What's Wrong with Climate Politics and How to Fix It (PDF)

Governments have failed to stem global emissions of carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases causing climate change. Indeed,
climate-changing pollution is increasing globally, and will do so
for decades to come without far more aggressive action. What
explains this failure to effectively tackle one of the world's most
serious problems? And what can we do about it?

To answer these questions, Paul G. Harris looks at climate politics
as a doctor might look at a very sick patient. He performs urgent
diagnoses and prescribes vital treatments to revive our ailing
planet before it's too late.

The book begins by diagnosing what's most wrong with climate
politics, including the anachronistic international system, which
encourages nations to fight for their narrowly perceived interests
and makes major cuts in greenhouse pollution extraordinarily
difficult; the deadlock between the United States and China, which
together produce over one-third of global greenhouse gas pollution
but do little more than demand that the other act first; and
affluent lifestyles and overconsumption, which are spreading
rapidly from industrialized nations to the developing world.

The book then prescribes several "remedies" for the failed politics
of climate change, including a new kind of climate diplomacy with
people at its center, national policies that put the common but
differentiated responsibilities of individuals alongside those of
nations, and a campaign for simultaneously enhancing human
wellbeing and environmental sustainability. While these treatments
are aspirational, they are not intended to be utopian. As Harris
shows, they are genuine, workable solutions to what ails the
politics of climate change today.