UNFCCC

       The history of the UNFCCC has shown us little promise for the future in respect to world leaders coming together and agreeing on a binding accord to drastically reduce global carbon emissions. Whether it was Copenhagen in 2009 or twenty years ago, world powers have fumbled at the chance to enact positive change in response to the Anthropocene based global warming that looms overs us. Like Anjali Appadurai, the United Nations Climate Conference has been negotiating long before most in this class were born (Klein, 5). Copenhagen especially "was a fiasco because environmentalists were hopeful that our leaders would do the right thing" (McKibben, 7).
       Now is the time to take a different approach to the dilemma which we all face. Instead of relying on the leaders of nations to make the right decision, large grass-root movements need to emerge (and continue emerging) crying out for change. "To the extent Paris matters, its success will depend not on the character of our leaders but on how much a resurgent climate movement has softened up the fossil fuel industry, and much pressure the politicians feel to deliver something" (McKibben, 1). More and more policy windows have been presenting themselves due to the increasing existence of unprecedented extreme weather patterns and natural disasters. What is needed is for environmental movements to cultivate empathy toward nature and the environment on a global scale. I believe this can be accomplished through the arts and through religion (for example the Pope's latest encyclical). Once empathy exists, anger will be fostered toward global climate change and those who have dragged their feet while it enlarges. This anger, I believe will be the key to increase the pressure that politicians already feel to take the steps toward stopping the damage we are causing our home, in order for positive change to ensue and a brighter future to exist.