Ad Astra Issue Fourteen

Ad Astra

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Colophon Ad Astra, Issue 14, 2020

Contributors

Postal Address:

Farina Shaaban (Editor-in-Chief)

University College Roosevelt, Ad Astra P.O. Box 94

Jing-Yi Magraw (Arts & Humanities Editor)

NL-4330 AB Middelburg

Petrouschka Verdouw (Science Editor)

The Netherlands

Jedidja van Boven (Social Science Editor) Dana Zoutman

Email Address:

Claire Dépit

adastraacademicjournal@gmail.com adastraacademicjournal@ucr.nl

Aditi Sharma Zoë Drielsma Ivo Verhoeven

Typesetting & Layout:

Elise Renkema

Farina Shaaban

Luna Erica

Cover Image Credits:

Danise van Hal

Liam McClain (@liammcclain)

Natalia Nikitchyuk Theresa Ruf

Image Credits:

Chiara Barbera

(p.6) Article on Climate Change, by Donna

Tiara Dusselier Trâm Nguyen Quang

Davis https://www.pinterest.de/pin/248542473 158335491/ (p.15) Samhara Kali, by Raja Ravi Varma

Prof. Dr. Bert van den Brink

(p.24) Fundamental Particle Discovered, by

Judith Brouwer

Patrick Chappatte (p.34) Sleep Deprivation, creator unknown, published in 2015. https://www.adventistheal th.org/blog/2015/october/sleep-deprivation8211-how-sleep-affects-your-he/ De Drvkkery Ad Astra is published once a year by University (p.40) Photographer unknown, retrieved from College Roosevelt https://www.dakdekkerin.nl/ For submission procedures, please consult our (p.56) The Securitisation Cycle, by Elise webpage www.ucr.nl/adastra Renkema Original Design:

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Ad Astra University College Roosevelt Undergraduate Journal | 2020

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Foreword

The Board of 2019-2020 is proud to present the 14th issue of Ad Astra Undergraduate Research Journal. This year, as is tradition, the issue highlights interdisciplinary approach and excellence: the fundamental pillars on which academics at University College Roosevelt stand.

From the broad array of submissions, we selected papers that focused on the wide range of topics that drive students at UCR and also those they struggle with themselves. From a review focused on sleep deprivation to the stimulating analysis of violence in Hindu philosophy and history, this year’s selection once again shows that Ad Astra is a perfect representation of the diverse tapestry of disciplines our student body is quick and keen to explore.

Tradition would dictate we spotlight our name Ad Astra, meaning ‘through hardship to the stars’ and it may go without saying that this year, 2020, presented challenge after challenge, but we are sure we will read more about this in history books and perhaps Ad Astra issues to come. We are grateful to still have the chance to publish issue 14 which would not have been possible without the students and faculty members that showed interest in the journal. We extend our heartfelt thanks to them all!

Lastly, we would like to say thank you to you, dear reader. We hope you will enjoy these papers as much as we did, and that you will find inspiration within them. We now look forward A topic that was of particular concern this year to the next issue in 2021. was, to no surprise, that of the climate crisis. To highlight the urgency of the subject, we are happy to present it in multiples. Our Thank you for your interest and enjoy! authors demonstrate how the issue is not in any way uni-dimensional and offer multidisciplinary views on the representation and per- Farina Shaaban ception of the crisis across socioeconomic strata Editor-in-Chief and amongst policy makers.

On behalf of the Ad Astra Editorial Board

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Contents Climate Change Discourse in Tabloid and Broadsheet Newspapers: A Critical Ecolinguistic Analysis Dana Zoutman

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Hinduism: A Religion of Violence?

Claire C.D Dépit

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Discovery of the Higgs Boson Aditi Sharma

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Sleep and Sleep Deprivation: A Review on Causes, Consequences, and Treatment.

Zoë Drielsma

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Adoption of Solar Panels by Dutch Households Ivo Verhoeven

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The European Parliament as a Securitising Actor in the Changing Discourse on Climate Change Elise Renkema

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Climate Change Discourse in Tabloid and Broadsheet Newspapers: A Critical Ecolinguistic Analysis Dana Zoutman| University College Roosevelt In partial fulfilment of the requirements for AH-LING303 Language and Society taught by Dr. Ernestine Lahey

Abstract Newspapers constitute a revealing part of public discourse because of their large readerships and their diverging portrayal of values. Thus, scholars from a variety of disciplines have studied climate change discourse as communicated by mass media outlets such as newspapers. However, an often-overlooked aspect of newspapers in these studies is the distinctive socioeconomic groups which comprise the readership of broadsheet and tabloid newspapers. Therefore, this paper focuses on a (eco)linguistic approach to discursive strategies concerning climate change and aims to illustrate the distinctive discourses that are communicated by broadsheet and tabloid newspapers, with consideration of the potential influences on their readerships concerning audience design and accommodation theory. Through the use of corpus-informed Critical Discourse analysis with the online SiBol corpus, discourse on ”climate change” and ”global warming” in UK-based prestige and popular press in 2013 was analyzed. The results reveal that climate change discourse indeed varies between the two corpora and supports the aim of this paper to provide a preliminary exploration of what is currently still an understudied part of discourse.

Introduction

sues, whilst simultaneously being shaped by the values and ideas of their readers (Bell 110). All these properties make this type of media discourse a suitable and poNewspapers comprise an important part of public dis- tentially revealing case for sociolinguistic research and course, as they are a major contributor to the reader’s Critical Discourse Analysis. understanding of current events and play a large role in Climate change has been a topic of discussion in newshelping them create a normative view of the world be- papers with an increasing frequency over the last few yond their everyday lives (Conboy 12). The construc- decades (Boykoff and Roberts 36). Thus, climate tion of news is not neutral or objective; news outlets change has become subject to news values that are shapconstruct a highly mediated version of reality (Lester ing (as well as shaped by) the reader’s understanding of 63), are selectively representative (Fairclough 17), and environmental issues. The Guardian exemplified this often project values related to their expected readership concern in May 2019, when their style guide was up(Richardson 94). These news values vary between differ- dated with the recommendation for writers to use terms ent newspapers, illustrated by Boykoff, who states that such as ”climate crisis” and ”global heating” when ad”UK daily news readership is distinctly marked by var- dressing environmental concerns (Carrington). News ied socio-economic demographics” (552a). In regard to media communication regarding climate change and the this, one of the clearest socio-economic divisions in read- environment has received much attention from fields ership is between prestige (”broadsheet”) and popular such as environmental sociology (Ulrich, Smith, Ander(”tabloid”) newspapers (Boykoff, see appendix 1). Fur- son, Beder) and environmental communication and methermore, news outlets have an interesting relationship dia studies (Boykoff, Carvalho, Lester, Conboy), but with their readership; they contribute to the shaping of similar considerations have only recently started to enthe reader’s world view and understanding of public is7

Dana Zoutman | Climate Change Discourse in Tabloid and Broadsheet Newspapers

ter the field of linguistics. A subdiscipline where linguistic choices in regard to environmental issues have been a central concern is ecolinguistics. Stibbe, an influential ecolinguist, states that our perception of ecological issues are shaped through discourse (or ”stories”) that surround us every day, such as news reports (5). Whilst this shows that ecolinguists have studied news discourse, research thus far has mainly focused on prestige press (Bell, Norton and Hulme), whereas linguistic analysis of popular press as well as comparisons between these two types of media remain largely unconsidered.

In order to shed light on climate change discourse in prestige and popular press, this paper will apply Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), as developed by Fairclough, to UK broadsheet and tabloid data supported by an analysis of the relevant sub corpora in the SiBol online corpus. The aim of this research is to outline some of the linguistic differences regarding climate change discourse in broadsheet and tabloid articles published in the UK in 2013, and to illustrate the necessity for further linguistic research in this field in order to establish the ”stories” that are presented to different socioeconomic classes. First, all relevant previous research has been outlined and critically reviewed to illustrate what has been done and what still needs to be done. Afterwards, a preliminary analysis concerning some of the differences between prestige and popular forms is explained and subsequently performed. Finally, the outlined previous research and the exploratory analysis provided in this paper are gathered and brought together in the conclusion.

are differentially impacted by ‘modern global climate change’, and are potentially critical contributors to calls for improved climate policy governance” (Boykoff 567a).

