“Amongst the forms of participatory democracy which
can complement and enrich the work of representative
institutions, citizens’ assemblies are the best placed to
harness the collective wisdom and allow citizens to
reclaim the public space, providing the authorities with
useful information on people’s preferences and
indications on how to reconcile a multitude of
conficting interests.”
WHY POLITICIANS HAVE
FAILED TO TACKLE CLIMATE
CHANGE
Global warming is the defning threat facing the planet.
So why has so little been done to curb it?
MORE PARTICIPATORY
DEMOCRACY TO TACKLE
CLIMATE CHANGE
"This is the time to be bold, and experiment and rethink," said
Kevin Casas-Zamora, the Costa Rican secretary-general of
International IDEA, a Sweden-based intergovernmental
organisation
that
works
to
strengthen
democratic
institutions.
As threats from a heating planet grow, "we cannot simply do
business as usual with democracy", said the politician and
lawyer."
P L AY V I D E O
WHY IS CLIMATE CHANGE SO
POLITICAL?
In this Our Changing Climate environmental video essay, I
take a brief look at why the environment has become such a
partisan issue since the 1970s. Specifcally, I look at how
neoliberalism
and
free-market
ideology
has
made
environmental issues such as climate change into a republican
vs. democrat issue. Neoliberalism sprouted up in the 1970s
and with the rise of free-market neoliberal champions like
Ronald Reagan and Margret Thatcher, environmental issues
began to transform into issues about regulation.
P L AY V I D E O