Climate Change Argumentative Essay

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Climate change is currently one of the most discussed environmental problems, and it remains a difficult problem to address. Among and within different nations, there are varying degrees of belief in climate change as an issue. A number of scholars discuss in their works climate change as a paramount collective action problem, and argue that climate change subsists as an important issue due to the heated debate that surrounds its perception of it as a problem and because of the various obstacles that stand in the way of its potential solutions. To a large extent, climate change can be described as a collective action problem. Ostrom defines the theory of collective action as a method where groups tend to act in support of their group interests—common …show more content…

Szasz argues that when people act individually to address their personal concerns, the larger collective issues are essentially ignored (2007: 3-4). When people individually attempt to combat collective environmental issues such as climate change, problems arise such as political anesthesia, an obstacle in which people abstain from collective action due to a false sense of security and a diminished sense of risk (Szasz 2007: 194). An example of such political anesthesia is inverted quarantine, which is a method of green consumerism in which people try to protect themselves individually against a problem that can only be solved collectively (Szasz 2007: 4). They may do so by altering their behavior by means of consuming organic and environmentally friendly products, and by drinking bottled water, lifestyle changes that may have unintended negative consequences on the environment (Szasz 2007: 195-203). Similarly, Guthman agrees with Szasz along the lines that green consumerism is a controversial individual behavior that fails to relate to collective outcomes, with a focus on organic agriculture (Guthman 2004: 22) Her discussion of organic farming elaborates on how industry disguises itself as a social movement in order to make a profit without actually rectifying any issues. (Guthman 2004:

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