Questões de Concurso – Aprova Concursos

Text I

              Energy Transition in a Transnational World
      Within the sphere of environmental law, the climate crisis is 
increasingly understood to be an intersectional challenge that 
implicates and exacerbates existing systemic challenges and 
prevailing pathways of inequality. From this vantage point climate 
change also creates opportunities for rethinking the role of law in 
limiting the destructive impacts of climate change and moving 
towards a more sustainable and equitable world in the process. 
This view is advanced by the climate justice movement, which is 
swelling in influence worldwide. Drawing from the environmental 
justice movement, the climate justice movement exposes not only 
how social and economic inequality has led to and perpetuates 
patterns of climate change, but also how climate change deepens 
inequality by disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable 
members of society. Climate justice seeks greater emphasis on this 
issue and advocates on the part of those most affected by climate 
change. The movement envisions a world which simultaneously 
curtails the negative effects of climate change and reshapes 
existing social, political, and economic relationships along the way.
    Amidst the overlapping crises of modern times, the modern 
climate justice movement is reviving dialogue at the intersection of 
feminism, environmentalism, social and economic justice, and other 
progressive law reform movements, as well as creating the space 
and momentum for intersectional ideas to flourish. For lawyers and 
legal scholars, the opportunity is to see climate change and 
environmental degradation within its broader social context and to 
seize upon the rule of law as a powerful tool for change.

    Nowhere are these intersecting challenges as acute as in the 
context of energy. One of the principal aims of the climate justice 
movement is to achieve a just and equitable transition from an 
extractive economy to a regenerative economy. This requires 
transitioning from fossil fuel-dependent to low and zero-carbon 
economies. However, the pathways for overhauling energy 
systems worldwide remain indeterminate. Energy systems are 
evolving in response to a combination of law and policy changes, 
developments in energy technologies, and market forces. 
Moreover, given both the entrenched nature of fossil fuel 
economies and the varied social, political, economic, and 
environmental factors that shape energy transition, pathways to 
decarbonization are bound to be beset with complex trade-offs, 
such as those between energy security and environmental 
objectives, or between energy choice and economies of scale. The 
precise contours of these systemic changes vary from country to 
country, and remain under-explored both within their national 
contexts and from a broader transnational perspective. This 
knowledge gap is critical. Understanding how, why, and to what 
end states are restructuring their energy economies is essential for 
transitioning to more environmentally sustainable and just 
societies worldwide. In short, this is an area in need of 
experimentation and iterative learning. It is a subject ripe for 
greater scholarly focus, particularly at the transnational level, 
where improved learning and sharing is indispensable for 
achieving the global-level shifts needed to address climate change.

Adapted from: Etty, Thijs et al. “Energy Transition in a Transnational World.” 
Transnational Environmental Law 10.2 (2021): 197–204. Available at 
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/transnational-environmental-law/article/energy-transition-in-a-transnationalworld/9F9D4229588B39C0E5916DFBE82EA046

Text II

             Examining the fluff that frustrates northern China
      Like most blizzards, it begins with just a few white wisps swirling 
about. Gradually the volume increases and the stuff starts to 
accumulate on the ground. During the heaviest downfalls the air is 
so thick with it as to impair visibility. But this is no winter scene. It is 
what happens every April across much of northern China, when 
poplar trees start giving off their cotton-like seed-pods.
     The phenomenon has already begun in Beijing. On April 8th an 
eddy of fluff balls wafted around the American treasury secretary, 
Janet Yellen, as she held a press conference in an embassy garden.
     To call this a nuisance is an understatement. In many people 
the fluff triggers allergies, asthma and other respiratory problems. 
Experts say the white balls—produced by the trees’ catkins—are 
not themselves allergenic, but that they distribute irritating pollen.
      They also clog rain gutters, drain pipes and car radiators. Worse, 
they pose a fire hazard. Officials have warned that the fuzz balls have 
a low ignition point and called for extreme caution on the part of 
smokers, welders or anyone inclined to burn them “out of curiosity”.
      China’s catkin problem is the unintended consequence of an 
old effort to improve the environment. Intensive tree planting 
began in the 1950s with the aim of ending the scourge of 
sandstorms caused by winds sweeping out of barren areas. The 
trees were also meant to firm up the soil and slow desertification. 
Poplar trees, along with willows, were selected because they are 
cheap, fast-growing and drought-resistant.
      In some ways the plan worked. Today sandstorms are less 
severe and the threat of desertification has faded. But the annual 
onslaught from catkins is another legacy. Female trees are the 
cotton-ball culprits. There are millions of them (poplar and willow) 
in Beijing alone.
       Authorities have sought to mitigate the mess. The simplest way 
is to spray water on the trees, turning the fluffy flyers into damp 
squibs. More advanced solutions involve “birth control”, or injecting 
female trees with chemicals that suppress catkin production. 
Another option is “gender-reassignment surgery”, in which branches 
on female trees are cut and replaced with male grafts.

      But experts say that these efforts will take time. The good 
news is that the flurries of poplar fluff will only last for a few more 
weeks. The bad news is that wafts of willow fluff will then begin.
From: https://www.economist.com/china/2024/04/18/examining-thefluff-that-frustrates-northern-china