A Brighter Tomorrow
Maladaptation: The Post-2015 World and the Liminal State
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Glen Kuecker
In 2015 UN agencies working on the challenges facing the modern world system entered a progression of renewing long-term planning agendas that are collectively known as the Post-2015 World. These included the UN platform for disaster risk reduction’s Sandia Agreement in March 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, the Paris climate Accords in December 2015, and UN Habitat’s New Urban Agenda in October 2016. We are now past the half-way point for the agendas, and many prognosticate their failure. This paper analyzes what went wrong by positioning the Post-2015 World within the context of systemic collapse. I argue that modernity’s collapse brings us into a liminal state of transition to a new, yet to be name civilization. The liminal state is a period of disruption, instability, and confusion that renders modern ways of being, seeing, thinking, and acting anachronistic. In this paper I argue the UN agendas constituting the Post-2015 world, are anachronistic, which makes them a form of maladaptation to the perfect storm. Given the existential threat of the perfect storm, this maladaptation threatens to push humanity into hard collapse. The paper identifies technocratic rationality as the culprit causing the maladaptation. This paper is a preliminary version of Chapter One to a book manuscript entitled, Lost in Transition: Technocratic Rationality and the Post 2015 World, which I am co-authoring with Kris Hartley at the School of Sustainability at the Arizona State University.
Planetary Health Care: A Framework for Sustainable Health Systems to Mitigate the Effects of Climate Change in South Florida
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Elizabeth Joseph
Climate change, possibly the gravest threat facing humanity, is already taking a toll on people’s physical and mental health. The climate crisis is the single greatest public health challenge of the 21st century. These climate-related risks are particularly acute for marginalized people around the world. While no one is immune to the health impacts of the climate crisis, those who suffer most live at racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic disadvantage. Climate change multiplies inequities in access and quality of care for the most vulnerable communities. While health care systems shoulder the burden of caring for individuals, especially vulnerable communities affected by climate change, they also contribute to the problem. Healthcare is a significant contributor to climate change and is also responsible for managing the adverse impact of climate change on health. It contributes 8.5% of US emissions and worldwide it is responsible for as much as 5 percent of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Aside from a tremendous emissions footprint health care remains one of the largest waste-producing sectors. Hospital patients in the United States generate about 33.8 pounds of waste each day, which leads to about 6 million tons of waste annually.