Furthermore, whilst Carvalho and Boykoff’s interests most closely align with cultural politics and communication studies, their research does relate to linguistics as they examine discursive frames in UK newsletters with the aid of Critical Discourse Analysis. However, the linguistic analysis presented in their research is limited, as their definition of discursive practices appears less concerned with linguistic features throughout the texts and their textual analyses only lead to the identification of general frames.

Carvalho and Boykoff only focus on either prestige or popular forms, whereas a comparison between both formats would have been potentially more revealing. Furthermore, such a comparative study would have also been more representative of what stories are received by different socio-economic groups, as Conboy emphasizes in his work Language of the News when he stated that the language in both types of news ”has an enormous influence on the ways in which we perceive the world in which we live” (4). Boykoff does address the importance of this difference by providing a table of the socio-economic class of the readerships of various broadsheet and tabloid forms in the UK which clearly illustrates the divide between prestige and popular news: whereas The Times, Guardian, Telegraph and Independent all have the majority (around 60%) of their readership in the A/B class, it was found that only a little over 10% of the readership of tabloids such as The Sun and Daily Mirror belonged to the A/B class (see appendix). Thus, whilst a shifted focus on the discourse in tabloids was indeed important, any conclusions about Literature Review the ways in which environmental issues are framed difThe coverage of climate change topics in newspapers ferently from broadsheet newspapers would require a has been studied from various angles in recent schol- comparative analysis. arly research. However, most of this research has come The relationship between newspapers and their (imagfrom disciplines such as sociology, communication stud- ined) authors has been thoroughly studied by the soies and journalism studies rather than from linguistics. ciologist Allan Bell in his work The Language of News Among the researchers interested in this topic, Maxwell Media. In his work, he finds that ”beliefs and stereoT. Boykoff and Anabela Carvalho might be considered types about recipients and their speech patterns are the central figures. Carvalho, a communication scientist, sole practical input to mass communicators’ linguistic has focused on the variation between three UK broad- output. [...] In doing so they are aware of social groups sheet newspapers. As they all offer a different political rather than individuals,” (90) and introduces the idea stance, she looked at their different stances towards the that media communicators and their (assumed) readerenvironment (226). In like manner, Boykoff has done ex- ships do, despite the indirect nature of their communitensive research on UK media representations of climate cation, undergo a type of accommodation. Communicachange. However, contrary to Carvalho, his research tion Accommodation Theory (CAT) refers to a framehas primarily focused on UK tabloids (Boykoff, Boykoff work which is used in order to explain the ways particiand Mansfield). He states that ”while working-class seg- pants adjust their communication strategies to indicate ments of the population have been of secondary impor- their attitudes towards one another (Giles & Olgay 326). tance in science-policy analyses, examinations such as Furthermore, Giles and Olgay point out that CAT is inthese need to take on a more central role: these citizens deed not restricted to direct exchanges, and that accom8

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modation tendencies also prevail through ”mediated” communication (338). Due to this audience design, as Bell calls it, he found that newspapers are grouped correspondent to the socioeconomic groups that comprise their readership (108). This became apparent through his research of audience design and determiner deletion in UK newspapers, where he found that the percentage of determiner deletion was closely related to the socioeconomic classes of the readership of each newspaper: prestige newspapers only show determiner deletion up to 12 percent, whereas the lowest deletion found among popular newspapers was 79 percent (108).

Furthermore, in newspapers their discursive strategies do not only differ grammatically. Whilst often represented as objective sources of information, news is in fact not value-free and the discursive strategies show ideological distinctions (Fowler 4). Caldas-Coulthard and Moon illustrate this in their research focused on differences in gender categorizations and the stances towards them between broadsheet and tabloid media, through corpus linguistic analysis. Their findings further emphasize the significant amount of difference between the ”the views of the world prepared for tabloid readers and those offered to readers of the broadsheets” (124). However, whilst the theory as mentioned above does suggest the accuracy of this paper, a clear limitation of this study was that the corpus that CaldasCoulthard and Moon utilized (Bank of English) only included data from one tabloid newspaper, The Sun, and further investigation with other popular press data would be necessary to draw conclusions about tabloids in general.

An interesting linguistic analysis regarding the representation of nature in the media was done by Goatly, who created a corpus of BBC World Service discourse and through his application of Systemic Functional Grammar found that nature tends to assume a passive role throughout his corpus. Through this analysis, he attempts to show that consistent linguistic features such as those in his findings might have an effect on the cognition of language according to the Whorfian hypothesis (25). However, his findings rely on the assumption that the BBC World Service provides an unbiased source of information and does not account for any possible framing such as due to the ”elite” status (4) of the BBC World Service or the socio-economic class of its audience. In contrast, Norton and Hulme do provide an ecolinguistic examination of multiple UK newsletters. They identified four ”stories” that are prevalent in regard to climate change reporting: the lukewarmer, ecoactivist, smart growth reformer, and the ecomodernist story (116). However, the linguistic evidence that is provided for these claims is limited and they do not go beyond stating their findings and fail to clearly illus-

trate any linguistic analysis that led to their conclusions.

Thus, the linguistic coverage of environmental communication in newspapers remains insufficient and exposes the necessity for further research.

Finally, before demonstrating the methodology of CDA as it is applied in this paper, it is necessary to establish its sociolinguistic framework. Critical Discourse Analysis is a form of analysis that was developed by Norman Fairclough with the aim of uncovering the ways in which linguistic discourse, which he considers a form of social practice, ”both constitutes the social world and is constituted by other social practices” (Jørgensen and Philips 61). CDA argues that discursive practices contribute to the formation and conservation of unequal power relations between social groups. It has been applied to discursive practices such as those relating to gender (e.g. Caldas-Coulthard & Moon), ethnicities (e.g. Baker et al.), and recently ecolinguists have also started applying it to discursive practices related to ecological contexts. Ecolinguistics, as applied by the aforementioned research of Norton and Hulme, is a subdiscipline of linguistics which is primarily concerned with the construction of the environment and the discourse surrounding ecological matters that structure and influence the stances taken regarding environmental issues. Stibbe, perhaps ecolinguistics’ central figure, has already been discussed in the introduction of this paper.

His ”stories” approach has shaped much of the current ecolinguistic research (e.g. Norton and Hulme,), and he has advocated for the application of CDA. Whilst ecolinguistics often presents itself as an angle which differs from sociolinguistics, it could be argued to be part of the field of sociolinguistics due to its concern with socially constructed (in this case: regarding the environment) discourse and its frequent application of CDA. A linguist who is also associated with linguistic ”stories” such as those that Stibbe refers to is George Lakoff.

Known for his work Metaphors We Live By, in his article ”Why it Matters How We Frame the Environment” he examines the cognitive framing that is currently often applied to environmental discourse. In it, he states that ”the facts, to be communicated, must be framed properly” (73). This, in his view, is not currently the case for global warming and environmental action. Another influential linguist who has stated similar beliefs regarding environmental communication is M.A.K. Halliday. He was one of the first linguists to emphasize the importance of bringing attention to the ways in which grammar promotes ”the ideology of growth, or growthism” and related this to the unbounded nature of resources as presented by grammar (Halliday in Fill and Mulhauser, 196).

Returning to CDA, this framework does not necessarily indicate any specific methodology, but rather provides 9

Dana Zoutman | Climate Change Discourse in Tabloid and Broadsheet Newspapers

a critical perspective through consideration of linguistic features on various different levels of language and their influence on social practices (Baker et al. 273). Recently, CDA has been combined with corpus strategies in various studies. An example of such research was presented by Baker et al., who analyzed a 40-million-word corpus of news articles about refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants and migrants (273) and aimed to provide a framework for future research which adopts corpus approaches to CDA.

Methodology This paper combines corpus-informed CDA with previous research to analyze the different stance-taking in regard to discourse on ”climate change” and ”global warming” in prestige and popular press, and its potential influences on their readerships considering audience design and accommodation theory. In order to collect

the necessary data, the online SiBol corpus was accessed via SketchEngine. The SiBol corpus is also referred to as the English Broadsheet Newspapers corpus and contains data from newspapers between 1993 and 2013 amounting to 650-million words in over 1.5 million articles. With the most recent update of the corpus, SiBol 13, data from the UK tabloids Daily Mail and Daily Mirror from the year 2013 was added to the corpus.

