Tabla de contenidos para May/June 2017 en Foreign Policy

Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, where she is also a professor. In 2014, Hayhoe was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People as well as an FP Global Thinker. She is producing Global Weirding: Climate, Politics and Religion, a short series for PBS Digital Studios. Luc Forsyth is an independent photojournalist and filmmaker based in Mexico City. Before relocating to Latin America, Forsyth spent nearly a decade in Asia, where he covered social, political, and environmental issues. His photography and videography have appeared in such outlets as the New York Times, the National Geographic Channel, Al Jazeera, and ESPN. Geo_ Dembicki is a freelance journalist and author based in Vancouver, Canada. His work has appeared in the…

Is There a Case to be Made Against Baby Making? As the effects of climate change become more pronounced and overpopulation threatens the planet, individuals and policymakers are increasingly forced to consider the environmental implications of personal childbearing decisions. Here, two philosophers, TRAVIS RIEDER of the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins and REBECCA KUKLA of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown, discuss the morality of deciding to have children in a world threatened by environmental degradation and the fraught ethics of encouraging people to opt for smaller families. TRAVIS RIEDER: It is morally uncomfortable to ask whether we should have smaller families—and for good reasons. But so far, we have focused almost entirely on per capita emissions: deeply decarbonize, change our infrastructure, until we’re not actually adding…

WASHINGTON—Carles Puigdemont, the president of the government of Catalonia— bespectacled and shaggy haired at 54—surveyed the passing monuments and museums as we skirted the National Mall in his black SUV. This was his first time in the United States. “Seven million people visit here each year,” he informed me, gesturing vaguely toward one of the Smithsonian museums. “The same as the population of Catalonia.” It was early afternoon on a cloudy Tuesday in March, and we were headed to The Monocle, a restaurant on Capitol Hill where generations of legislators and their coteries have hobnobbed over steaks and crab cakes, and where you might have to pass a signed photo of Dick Cheney to use the bathroom. “During the Women’s March, the Mall was covered with protesters as far as…

Scientists have proposed calling the geological period in which we live the Anthropocene Era, a time in which human activity— namely the emission of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide from our factories, chemical plants, refineries, agriculture, and other industries—serves as the driving influence on our planet. ¶ But there are other anthropogenic factors that scientists consider less often. One, for example, that has certainly contributed to the problem is … libido. That’s right, global warming is directly related to human warming. While this may come as a bit of a shock, don’t worry, the solution doesn’t involve a mandate for more cold showers (though they are kinder to the environment). ¶ Human warming, despite all its related small-scale problems, most regularly occurs without affecting global disaster. However, when the…

IIn April, chocolate cake had just been served at the Mar-a-Lago summit when President Donald Trump leaned over to tell Chinese President Xi Jinping that American missiles had been launched at Syrian air bases, according to Trump’s account of the evening. What the attack on Syria signaled about Trump’s readiness to attack North Korea was left to Xi’s imagination. ¶ Welcome to dinner with the leaders who are now attempting to manage the world’s most dangerous geopolitical relationship. ¶ The story is a small one. But as China challenges America’s predominance, misunderstandings about each other’s actions and intentions could lead them into a deadly trap first identified by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. As he explained, “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta…

IN December 2009, climate-watchers the world over were trying to make sense of how the most promising attempt to date at preventing a global climate disaster went so horribly wrong. The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference had just come to a close, and the summit, which had brought together 192 countries, was meant to create the world’s first legally binding treaty on global warming. But in its final days, during negotiations between China and the United States, talks had sputtered, teetered, and ultimately collapsed. To observers eager for good news, the result came as a stunning and disheartening anticlimax. To most of the West, it appeared that China had come intent on playing the spoiler. The country’s coal consumption had been growing steadily for decades as the government pushed industrialization. In the…

The South China Sea. Human rights. Trade. Currency manipulation. ¶ When U.S.-China relations are discussed we often ascribe these issues some level of tension. However, our countries’ cooperation has historically been more cordial and productive in one area: environmental protection. ¶ The reason for this fertile diplomatic ground is simple. All nations and peoples have an interest in lowering pollution, which harms our health, stifles economic growth, creates instability, and knows no boundaries. ¶ A powerful instance of environmental diplomacy revolved around an air-quality monitor on the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in 2008. Its purpose was to inform the American diplomatic corps of how safe it was to be outside on any given day. However, the public availability of this solid air-quality data led to growing demands…

OXFORD, ENGLAND_Union JACK Radio broadcasts out of a low-slung, graffiti-covered structure that its staffaffectionately refers to on the air as “the dumpy little building.” On a nondescript Oxford Street, the building is technically two stories but looks shorter; the ceilings are low, the carpeting worn. When I visited recently for a tour, one of the first things I learned was that there are bomb shelters underneath dating back to World War II—the days of Churchill, Spitfires, and Britain’s finest hour. Had it launched at any other time, Union JACK might not have attracted quite so much attention. The concept behind the station is straightforward. As the name implies, it plays only British music, by British artists. Its target audience is people 45 to 59 years old. This demographic is reflected…

IN January 1886, a Canadian bureaucrat named John R. Hall was dispatched on an urgent mission to Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Dominion government had recently protected 10 square miles outside Banff in Alberta, Canada, having learned of the “remarkable curative properties” of the area’s steamy, sulfur-rich waters. Given the close proximity to a railroad depot there, the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. had prodded the government to act in the hope that the new preserve would boost tourism on its recently completed transcontinental line. But the cart had gotten ahead of the iron horse. Visitors who hoped the waters would restore their health began descending on the springs before the government could figure out how to manage its new possession. To further complicate things, squatters (some of whom had helped construct the…

On April 7, an odd-looking jet landed at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan. Codenamed Constant Phoenix, it was a U.S. Air Force version of a Boeing 707 but with round pods on the fuselage designed to “sniff ” the atmosphere for radioactivity. Eight days later, across the East China Sea, North Korea would be celebrating the “Day of the Sun,” marking the 105th birthday of its founder, Kim Il Sung. And because many in the Donald Trump administration were concerned that the festivities would include a very big surprise—the country’s sixth nuclear test—Constant Phoenix was on alert. But when the celebrations ended, the surprise was on the Koreans, whose missile launch failed. ¶ The unexpected has always been the enemy of intelligence. That’s why a small group of Ph.D.s…

At first they were afraid, but eventually I won their trust. As I came to understand them, I found they are like us in so many ways; they are intelligent with personalities, family bonds, and emotions similar to our own. They can be brutal to one another, but also compassionate. During those early years I spent hours alone in the rainforest. I came to see how everything is interconnected, each species with its own special role. I always found a great sense of a spiritual power when I was out in the forest. That’s when I concluded that if I have a soul, these other creatures have a soul: If I have it, so does the chimpanzee. I sometimes wondered about the trees as well—about every living thing. At that…