboration?

Marc Davidson and Daniel DeRock will shed a light on where things are going wrong now, while looking into the conditions for collective action and actual international collaboration. After their lectures, Marc Davidson and Daniel DeRock will discuss what is needed to achieve this, both from governments and civilians. Program manager Nort Vlemmix of Radboud Reflects moderates the conversation.

About the speakers

Marc Davidson is professor of Philosophy of Sustainability and the Environment. His research focuses in particular on the moral question of how we should act in the light of sustainability and environmental issues. He approaches these questions in a multi- and interdisciplinary manner by connecting the field of ethics with knowledge about economics, ecology, psychology and other fields.

Daniel DeRock is a political scientist at Radboud University. He researches global economic and ecological governance, specifically by international organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. His current research focuses on the global politics of climate change.