Within the SiBol corpus, I created two sub-corpora: UK broadsheets in 2013 (122,407,369 tokens in total) and UK tabloids in 2013 (37,530,733 tokens in total).

Using these corpora, concordance searches for ”climate change” and ”global warming” were produced (see table 1 and 2). ”Climate change” in the UK broadsheet corpus resulted in 2,992 concordance lines, and 405 in the UK tabloid corpus. Additionally, ”global warming” resulted in 670 hits for prestige press and a mere 155 lines for popular press. Furthermore, collocation patterns were gathered and analyzed.

Left Context

KWIC

Right Context

global outcomes on issues ranging from

climate change

and world trade to Middle East peace

2

more evident than on the subject of climate

climate change

a topic of immeasurable significance

3

has ever had to present to the public? What

climate change

a topic of immeasurable significance

4

protecting our planet from the harmful effects of

climate change

a topic of immeasurable significance

5

at the top table still thought they could master

climate change

a topic of immeasurable significance

6

are rising so fast. Our leaders now treat

climate change

a topic of immeasurable significance

7

Osborne has done the same thing to the UK’s

climate change

a topic of immeasurable significance

8

In the US, 80% of people polled now say that

climate change

a topic of immeasurable significance

1

Table 1. Concordance lines with ”climate change” in Broadsheet 2013 sub-corpus.

Left Context

KWIC

Right Context

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in the case of

global warming

most of those millions aren’t even born yet.

10

in a cosmic equivalent of Grant Theft Auto.

global warming

, as the deniers persist in arguing, would indeed

11

miss their target of no more than 2C of

global warming

this Century. Instead we’re on track for

12

increased flooding as the greatest threat posed by

global warming

in the UK, and 2012 bore this out:

13

a rethink among scientists about the impact of

global warming

, according to Arnell, who says earlier, simpler will lead to further warming, though several

14

climate this century is already in the atmosphere.

global warming

15

We need to accept that increased

global warming

is inevitable and plan on that basis.

16

the government’s own scientists concluding that

global warming

is increasing the risk of flooding, the coalition cut

Table 2. Concordance lines with ”global warming” in Broadsheet 2013 sub-corpus.

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Left Context

KWIC

Right Context

the Met Office has revised its predictions

global warming

whispering that new data suggest there will be

18

known for ages: there is no evidence that

global warming

is happening. The Met Office quietly readjusted

19

predictions they’ve been making about man-made

global warming

these past 20 years have started to come crashing

20

computer models were in no doubt: man-made

global warming

was a very real threat

21

In other words: Never mind that

global warming

stopped in 1997. It will come back

22

the fanatical believer in the great

global warming

religion, who was also responsible

23

an article of faith that not only was man-made

global warming

real and dangerous, but it was the primary

24

They froze me out, because I don’t believe in

global warming

My career dried up.

Table 3. Concordance lines with ”global warming” in Tabloid 2013 sub-corpus.

Left Context

KWIC

Right Context

25

been seized on by sceptics of man-made

climate change

who claim that global warming has flatlined

26

short-term forecasts had improved, but their

climate change

analysis was poor’

27

burying bad news - that they have got their

climate change

forecast wrong

28

This paper keeps an open mind on

climate change

- and accepts that the Met Office’s revised OBSESSION THAT’S MADE THE MET

29

THE CRAZY

climate change

30

has acted as Britain’s foremost cheerleader for

climate change

alarmism

31

In 2007, its Hadley Centre for

climate change

research produced a briefing document for

32

an expert from the Intergovernmental Panel for

climate change

M(IPCC) in the document.

Table 4. Concordance lines with ”climate change” in Tabloid 2013 sub-corpus.

Analysis C oncordance Lines The concordance lines from UK broadsheets in 2013 and UK tabloids in 2013 already illustrate certain discursive differences. Perhaps the most striking of these is the contrast in tenor between these outlets: whereas UK broadsheets call upon scientific and political discourse associations through lexical choices such as ”a topic of immeasurable significance” and ”increasing the risk of flooding”, the UK tabloids align their discourses more closely with opinion pieces through lexical choices such as ”the fanatical believer in the great global warming religion” and ”the crazy climate change obsession”.

This is in line with the findings of Boykoff and Mansfield, who illustrated that the main three differences between tabloids and broadsheets are in their use of tenor, breadth and depth (2). Breadth and depth, whilst less apparent and certainly harder to truly analyze from concordance lines without the rest of the articles provided, should also be considered. From the concordance lines of the UK tabloid sub corpus, two important framing strategies come forward: those with a contrarian or denialist perspective, as well as (the fallacy of) balanced coverage.

Balanced reporting refers to the concept of providing an objective central perspective that considers all sides of an issue in journalism. Whereas this certainly can pro-

vide accurate depictions and considerations for many issues, Boykoff points out that in regard to climate change reports, this ”may instead perpetrate information bias regarding scientific opinions” (470b). As a large consensus in regard to environmental sciences and the climate crisis has been established, balanced coverages considering those scientists as well as the few outliers provide an unbalanced picture of the reality and instead give a much larger voice to those who are not in agreement with the consensus. Many of the concordance lines of the tabloid corpus indicate other perspectives than that of man-made climate change (lines 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 27, and 29). Some of these lines do not only express doubts and divergent perspectives towards climate change but go further and assume a so-called contrarian or denialist perspective. Line 18 explicitly states that ”there is no evidence that global warming is happening” and line 24 outlines the author’s experience as somebody who does not believe in global warming. The broadsheet concordance lines firmly contrast this, with the only mention of a contrarian perspective being line 10: ”Global warming, as the deniers persist in arguing”. Furthermore, whereas the perspective adopted in the contrarian lines of tabloids often aligned with that of the climate denier, line 10 explicitly uses the word ”denier” to indicate the claims are made by another group than the group to which the author belongs.

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Dana Zoutman | Climate Change Discourse in Tabloid and Broadsheet Newspapers

Defining Climate Change and Global thought of in terms of natural causes. Furthermore, she points out that “’global warming’ suggests a clear direcWarming Thus far, the terms ”climate change” and ”global warming” have been used interchangeably. However, a search for collocates in SketchEngine revealed that, while ”climate change” does indeed appear with similar contexts, ”global warming” in tabloids suggests that the use of this phrase in tabloids might be more closely related to the aforementioned contrarian frame, through modifiers such as ”myth” and ”alleged” (see table 5). A possible explanation for this is presented in Whitmarsh’ research regarding public understanding of the terms ”climate change” and ”global warming”, where she finds that ”global warming” tended to be more closely associated with human causes, whereas ”climate change” was often

tion of change towards increasing temperatures; while the implications of ’“climate change’” are more ambiguous” (416). It should be noted that a clear limitation of the information provided in this search for collocates, is that MI-scores could not be accessed.

Whereas this might appear to contrast with the findings in table 5, it is important to keep in mind that many of the tabloid’s considerations regarding global warming concerned a contrarian framework. Thus, if global warming is more closely related to human activity, the use of such modifiers would strengthen their stancetaking by weakening claims regarding global warming with modifiers such as ”myth” and ”alleged”.

”Climate Change”

”Global Warming”

Broadsheet

Tabloid

Broadsheet

Tabloid

man-made

man-made

man-made

man-made

anthropogenic

myth

catastrophic

anticipated

human induced

alleged

dangerous global Table 5. Collocation (modifiers) results.

W hat Corpora (Cannot) Tell You Richardson states that ”it is also important to recognize that textual or journalistic meaning is communicated as much by absence as by presence; as much by what is ‘missing’ or excluded as by what is remembered and present” (93). Thus far, I have not addressed one of the largest weaknesses of this paper: the considerable lack of results in regard to climate change and global warming, especially in the popular press: only 405 tokens for ”climate change” and 155 for ”global warming”.

Considering this Tabloid corpus consists of 37,530,733 tokens; this is significantly low. Corpora cannot give you information about what is not said, however, they might be able to tell you something about what has been said perhaps too infrequently. While Boykoff and Mansfield state that climate change coverage has increased dramatically in recent times (3), this increased amount of coverage is still rather limited in comparison

to broadsheets.

