Global inequality and climate change

Global warming is all about inequality, both in who will suffer most its ef fects and in who created the problem in the first place. This article descr ibes the inequality empirically in broad strokes and then describes how it has led to the current deadlock in dealing with the problem of global clima te change. Regarding bargaining positions in the Kyoto round of negotiation s, two factions among rich nations and at least five distinct bargaining po sitions among poor nations are described and explained. The factional divis ions are attributable to the differential influence of "polluting elites" a cross nations. The article concludes that the only way out of the conundrum of inequity and warming is by both addressing inequality and delinking car bon and development.