Topic A: Addressing Climate Change in Latin America

OAS Permanent Council

Topic A: Addressing Climate Change in Latin America

HACIA Democracy XXIV Summit of the Americas

Committee Chairs: Lucas Conti and AnantPai

Director of English Committees: Benjamin Schafer

Introduction

What do you think about when you hear the word energy? Often it is a mere buzzword for most people, one that has been used with increasing frequency inrecent years. Depending on what you do, what you study and how old you are, you may hold different interpretations of the word and have different ideas of what it really means. Some just know it as “the thing that turns my lights on” or “what I need to power my phone and my TV.” As it turns out, energy is much, much more than that. Throughout this bulletin, I will expose you to what energy really is, teach you about the enormous amount of power it gives to the nations who control it, and describe how the way humans produce energy today threatens life as we know it. Finally, I will work with you to learn how nations can come together in order to solve what is one of the greatest issues humanity has ever faced.

Energy makes up everything in the universe. This has been known since Einstein published his famous equation e = mc2 in 1905, stating that energy is just mass multiplied by the speed of light squared.[1] This implies that everything in our world is made of energy: people, animals, computers, and even the air that we breathe to fuel our bodies. This energy is stored in the bonds of molecules and inside the atoms that make up all of the elements in the universe, and can be accessed when these bonds are broken to generate power and heat.

Since energy makes up everything in the known universe and all animals rely on energy to survive, it should come as no surprise that energy is one of the most important resources for humanity to thrive, and it holds an intrinsic ability to make things happen. Throughout human history, the energy capacity of a society has determined the rate of growth of a population, and how much energy a country has access to determines how successful or how powerful it may be.[2] Combusting coal and petroleum produces incredible amounts of energy, but while these resources may appear to be “free energy” for governments who own and control them, the gases emitted by combustion cause a lasting impact on the conditions of this planet and on the health and safety of the animals who inhabit it. Models supported by scientists like Stephen Hawking, one of the world’s most respected scientists, predict that humans, among many other species of animals, will no longer be able to survive the harsh climates of Earth in the next few centuries if current trends persist, abruptly ending all forms of known intelligent life in the universe.[3],[4]

Seeing as energy and climate change are such an important and powerful concern for humanity, governments must come together and collaborate on the best transition to a society where humans produce energy without threatening life as we know it. The mandate of the Organization of the American States reports that it seeks to provide solutions to political, juridical, and economic problems that may arise among the member states.[5] Additionally, the OAS strives to promote by cooperative action economic, social, and cultural development in the Americas. The current issue of climate change is intrinsically linked to possible economic growth and collapse, cultural development, and revolutionary social movements towards science, education, and empowerment of civilians through affordable energy. Scientifically speaking, climate change and renewable energy are among the most important issues that humanity must face in order to sustain long term population growth and habitable conditions on this planet.

The tone in this committee will be primarily scientific and economic with a focus on how governments can use science and technology to shape policy, which will later develop into a multitude of cultural and social transformations.

History and Powers of the Committee

The OAS was formed in 1948 in Bogotá, Colombia, with the signing of theCharter of the OAS, which entered into effect in December of 1951.[6] The Organization was established in order to achieve “an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence” among member states as stipulated in Article 1 of the Charter.[7]

There are 35 represented countries in the committee, each an independent state of the Americas. These countries have agreed to the terms of the OAS and decided that it is in their best interest to cooperate with the other member states to work towards solutions of broad scale impact to the region. More specifically, the Permanent Council consists of one Permanent Representative of each member state, especially appointed by the respective government with the rank of Ambassador.[8]

The charter of the OAS--which outlines the principles of the organization, its members, the fundamental rights and duties of the states, the powers of the General Assembly, and the duties of the Permanent Council--is the most important document for the OAS because it dictates how the body functions, who can be in the organization, and what powers the body holds. The document can be found at the OAS’s website.5 Additionally, delegates should become familiar with the Statute of the Permanent Council of the OAS, as this document serves the foundation for this specific committee of the Organization of American States.[9]

The Organization of American States acts more as a forum of political dialogue among the member nations than as an enforcing entity among the states. The General Assembly of the OAS, with help from its different councils (such as the Permanent Council), can make recommendations to member nations on how to best approach the problem at hand, but no member nation has the power to intervene with the sovereignty of any other nation. The committee’s resolutions are thus non-binding; they should act as detailed recommendations used to battle an issue of transcontinental proportions such as the problem of climate change and renewable energy.