Conclusion In order to outline some of the linguistic differences regarding climate change discourse between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers, this paper has presented a critical overview of relevant research as well as a (preliminary) corpus analysis which looked at the use of ”climate change” and ”global warming” in sub-corpora in the SiBol corpus. The results reveal that climate change discourse indeed varies between the two corpora and supports the aim of this paper to provide a preliminary exploration of what is currently still an understudied part of discourse. Furthermore, through elaborate examination of research in other disciplines as well as relevant linguistic studies, this paper has argued that these results are incredibly relevant to sociolinguistics due to 12

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the divided socio-economic statuses of the readerships associated with these two separate forms of news. The clear framing differences between tabloids and broadsheets thus can be seen as both a mirror of the stances their audience’s take towards climate change and the main flow of information that these audiences are exposed to in regard to climate change. Thus, different socio-economic classes in the UK are currently presented with considerably divergent frames of reference regarding environmental issues. A limitation of this research paper was the corpus information accessible through SketchEngine, as MI-scores could not be obtained for this study. Furthermore, this paper was limited in resources and time, amounting in the use of an online corpus with only a small amount of relevant data, and thus future research in sociolinguistics and ecolinguistics is necessary in order illustrate that different ”stories” about our environment are presented in prestige and popular newspapers.Beyond this particular framework, other potentially revealing future studies in this field could consider the political ideologies of different newspapers or variations between different regional newspapers and how this relates to climate change discourse.

Works Cited Baker, Paul, et al. ”A Useful Methodological Synergy?

Combining Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics to Examine Discourses of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK press.” Discourse & Society 19.3, 2008: 273-306.

Bell, Allan. The Language of News Media. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991.

Boykoff, Maxwell T. (a) ”The Cultural Politics of Climate Change Discourse in UK Tabloids.” Political Geography 27.5 (2008): 549-569.

Boykoff, Maxwell T. (b)”Flogging a Dead Norm? Newspaper Coverage of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the United States and United Kingdom from 2003 to 2006.” Area 39.4 (2007): 470-481.

Boykoff, Maxwell T., and Jules M. Boykoff. ”Balance as Bias: Global Warming and the US Prestige Press.”

Global Environmental Change 14.2 (2004): 125-136.

Boykoff, Maxwell T., and Maria Mansfield. ”‘Ye Olde Hot Aire’: Reporting on Human Contributions to Climate Change in the UK Tabloid Press.” Environmental research letters 3.2, 2008: 024002.

Caldas-Coulthard, Carmen Rosa, and Rosamund Moon. ”‘Curvy, Hunky, Kinky’: Using Corpora as Tools for Critical Analysis.” Discourse & Society 21.2 (2010): 99-133.

Carrington, Damian. ”Why the Guardian is Changing the Language it Uses About the Environment.” The

Guardian, 17 May 2019.

Carvalho, Anabela. ”Ideological Cultures and Media Discourses on Scientific Knowledge: Re-reading News on Climate Change.” Public Understanding of Science 16.2 (2007): 223-243.

Conboy, Martin. Tabloid Britain: Constructing a Community Through Language. Taylor & Francis, 2006.

Conboy, Martin. The Language of the News. Routledge, 2013.

Fairclough, Norman. Media Discourse. London: Edward Arnold, 1995.

Fill, Alwin F., and Hermine Penz, eds. The Routledge Handbook of Ecolinguistics. Routledge, 2017.

Fill, Alwin, and Peter Muhlhausler, eds. Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment.

A&C Black, 2006.

Fill, Alwin, and Peter Muhlhausler, eds. Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment.

A&C Black, 2006.

Fowler, R. (1991) Language in the News. London: Routledge.

Giles, H. & Olgay, T. ”Communication Accommodation Theory,” in B.B. Whaley & W. Samter (Eds.), Explaining Communication: Contemporary Theories and Exemplars (293-310). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2007.

Goatly, Andrew. ”The Representation of Nature on the BBC World Service.” Text and Talk 22.1 (2002): 1-27.

Jørgensen, Marianne W., and Louise J. Phillips. Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method. Sage, 2002.

Lester, Libby. Media and Environment: Conflict, Politics and the News. Polity, 2010.

Norton, Cherry, and Mike Hulme. ”Telling One Story, or Many? An Ecolinguistic Analysis of Climate Change Stories in UK National Newspaper Editorials.” Geoforum (2019).

Richardson, John. Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis. Palgrave, 2006.

Stibbe, Arran. Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories we Live by. Routledge, 2015.

Whitmarsh, Lorraine. ”What’s in a Name? Commonalities and Differences in Public Understanding of “Climate Change” and “Global Warming”.” Public Understanding of Science 18.4 (2009): 401-420.

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Dana Zoutman | Climate Change Discourse in Tabloid and Broadsheet Newspapers

Appendix Newspaper

Socio-economic distribution of readership (NRS social grade: %)

The Sun (and News of the World)

A/B: 11 C1/C2: 56 D/E: 32 The Daily Mail (and Sunday Mail) A/B: 31 C1/C2: 55 D/E: 15 Daily Mirror (and Sunday Mirror) A/B: 13 C1/C2: 56 D/E: 30 Daily Telegraph (and Sunday Telegraph) A/B: 59 C1/C2: 35 D/E: 6 Daily Express (and Sunday Express) A/B: 25 C1/C2: 57 D/E: 18 The Times (and Sunday Times) A/B: 63 C1/C2: 34 D/E: 3 The Guardian (and Observer) A/B: 61 C1/C2: 33 D/E: 6 The Independent (and Sunday Independent) A/B: 57 C1/C2: 40 D/E: 3 Appendix 1. Socio-economic distribution of readership. Accessed via Boykoff (a, 2008), p. 552.

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Claire C.D. Dépit | Hinduism: A Religion of Violence?

Hinduism: A Religion of Violence?

Claire C. D. Dépit| University College Roosevelt In partial fulfilment of the requirements for AH-RELI304 Religion: Ethics and Philosophy taught

by Dr. Ritske Rensma

Abstract The common opinions that Hinduism is a peaceful religion and that interhuman violence has only recently occurred among Hindus might be partially true. However, such statements remain simplistic and fragile for the understanding of Hindu philosophies and history. This paper therefore argues that Hinduism carries contradictory philosophical thoughts and ideas concerning the ethical stance of the religion on interhuman violence, and that certain violent historical events and practices performed in the name of Hinduism have occurred throughout the centuries; meaning that Hinduism has never been fully tolerant and non-violent. As a result of the multi-interpretability of Hindu scriptures and concepts, Hindus have witnessed, throughout history, different events and practices that contradicted each other. While violence and non-violence have coexisted in Hinduism, the religion still does not have a right ethical ideal concerning violence and tolerance.

Finally, the contradictory features of Hindu texts often lead to inter and intra-religious controversies and tensions. These findings result from an interpretative analysis of ancient Hindu concepts, scriptures and epic texts in the topics of human sacrifice, intra-religious violence and warfare, as well as from an analysis of interhuman violent Hindu phenomena: warfare during the Gupta Empire and the practice of the human sacrifice satı̄.

Introduction

and 1930s as the starting periods of interhuman Hindu violence. Both include the influence of fascist EuroWhile probably beginning in the Indus River Valley af- pean ideas and ancient Hindu texts to justify the pheter 3000 B.C., Hinduism carries with it a long history nomenon of interhuman violence in Hinduism. Only that has now crossed continents and has developed a have few scholars such as Doniger (2009) analyzed the great variety of philosophies. Unlike Christianity, Hin- history of Hinduism since 50,000 BCE, which includes duism is a polytheist religion that “does not have a cen- several violent stages. Hence, the current academic detral institutional structure” (Rambachan, 2003, p. 117). bate of ‘how and why has interhuman Hindu violence Hindu do not possess a bible, nor do they follow specific developed in the past Century?’ seems incomplete and beliefs and rituals for a unique God. Yet, Western soci- fragile since such violence has always occurred in differeties often have a singular idea of Hinduism. In the 20th ent branches of Hinduism.

Century, the international ethos of Gandhi portraying This paper is a critique of the common opinions that Hinduism as a religion of non-violence as well as many Hinduism is a tolerant and peaceful religion and that inacademic textbooks such as Koller’s (1982) have fueled terhuman violence in Hinduism is a recent phenomenon the popular Western belief that Hinduism represented that emerged in the 20th Century. Two main arguments are developed and analyzed in order to argue a complete peaceful religion.

