The Influence of Industrialized Nations on Environmental Issues: An Examination of what the European Union and United States have Done with Respect to Brazilian Deforestation
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Date
2016-06
Authors
Terry, Madeleine
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Climate change is arguably the toughest environmental challenge of the 2P1
century. When kept healthy, forests, such as the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, play a
key role in mitigating the effects of climate change. Unfortunately, industrialized
nations-such as the European Union and the United States-are both directly and
indirectly contributing to Amazonian deforestation. This thesis assesses the scope of
these actions. It examines the past actions taken by the EU and the US that have
brought the issue to this point, while also looking at how these actions are exhibited
directly over the pressing issue of deforestation in Brazil. This thesis also presents an
overview that helps explain what makes a nation "environmental," as well as the
particular drivers-such as politics, economics, and consumption-that can create
ambiguous outcomes in whether an industrialized actor is purposefully exhibiting
environmental tendencies or if it is doing so accidentally through lack of action.
Through looking at one of the most concrete pieces in the fight against climate
change-Brazilian deforestation-this thesis poses the question, what have the worlds
two leading powers actually done? To answer this question, it becomes necessary to
break down the primary research question into a more pointed question. This ·then
leaves the question: how have their economic, political, and consumer ties to Brazil
affected the issue to date? If the strategies are different, why are they different?
Description
71 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of International Studies and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Spring 2016.
Keywords
International studies, Political science, Brazilian Amazon, Deforestation, Environmentalism, Climate change, Global powers, Drivers of Environmental Degradation