Reference no: EM133356461

For today's project, you will play the role of student researchers within the Marymount Organization for Social Change In Action (MOSCA). The mission of MOSCA is to offer sociological insight to community organizations, governments, and global institutions confronting the critical social issues of the twenty-first century.

The Scenario:
Climate experts have clamored for decades that the economies of the world need to substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if we are to avert the most severe consequences of climate change. The latest global climate meetings (COP 27) reached a laudable agreement to create an adaptation fund for the countries hardest hit by climate catastrophe. However, amid mutual recriminations by leaders of countries with "advanced" and "developing" economies over responsibility for the climate crisis, there were no new commitments to achieve the necessary reductions in GHG emissions. In this context, climate activists are becoming increasingly confrontational, using direct action protest tactics aimed at disrupting the normal flow of everyday life and forcing policy change regarding fossil fuel extraction and use.

Facing these realities, MOSCA has been contacted by staff within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a group made up of some of the most advanced capitalist countries. They have contacted us seeking help in identifying, and clarifying to the people of the world, the social barriers that have made it impossible, thus far, to achieve a global consensus securing both climate reparations and needed reductions in GHG emissions.

The OECD staff are concerned that the general public around the world blames OECD member countries for climate change, but does not understand the significant social barriers that make it difficult to do anything about it in the here and now. That's where you come in!

Your task:
As student researchers at MOSCA, you are tasked with providing an initial assessment of the situation, its main causes, and potential remedies.

Over the next couple of hours, you will prepare a brief slide presentation for MOSCA's client (think 4-6 slides). At a minimum, your presentation should accomplish three things:
1. Provide up-to-date information about historical contributions to climate change, including per-capita emissions;

2. Identify a few of the main social barriers that impede national governments and international institutions from achieving the desired combination of both climate reparations and sufficient reduction in GHG emissions. We expect that you will identify and describe clearly one such barrier from at least two of the following general categories: cultural barriers; economic barriers; or political barriers;

3. Design creative public initiatives aimed at overcoming these social barriers (rapidly!).
Here your goal should be to apply fundamental sociological ideas - anything from solidarity to socialization, from structural inequities to capitalism - to improve our understanding of the social barriers themselves; then you'll identify creative solutions that you think could help us overcome these barriers.