While some studies romanticized the features of Hin- against these simplistic common opinions. Firstly, Hinduism, some others attempted to overcome this idealiza- duism carries contradictory philosophical thoughts and tion of Hinduism by claiming that interhuman violence ideas concerning the ethical stance of the religion on in Hinduism had arisen in the 20th Century. Ram- interhuman violence. Such statement will be demonbachan (2003) argues that violent Hindu movements strated through an interpretative analysis of ancient started to arise in 1915 with the establishment of the Hindu scriptures and epic texts in the topics of human Hindu nationalist political party All-India Hindu Maha sacrifice, intra-religious violence and warfare. Since the Sabbha, while Nussbaum (2009) points out the 1920s present paper focuses on interhuman violence, the vio16

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lent features of Hinduism towards animals will be exing others, even if the physical action is not cluded. Secondly, given the infinite possible interpretacarried out, is regarded as hurting them. All tions of Hindus scriptures on interhuman violence, viactions rooted in anger, pride, hatred, greed, olent historical phenomena have occurred in the name and dishonesty are regarded as forms of viof Hinduism, and this since the Indus Valley Civilizaolence and must be renounced and abantion. The present paper will focus on the Guptas Emdoned. (p.127) pire (320-550 CE.) and the Sita practice (ongoing rit- As one of the most fundamental virtues of Hinduism ual).

(Chapple, 1990), ahimsā represents the “absence of the [act and] desire to injure or kill” (Doniger, 2009). It emthe power of intended harmlessness and comContradictions of Hindu philoso- phasizes passion towards the other as well as the non-desire to phies concerning interhuman vio- cause harm. In that way, ahimsā is “based on a vision of the wholeness of existence” (Koller, 1982, p.392). Kāma lence [desire] and bandha or pāśa [attachment] cannot lead to Hinduism has been categorized for a long time in such vision. Instead, they inevitably engender duhkha Western societies as a peaceful and tolerant religion. [illusion and suffering] and avoid any possible way of While focusing on scriptures and epics that encour- enlightenment. The same principle applies to suicide. age ahimsā [non-hurting or non-violence] (Koller, 1982), Destroying one’s own life leads to violating the concept many scholars have skipped Hindu religious texts that of ahimsā. Yet, one can still act violently in certain circould justify interhuman violence. This section first cumstances without damaging their dharma (“religious tries to define and analyze the concept of ahimsā and law, right conduct, duty or social order,” Jones Ryan, its co-existence with violence. It then compares ahimsā 2006). Since ahimsā refers to the absence of specific and other Hindu philosophical ideas with the interpre- actions and desires (i.e. of being harmful), Hinduism tations of two different Hindu scriptures and epics that -according to the definitions of ahimsā- seems to only contradict the common idea that Hinduism is a com- tolerates interhuman violence as long as there is no inplete peaceful religion. The second part of the present tention to injure nor kill. Hence, interhuman violence section is therefore divided into the topics of human in Hinduism could justifiably occur when someone does not have the desire to harm another person. Ahimsā sacrifice, intra-religious violence and warfare.

There is no unique philosophy of Hinduism, rather, does not condemn violence, it condemns the desire to there are many, sometimes intense, variations of Hin- be violent. In that way, one could believe that Hinduism (Fisher, 2010). In that way, Hindu philosophies duism justifies and accepts interhuman violence only in –shaped via scriptures and epics- differently cover the the case of evil threat to the cosmic equilibrium (Kossak notion of violence. Such phenomenon is the same con- & Watts, 2001). In other words, according to the rules cerning definitions of Hindu concepts; there is no unique of ahimsā, interhuman violence would only be tolerated definition. Meanings and cosmologies change over time. as a self-defense or undesired action against malevolent That being said, some philosophical concepts, such as person(s). ahimsā, have better developed and dominated Hindu However, the Hindu sacred texts and scriptures reontology than others. As Vidal, Tarabout and Meyer veal different Hindu ethical positions regarding sacri(1994) argue, the concept of non-violence cannot be de- fices (Vidal, Tarabout & Meyer, 1994). While the fined nor understood without associating it with the Aitareya Brahmana justifies violent animal and human notion of violence [himsā in Sanskrit Transliteration]. sacrifices for deities, the Chāndogyopaniad [Chandogya Both ahimsā and hisā have co-existed together in Hindu Upanishads] forbid the practice in the name of ahimsā philosophies for centuries (Rambachan, 2003). Given (Hume, 1921). The Vedic scripture of the Aitareya the extensive lack of English information about the def- Brahmana of the Rigveda seems to justify human sacinition of himsā in Hinduism, analyzing ahimsā can al- rifices in Hinduism (Prasad, 1995). Such claim is not low us to understand both terms. Koller (1982) provides surprising since sacrifices started to occur during the Indus River Valley Civilisation (before 2000 BCE.). As an extensive explanation of ahimsā: Lochtefelt (2002) points out, these sacrifices aimed to appease deities and protect humans from bad things to Ahimsā implies both action and intention. happen. Human sacrifices continued to occur during the Hurting is defined as harming other living Vedic period from 1500 to 500 BCE. Vidal, Tarabout organisms either deliberately, or by careand Meyer (1994) argue that sacrifice in the Vedic pelessness or neglect, or through actions moriod “serve[d] as the great ordering principle and as the tivated by pride, greed, hatred, prejudice, foundation of the universe itself” (p.201). The authors or desire. But the very intention of harm17

Claire C.D. Dépit | Hinduism: A Religion of Violence?

go on and claim that “in that period, various forms of violence - such as abduction or conquest during contests with other potential sacrificers, or the killing of animals - were exalted since they were inscribed in ritual.” (Vidal, Tarabout & Meyer, 1994). In that way, interhuman violence was sacralized and ritualized for their supposedly positive impact on society.

Vedic scriptures such as the Devi Mahatmya (in which animal and human sacrifices are performed to worship the goddess Cāmundā) and the Aitareya Brahmana of the Rigveda (written between 1000 and 500 BCE.) also portrayed human sacrifices in Hinduism (Rambachan, 2003). A possible interpretation of these religious texts is that they also encouraged and tolerated interhuman violence in Hinduism. The second scripture depicts the story of King Hariścandra who asked the God Varuna to give him a child, for he is childless. In exchange, King Hariścandra will have to sacrifice his child to Varuna.

As Parpola argues (2007), this Hindu epic -also reproduced in the Bhāgavata Purāna- suggests human sacrifices. In the story, deities not only tolerate human sacrifice, but even ask a human to kill another human in order to please the deities. Yet, the practice of violent sacrifices in Hinduism started to be criticized among Hindus towards the end of the Vedic Period.

According to scholars such as Rambachan (2003), the concept of ahimsā emerged from debates about the violent aspect of animal and human Hindu sacrifices. In other words, it appeared as a response to “sacralized violence” in ritual sacrifice (Vidal, Tarabout & Meyer, 1994, p.201). For instance, ahimsā occured in the Chāndogyopanisad in section 3.17 as one of the earliest moral and ethical values of Hinduism (Hume, 1921; Bodewitz, 1999). The Chāndogyopanisad indeed prohibit animal and human sacrifices in Hinduism. In this important Hindu scripture from about 600 B.C. (Olivelle, 1998), ahimsā is portrayed as one of the five fundamental virtues of Hinduism in section 3.17.4. The elaboration of the ahimsā principle in the Upanisad led to the prohibition of animal and human sacrifices. It imposed non-violence towards animals and other humans.

The interpretational analysis of the Aitareya Brahmana demonstrates the contradictory Hindu philosophies concerning violence as well as the tension that they produce. Vidal, Tarabout and Meyer greatly summarize such argument: “Vedism is far from proposing a uniform point of view. From the most ancient hymns to the later texts, it is possible to trace an evolution, as well as contrasting positions.” (1994, p.201).

Finally, possible interpretations of Hindu scriptures and epics such as the Vaśistha Dharmasūtra and the epic story of Paraśurāma also contradict the notion of ahisā.

Such contradiction might lead to opposite ethical positions on inter-caste violence and warfare in Hinduism.