Aims of the Committee

Although the topic of climate change and renewable energy is very broad and encompasses many different sectors and industries, this committee will focus on the role of government in controlling carbon emissions, providing economic incentives for both companies and consumers to go green, and investing in the green energy economy and research sector in order to stimulate job growth in the area.

If a plan is reached among the member states, Latin America could become one of the leading regions in renewable energy, which will undoubtedly become one of the biggest economic and research sectors of the future. According to Bloomberg, the renewable energy market will hold values upwards of US $20 trillion within the next few decades.[10] Furthermore, adopting a green plan and implementing it efficiently will serve as an example for the rest of the world that a shift to renewable energy can be done.

Much like the industrial revolution fundamentally changed the social and economic structure of 19th-century England, the impending energy revolution has the potential to do the same for adopting nations. Energy is one of the most expensive commodities in the world, and the development of affordable renewables has the potential to power entire countries for a fraction of the cost of today, facilitating growth and prosperity in Latin America and the globe.

Insofar as the primary goal of this committee is to address global climate change reform and to put the issue on the forefront of the political agenda of the OAS, resolutions should be tailored to address policy reform and economic incentives in the nation with a focus on education and job growth leading to sustainable industries. The coal and oil sectors will be disturbed by a rise in renewable energy infrastructure, and resolutions must address what will happen to the millions of workers who will be left out of a job because of the transition away from carbon-based energy resources.

Delegates should keep in mind each member country’s individual policies on the issue of climate change and renewable energy. Additionally, delegates should be aware of the possible short term and long term economic consequences that may arise from their resolutions. Will the proposed solution incentivize job creation in one area but leave many from the coal and mining industry behind? How can we reconcile the transition from coal to renewable resources and the destruction of a whole industry? Can education play an important role in this transition? How so? How will this decision affect countries that have large political or economic ties to the oil and carbon energy industry?

Keep in mind that the basic problem to be addressed lies in a smooth transition to the full use of renewable energy in Latin America and the world, weaving together and pushing through economic, political, social, environmental, scientific, and corporate hurdles along the way.

The Topic in Context

This section aims to accomplish several goals. First, the definition of energy will be explored in more detail, and the power granted to nations who control this energy will also be discussed. Lastly, this section will describe how current energy production threatens life as we know it.

As mentioned in the introduction, energy, when it comes down to it, is what makes up everything in the universe. Known since Einstein published his world-famous equation e = mc2 in 1905, energy is mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. This means that everything in our world is made of energy: people, animals, the ocean, computers, and even the air that we breathe to fuel our bodies. As previously mentioned, this energy is stored in the bonds between molecules and inside the atoms that make up all of the elements in the universe, and can be accessed when these bonds are broken to generate power and heat.[11]

Humans eat food in order to access energy stored in bonds between atoms to fuel our bodies and daily activities. For thousands of years, humans needed energy solely for nutrition and survival: hunter and gatherers went out into the world to kill other animals and collect nuts and fruits that could provide energy. This was the way humans carried out their lives before the advent of modern agriculture, which generated a revolution.

With the beginning of agriculture, humans realized that they no longer needed the majority of the population working to produce food to generate energy. Therefore, many members of the population had time to delve into other activities like teaching, manufacturing goods, and commerce.[12] Full civilizations, language, writing, and trade emerged. With this newfound free time and increased energy capacity, the human population boomed, and with it, humans found new ways to use energy for work and to improve the quality of human of life.[13]

The next huge energy transition was marked by the development of the steam engine and the internal combustion engine, which gave rise to the industrial revolution in 18th- and 19th -century England.[14] Here, humans learned to produce cheap and reliable energy: the human population garnered the ability to burn fuel (breaking the bonds in carbon during combustion) inside of a machine in order to produce energy to do work. The work that was previously done by one-hundred horses could now be done by a single machine, enabling the construction of assembly-line factories, the expansion of roads and networks, and the development of railroads and steam locomotives.[15] This once again revolutionized the way and the speed at which many goods and foods were produced, making them more efficient and freeing members of society from having to work to generate food and goods for the population.

