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Climate Change

The Case for Ecological Realism

The global environmental crisis has exposed the limitations of traditional political realism. It is time to embrace ecological realism. 

<p>A child holds a placard during a protest against climate change consequences in Bangkok, Thailand on November 29, 2019. </p>
A child holds a placard during a protest against climate change consequences in Bangkok, Thailand on November 29, 2019. Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters

By experts and staff

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  • Stewart M. Patrick
    James H. Binger Senior Fellow in Global Governance and Director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program

In my weekly column for World Politics Review, I argue it is time to embrace a new approach to world politics that deals with what may be humanity’s gravest existential challenge: preserving the integrity and resilience of the biosphere.

The global environmental crisis, encompassing runaway climate change, collapsing biodiversity and the slow death of the world’s oceans, has exposed the limitations of traditional political realism as a guide to statecraft in the 21st century. The time has come for the nations of the world to embrace a new approach to world politics that treats the preservation of the biosphere as a core national interest and a central objective of national security policy. Call this new mindset ecological realism.

Read the full World Politics Review article here.