Since ancient times, the Hindu varna [caste system] refers to a hierarchical categorization of Hindus depending on their karma and dharma (Hiltebeitel, 2011). The Hindu caste system originally included four hierarchical classes: the Brāhmanas (priests, teachers, traders, warriors), the Kshatriya (rulers and warriors), the Vaisya (merchants, farmers and traders) and the Śūdra (laborers). It then added a fifth one for the avarna [outcastes]: the Dalit (tribal and “untouchable” individuals) (Fowler, 1997; Olivelle, 1999). Although Olivelle’s translation of the Vaśistha Dharmasūtra argues that it promotes ahimsā, it seems clear that contradictory interpretations can be developed in the religious text. First, the Vasistha Dharmasutra significantly emphasizes the hierarchical position between the different castes. For instance, the section 2.8-9 of the Vasistha Dharmasutra forbids social interaction with outcastes (which later became the fifth caste, the Dalits). Section 12.8-11 is also an example of inter-caste inequality in Hinduism: If a Kshatriya hurls abusive words at a [Brāhmana], he shall be fined a hundred; if there is physical violence, the fine is doubled. [. . . ] A [Brāhmana] guilty of the same crime against a Kshatriya, on the other hand, shall be fined fifty. (Olivelle, 1999, p.98).

This passage demonstrates that individuals from the highest caste are twice as less punished than the ones belonging to the second highest caste. Secondly, the difference in terms of sanction is even higher between the Brāhmanas and the Śūdras (Olivelle, 1999). Yet, and this underlines the contradictory features of the text, section 4.4 of the Vaśistha Dharmasūtra highly supports -or rather obligates- all humans to live according to the concept of ahimsā, no matter their varna: “Speaking the truth, refraining from anger, giving gifts, not killing living creatures, and fathering children – these are common to all classes” (Olivelle, 1999, p.261). Even though one could argue that these arguments do not demonstrate nor justify inter-caste violence, further interpretations of the scripture must be undertaken. Some other passages of the text seem to promote interhuman violence in a opposite way to the rules of ahimsā in the Upanisad (Hume, 1921). For instance, section of 1.25.7 of the Vaśistha Dharmasūtra claims that:

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When someone not belonging to the first social class kills a man belonging to the first class, he should go and stand in a battlefield, where they would kill him. Or else, he may have his body hair, skin, and flesh offered as a sacrifice in a fire and then throw himself into that fire. (Olivelle, 1999, p.36).

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This passage seems contradictory with previous passages and the concept of ahimsā. It supports voluntary violence whereas, as mentioned previously, ahimsā only tolerates violence in case of self-defense and unintendedness. The book is even self-contradictory since it claims in section 29.1-3 that “a man who refrains from causing injury to living beings goes to heaven” (Olivelle, 1999, p.324). Punishing through violence seems therefore accepted and encouraged in this scripture of Hinduism.

Moreover, individuals are not all equal with the sanction of their crime. The upper castes are less punished (and less violently) than the lower castes. This interpretation of the Hindu caste system easily leads to inter-caste tensions and violence. The interpretational analysis of another Hindu epic could validate such violence. For instance, a possible explanation of the story of the sixth avatar of the deity Visnu -called Paraśurāma - could justify intra-religious violence in Hinduism. Paraśurāma was portrayed in the Bhāgavata Purāna as a sage carrying a paraśhu [axe] who belonged to the Brāhmana caste (Jones & Ryan, 2006). He killed the Kshatriya’s king as well as his army, for they were abusing their military power to occupy other Hindus’ estate (Lochtefeld, 2002). Although the story depicts Paraśurāma as a savior and fighter of evil, his action did not involve selfdefense nor unintendedness. Instead, it entailed bravery. He was not a direct victim of the Kshatriyas’ behavior, which was, by the way, depicted as an inferior caste. What matters here is not whether this action is accepted in the concept of ahimsā, but rather how individuals can interpret such story. Indeed, one could believe to be the reincarnation of a deity or of a hero such as Paraśurāma, especially among Brāhmanas. It must also be acknowledged that many Hindu goddesses and gods were depicted as violent in Vedic scriptures. As Cotterell (2009) points out, while deities often behaved violently against evil forces, some of them were even the “representations of death and destruction” (p.402).

For instance, the Goddess Kālı̄ and the God Śiva often symbolizes destruction of demons in epics and iconographies (Koller, 1982). Kālı̄ is often represented with “her tongue hanging out in search of blood.” (Cotterell, 2009, p.376). In that way and in the name of Hinduism, the individual claiming to be a reincarnation of a Hindu hero or deity could justify violent actions towards other humans. He or she could claim to be the savior against demons and therefore engage in warfare. Moreover, any individuals could believe to see evil forces among certain other people, and that these people must therefore be killed. This interpretation of the epic can therefore justify intra and interreligious violence in Hinduism. Overall, Hindu philosophies justify interhuman violence in different circumstances, which sometimes significantly contradict each other. Given the previous analysis of

the concept of ahimsā in Hindu scriptures, interhuman violence seems to be only tolerated when it occurs intentionally or in self-defense. Yet, further interpretations of Hindu religious texts and epics demonstrate that violence can be justified in many other ways.

Violence in non-modern Hindu history: Focus on two historical phenomena Historical circumstances play an important role in the emergence of interhuman violence in Hinduism (Doniger, 2009). Throughout history, Hindus have acted violently while justifying it via the Hindu philosophies of ahimsā. In that way, they argued that their violence was an act of unintended-ness, protection or self-defense.

Hindus have experienced several periods of stigmatization, discrimination, violence and warfare towards them (Nussbaum, 2009). For instance, during the Muslim hegemony in India, the Delhi Sultanate invaded a large part of the Indian subcontinent from about 1200 to 1500 CE. This period led to several violent actions towards Hindus, for the Islamic rulers performed raids and conquests (Houben, & van Kooij, 1999). However, during non-modern times, Hindus have also committed, in the name of Hinduism, interhuman violence which was forbidden by ahimsā. Yet, this does not mean that they were not acting according to any Hindu concepts. The quasi infinite ethical and philosophical interpretations of Hindu scriptures and epic texts might have led to such events. This section therefore analyses two of these interhuman violent historical phenomena of Hinduism: warfare during the Gupta Empire (320-550 CE.) and the practice of the human sacrifice satı̄ throughout history (see Appendix A for more information).

The warfare led by the Hindu Gupta Dynasty (during the Classical Age and Medieval Period) supports the argument that Hindus have committed interhuman violence before modern times. Such behavior -although contradicting the concept of ahimsā present in many scriptures- can be justified by other philosophical ideas and interpretations of religious texts of Hinduism.

The historical context of this phenomenon must first be presented in order to prove its Hindu origins and nature. The rise of the Gupta Empire occurred in the major parts of the Indian subcontinent, or what is now called Pakistan, Kashmir, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India, and lasted from 320 to 550 CE. Throughout its reign, the Empire have witnessed up to seventeen rulers (Augustyn et al., 2019). The period of the Gupta Empire often symbolizes the “Golden Age

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Claire C.D. Dépit | Hinduism: A Religion of Violence?

of India” and more specifically of Hinduism. Indeed, the Gupta Dynasty developed sciences (e.g. “decimal system of notation”), Sanskrit epics and Hindu art (e.g. they built many Hindu temples such as the Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh) (Augustyn et al., (2019). Although there are academic controversies about the original caste of the Guptas, the dynasty was Hindu (Singh, 2008).

Some scholars argue that Guptas were initially Vaisyas (Agrawal, 1989), others claimed they were Brāhmanas (Sharma, 1989). The Gupta Dynasty highly promoted Hinduism throughout its reign (Mookerji, 1959), while encouraging Buddhism and Jaininsm as well. For instance, all Gupta Emperors performed Hindu rituals.

Both Samudragupta (ruling from around 335 C.E or 350 CE. to 375 CE.) and his grandchild Kumaragupta I (ruling from 415 CE. to 455 CE.) performed aśvamedha (i.e. the royal Vedic rituals of horse sacrifices), to celebrate their military victories (such as Kumaragupta I’s against the Western Huna people and the Pushyamitras tribe) (Agrawal, 1989; Sharma, 1989). Moreover, the Gupta Dynasty delivered new coins based on Hindu symbolism to mark each new Emperor’s reign. For example, Samudragupta’s coins represented, among other Hindu symbols, the bird-creature Garuda with a longbow, portrayed in Hindu mythology (see Appendix B, Fig.1).

While there were no interreligious conflicts between Hindus, Buddhists and Jains during the “Golden Age” (Mookerij, 1997, p.133), the Guptas, as a Hindu Dynasty, committed violence that contradicts the rules of ahimsā. Many scholars such as Mookerijn, (1997), Majumdar (1960) and Kaushik (2015) argue that the Gupta Empire expanded by engaging in political alliances and warfare. The second factor is a relevant evidence to the argument that the Gupta Dynasty performed voluntary interhuman violence in the name of Hinduism. Agrawal (1989) claims that while Samudragupta -the father of Chandragupta II- developed “subordinate [political] alliance” with the Shakas, Chandragupta, however, fully conquered them afterwards.