With this newfound free time and increased energy capacity, society revolutionized both domestic and international trade systems, and the human population boomed yet again. In fact, it took hundreds of thousands of years for the human population on Earth to reach 1 billion people, which finally occurred in the year 1800. Shortly thereafter, in just over one-hundred years (1928), the population doubled to reach 2 billion people.15 Now, less than one-hundred years after that, the population will cube itself to reach 8 billion people within the next few years.[16]

Coal and petroleum are good sources of energy because they have a lot of carbon that, when combusted, generates energy. Energy sources like this are said to have a very high energy density.[17] Around the Industrial Revolution, Britain consolidated its position as a world superpower in part because it was geographically situated above a lot of coal that could drive industry and commerce.[18] This gave England a lot of powersince it controlled production and the trade of goods. Other nations then started miningand burning coal as well, producing even more “free energy” to generate industry and revenue.

Soon, the nations that had access to the largest amount ofoil and coal became the richest and most powerful nations in the world. Today, energy generated from these and newer methods help power your home, fuel your car, charge your phone and computers, power your TV, keep the internet alive, and turn on most of the lights in the world. In order for this to happen, a lot of coal and oil need to be burned, leading to what is now known around the world as the devastating problem of climate change.

The science behind this phenomenon works as follows: when carbon burns during combustion, it releases an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is part of a category of gases called greenhouse gases.[19] These gases trap heat from light that is delivered to our planet by the sun and therefore raise the temperature of the Earth.[20] Although they are important for Earth to maintain a minimum temperature and not freeze over, too many greenhouse gases can lead to devastating consequences. When the temperature of the Earth rises, its oceans swell and expand, the polar ice caps melt, full habitats and ecosystems become endangered, and, most notably to humans, more extreme and disastrous weather patterns emerge.[21] When the underlying causes of these disasters go untreated, humans need to expend more energy in order to fix the issue or protect themselves from the consequences; therefore, a downwards spiraling vicious cycle may emerge if renewable energy resources cannot be developed in a timely fashion.

Beyond disrupting ecosystems and weather patterns, rising global temperatures would make potable water even more scarce throughout the planet. This would mainly affect developing countries and nations who most rely on it for survival.[22] Furthermore, humans are in a desperate need to expand their energy use every day because of a rising global population, rapid technological developments, and increasing quality of life, but the Earth has a limited stock of carbon-based fuel. Petroleum forms through millions of years of pressure underground, but humans are consuming this substance and pumping it into the atmosphere at a much faster rate than it is produced.[23] Consequently, without even thinking about climate change, it should be clear that humans need to work on developing new modes of energy (solar, wind, biochemical) in order to sustain the population for generations to come.

Historically, the actual problem of climate change, independently of energy science, became apparent soon after the industrial revolution in England. At the time, scientists had already begun to agree that CO2 gas caused the retention of heat and energy and that the Earth had a layer of these so called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere that contributed to the development of the flora and fauna of the planet.[24] Even back then, theories suggested that the combustion of carbon compounds for energy could alter this atmospheric layer and have an overall impact of increasing the temperature of the planet by a few degrees.[25] Models accurately predicted the rise in global temperatures, but the consequences of these rising numbers were not fully understood until later in the century.

As CO2 and other greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere at an increasing rate due to higher energy demands from the burning of carbon-based resources, the issue of climate change has become a lot more relevant. In fact, if we do not do something about it in the next decade, the effects of global warming and climate change on the Earth may become irreparable.

This topic is relevant and extremely pressing for the entirety of humanity, but it is especially relevant for Latin America as the region is projected to be one of the most affected by climate change if little to minimal action is taken in the next decade.[26] If the continent decides to invest in renewables and diverge from fossil fuel emissions, the region may also see a rise in jobs, a decreased cost of energy (and subsequently a decreased cost of living), and better living conditions with higher quality of life.