According to Majumdar (1960) and Dasgupta (1981), literary and historical elements prove that Chandragupta II widened his territory through the achievement of many military successes. For example, he also defeated the Western Kshatrapas (also known as Shakas) until 409 in order to monopolize three additional regions of West-central India. Samudragupta was not peaceful either. As he also killed many kings of India for similar purposes, ancient epics referred to him as a “military conqueror”. For instance, he conquered eight kings of Aryavarta in northern India and all the kings of the forest region in central India (Agrawal, 1989). The reasons for such violence are not justified by self-defense nor unintendedness. The Guptas were not threatened

until they decided to rise an Empire and conquer other tribes and kingdoms. Rather, desire, greed and pride aroused the involvement of the Gupta Dynasty in warfare. The Guptas sought power through the extension of their own realm. To do so, they had to harm and kill -often innocent- people.

As previously mentioned, the notion of ahimsā in the Upanisad, justifies violence in case of self-defense and lack of desire to hurt (since desire and attachment inevitably lead to illusion and suffering, which prevent enlightenment) (Hume, 1921). In that way, the intra and inter-religious violence of the Gupta Dynasty cannot be tolerated according to such principles. Yet, and depending on interpretation, the attitude of the Guptas can also be tolerated in other Hindu scriptures and epics, such as the story of Paraśurāma, the Goddess Kālı̄, the God Śiva, etc. (developed in the last section of the first part of the paper).

Finally, the religious practice of satı̄ [chaste wife] proves that Hindus have committed interhuman violence before modern times and that such act contradicts the well-known philosophical concept of ahimsā. As Leslie (1993) claims, satı̄ was “the death of a woman on her husband’s funeral pyre” or in some other ways soon after his death (p.45). This Hindu practice came from a Hindu mythological event called the Daksha yajna (Rezaeian, 2015). The goddess Sati was married to Śiva -who represents one of the most important Hindu deities (Gavin, 1996)- despite her father Daksa’s disapproval. The god Daksa indeed expected his daughter to marry someone from another influential empire in order to develop his own empire. According to the legend, Sati performed self-immolation, for she could not handle Daksa’s humiliation and insult to Śiva and herself (Menon, 2011) (see Appendix B, Fig.2).

The custom of satı̄ was for the first times officially depicted in the famous epic Mahābhārata (Pandu’s widow, four widows of Sasudeva and five of Krishna committed satı̄) probably written in 400 CE., and by the Greek author Diodorus Siculus (he described the war between Eumenes of Cardia and Antigonus Monophthalmus in Iran in around 100 BCE) (Eraly, 2011; Sagar, 1992).

The practice of satı̄ then developed throughout the centuries (Rezaeian, 2015). There is yet no reliable evidence of its frequency before the modern times. However, a large number of satı̄ memorials -sometimes 1500 years old- have been found in India (Doniger, 2019).

Apart from being conveyed via Hindu epics and practiced throughout the centuries, what makes the practice of satı̄ even more violent and interhuman is that it is justified and supported by Hindu scriptures. For example, the Visnu Smrti book written between 700 and 1000 CE explicitly encourages such practice. Section 25.14 of the religious text mentions that “when a woman’s husband

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has died, she should either practice ascetic celibacy or ascend (the funeral pyre) after him” (Brick, 2010). Satı̄ seems therefore very encouraged to perform in the Visnu Smrti. As Brick goes on, the same phenomenon occurs in section 4.29-31 of the Parasara Smriti:

strated that certain violent historical events and practices performed in the name of Hinduism -such as the Guptas’ conquests and the satı̄ ritual- have occurred throughout the centuries; meaning that the religion has never been fully tolerant.

Hence, one can argue that Hinduism does not have a If a woman adheres to a vow of ascetic right ethical ideal concerning violence and tolerance. celibacy [brahmacārya] after her husband Instead, each scripture, story, text and practice of the has died, then when she dies, she obtains religion conveys various messages and can be differently heaven, just like those who were celibate. interpreted. Moreover, the contradictory features of Further, three and a half krores or however Hindu texts often lead to inter and intra-religious conmany hairs are on a human body – for that troversies and tensions. Violence and non-violence colong a time (in years) a woman who follows exist in Hinduism. Yet, no-one may pretend to know her husband (in death) shall dwell in heaven. how they should live together. It is not possible to (p.203-223). comprehend what interpretation is right and to what extent violence is accepted and justified by the religion.

In this passage, satı̄ women are promised to find heaven.

As a result of the multi-interpretability of Hindu scripThis could again be interpreted as an inspiration for tures and concepts, Hindus have witnessed, throughout many Hindu women. Yet, there have been attempts history, different events and practices that contradicted to prohibit such practice within Hinduism. As Rezaeach other. As Olivelle (1999) claims, “the Vedas and ejan (2015) argues, satı̄ remains a forbidden example the traditional texts are a source of Dharma knowledge, of the history of Hinduism. The main argument of the but these do not offer guidance or conflict, then the opponent to this Hindu ritual is that it significantly conpractices of ”cultured men free from desires and tangitradicts the concepts of ahimsā, which stipulates that ble motives” [quoted from the Vasistha Dharmasutra] taking one’s own life is as sinful as murdering someconstitute what is right.” (p.248-249). one else. Although the practice only became illegal in From spiritual non-violence and practical violence, to 1829 with the British Suttee Regulation Act, cases of spiritual violence and practice non-violence, the present satı̄ still occur and create a lot of controversy among findings raise new questions in the field of social sciHindus (Doniger, 2019). Finally, some scholars such as ences. Why has Hinduism been categorized as a peaceLeslie (1993) and Doniger (2019) argue that satı̄ has ful religion in Western societies? Why do scholars focus not always been a voluntary practice, but rather comon a so-called recent rise of violence in Hinduism? Furpulsory and forced. Although there is no evidence that ther research could probably shed light on this difficult the last statement has been promoted in Hindu scripand controversial topic that is violence in Hinduism. tures and epic texts, the reality of these terrible events is present, and they lead us to question the common opinions that Hinduism is a complete tolerant and peaceful References religion which had only recently started to experience Agrawal, A. (1989). Rise and Fall of the Imperial Gupinterhuman violence. tas. Motilal Banarsidass.

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Mashhadi, M. A. (1657). Miniature depicting the sati ritual of self-immolation. In N. Khabushani

(Ed.), Suz va gudaz (Burning and melting). Retrieved from http://ijpsychiatrybs.com/en/articles/1581.ht ml#A 1581REF4 Menon, R. (2011). Siva: The Siva Purana Retold. Rupa and Co. Mookerji, R. (1959). The Gupta Empire. Bombay: Hind Kitabs.

Nussbaum, M. C. (2009). The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India’s Future. Belknap Press.

Olivelle, P. (1998). Upaniads. Oxford University Press.

Olivelle, P. (1999). Dharmasutras: The Law Codes of Ancient India. Oxford University Press.

Olivelle, P. (2014), The Early Upanishads. Oxford University Press, 12-14.

Parpola, A. (2007). The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Prasad, N. R. V. (1995). Special. The Andhra Pradesh Journal of Archaeology, 3(2), 3.

Rambachan, A. (2003). The co-existence of violence and non-violence in Hinduism. The Ecumenical Review, 55(2), 115-121.

Sagar, K. C. (1992). Foreign Influence on Ancient India.

Northern Book Centre.

Sathaye, A. A. (2015). Crossing the Lines of Caste: Visvamitra and the Construction of Brahmin Power in Hindu Mythology. Oxford University Press.

Sharma, T. R. (1989). A Political History of the Imperial Guptas: From Gupta to Skandagupta. Concept.

Sharma, S., & Sharma, U. (2005). Cultural and Religious Heritage of India: Hinduism. Motilal Banarsidass, 9-10.

Singh, U. (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India.

Vidal, D., Tarabout, D., & Meyer, E. (1994). On the concepts of violence and non-violence in Hinduism and Indian society. South Asia Research, 14(2), 196-213.

Appendix A Chronological Order Historical periods of Hinduism Analyzed historical phenomena

before 2000 BCE The Indus Valley Civilization sita practice

1500500 BCE The Vedic Period sita practice

Table 1. Historical Table of Hinduism, based on Flood, 1996

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500 BCE500 CE The Epic, Puranic & Classical Age sita practice & Gupta Empire (320-550 CE)

5001500 CE Medieval Period

15001757 CE Pre-Modern Period

17571947 CE British Period

1947 CEnowadays Independent India

sita practice & Gupta Empire (320-550 CE)

sita practice

sita practice

sita practice

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Appendix B

Figure 1. Samudragupta’s gold dinar, (335-380 CE.). (CoinIndia, n.d.).

Figure 2. Full-colored illustration of a female Hindu practicing satı̄, by Muhammad Ali Mashhadi (1657).

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Discovery of the Higgs Boson Aditi Sharma | University College Roosevelt In partial fulfilment of the requirements for SCI-PHYS302 Particle Physics taught by Dr. Leo de Wit

Abstract This paper explores various online articles and literary sources that report on the results of the experiments carried out at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva between 2010 and 2012. These results not only confirmed the existence of the long sought after Higgs Boson, but also furthered our understanding of the realm of particle physics as a whole. The initial sections of the paper focus on explaining the Standard Model which can be thought of as the alphabets that make up the language of Particle Physics. In addition to the Standard Model, the first few sections also mention the Higgs Field, Higgs Mechanism, the history and timeline of the detectors, and other essential definitions that help set up the premise of the paper and provide context for the later sections of the paper. The second half of the paper focuses on the more technical topics like the research methodology, the experimental procedure and the data and results. The last few sections of the paper focus on interpreting the data and results produced at CERN in such a manner that is understandable to the lay audience. Furthermore, this paper does not intend to build on the already existing knowledge but rather, it focuses on presenting it in a fashion that makes the fundamentals of particle physics clear and somewhat fascinating and almost appealing to anyone who reads it.

Introduction

quarks and leptons. Each of the two groups has six constituent particles divided into three generations and On 4th July 2012, the discovery of a new sub-atomic related via pairs. The lightest and most stable partiparticle with mass between 125 and 127 GeV was an- cles fall under the first generation whilst the heavier nounced in a massive press conference at CERN’s Large and the less stable ones are classified under the second Hadron Collider. Here, GeV or Giga electron-Volts is and third generation. The six quarks are paired as up nothing but a measure of energy. In our context, mass quark and down quark falling under the first generais measured in terms of energy because they are equiv- tion followed by the charm quark and the strange quark alent according to Einstein’s equation E = mc2 . This making the second generation, and finally, the top and newly observed particle was none other than the long bottom quark constituting the third generation. These sought-after Higgs Boson. This proved to be a very im- quarks are what make up the nucleus since they are portant scientific discovery since it not only confirmed the building blocks of protons and neutrons. The lepthe existence of a Higgs Field and further validated the tons behave in a similar fashion as in, they also have 6 Standard Model of particle physics, but it also provided members divided into three generations via pairs. The an explanation for the origin of mass of subatomic par- electron and its associated neutrino which is the electicles and the particles responsible for making up the tron neutrino make up the first generation, the muon world around us. and the muon neutrino make up the second generation, and finally the tau and the tau neutrino make the third generation. The electron, the muon and the tau all A Description of The Standard Model: have an electric charge and a sizeable mass. In fact, to The Standard Model describes the elementary particles put leptons into perspective, the muon and the tau can of matter and three out of the four fundamental forces. be thought of as heavier versions of a more commonly These elementary particles indeed make up all matter known lepton that is the electron. However, the neuknown to man and can be classified into two groups: trinos associated with these leptons are all electrically 25

Aditi Sharma | Discovery of the Higgs Boson

neutral and have very little mass (CERN Accelerating science).

Additionally, the three fundamental forces explained by the Standard Model namely, Electromagnetic, Weak, and Strong force are the forces via which all elementary particles interact. Electromagnetism describes the type of physical interaction that occurs between electrically charged particles. The weak force describes the interac-

tion between subatomic particles and is responsible for the radioactive decay of atoms. Lastly, the strong force is responsible for binding elementary particles like nucleons together. These fundamental forces are mediated by their associated gauge bosons which are carriers of the force. The gauge bosons of Electromagnetic, Weak and Strong force are Photons (γ), W (±) and Z bosons, and gluons (g) respectively.

Figure 1. The Standard Model showing all the Quarks and Leptons placed in their generation along with the force carriers and the Higgs Boson.

The Higgs Field: The concept of a field is somewhat harder to understand however, a field can be thought of as something that permeates space and holds energy. Every fundamental field has a particle associated with it. In that sense, the

Higgs Boson is the particle associated with the Higgs field and is produced as a visible manifestation of agitating the Higgs field. The Higgs field was first proposed by Englert and Higgs in 1964. This was around the time when physicists realized the close relations between the electromagnetic and weak force. The sim26

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ilarities led them to believe that the two fundamental forces can be unified as one force called the Electroweak force. The Electroweak force interacts with subatomic particles via its force carriers which are the Photon (γ), W (±) bosons and Z boson. However, the equations of the Electroweak theory theorize the force carriers to be massless. Whilst this is true for the photon, we know that the two charged W+ and W- bosons and the single neutral Z boson have masses of around 80 GeV and 90 GeV respectively.

The Higgs Mechanisms: To explain the aforementioned inconsistency of boson masses, Englert and Higgs proposed the Brout-EnglertHiggs mechanism or the BEH mechanism which gives mass to the W and Z boson in the Electroweak theory.

The BEH mechanism implies that the more a particle interacts with the Higgs Field, the more mass it has.

To make this easier to understand, think of elementary particles moving through the Higgs field as marbles being dropped into a vat of molasses. We can see that these marbles face some resistance because of the viscous nature of molasses as they move through it. The same goes for elementary particles like electrons and protons such that, when they move through this cosmic molasses that we call the Higgs field; they interact with it and face resistance that we perceive as the particle’s mass. The more resistance a particle faces from the Higgs field, the more massive it appears. However, having said that, some particles like the photon don’t interact at all with the Higgs field and hence emerge massless. Hence, the discovery of the Higgs Boson was of great importance as it not only proved the existence of the Higgs field but also helped us better understand the origin of masses of subatomic particles. Additionally, some other properties of the Standard Model Higgs boson include it having spin zero and having no electric charge. It is also very unstable and decays into other particles almost immediately, making it very hard to detect them not only because of the lack of technology, but also because of its fundamental properties.

The rest of this paper is going to briefly discuss the technological advancements and research methods that were employed to discover the Higgs boson along with other particle physics concepts that are essential to understand the Higgs mechanism and why it took around 5 decades to discover this particle.

How the Particle Was Discovered History and Timeline of the Detectors: The first attempts to search for the Higgs Boson was carried out at the Large Electron–Positron Collider

(LEP) at CERN which operated from 1989 to 2000.

Although the LEP had found no conclusive evidence at the end of its run, it did help scientists narrow down the possible mass interval of the Higgs boson. The LEP results led scientists to the lower limit of the mass of the particle which was found to be around 114 GeV (Gray & Mansoulié, 2019).

Meanwhile at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Chicago, Illinois, the Tevatron that preceded the LHC collider had been colliding protons with antiprotons and was beginning to make some progress with Higgs Bosons of mass around 160 GeV. However, the Tevatron could not keep up with the LHC in the sense that it could not reach energy levels as high as the LHC and thus had to shut down operations on 30th September 2011. Their analysis of the data showed a small but not significant, excess of events possibly indicating a Higgs boson with a mass between 115 GeV and 140 GeV (Gray & Mansoulié, 2019).

CERN on the other hand, continued to make progress with their colliders and detectors. In 1984, scientists and engineers at CERN considered installing an accelerator in the LEP tunnel with very high collision energy to explore the full possible mass range for the Higgs.

However, the accelerator would only be able to explore this range provided that the intensity of the beam was very high. Using a beam of such high intensity however, also meant that most interesting collisions would be accompanied by a lot of background signals. Since the detectors and accelerators in the 1980s lacked the technology to separate signal and background from the collision of such high-energy, high-intensity beams; several conferences and research and design projects were initiated to overcome the obstacles. This resulted in the proposal of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) and its detectors ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) and CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiments in 1993.

After another four years, in 1997, the experiments were approved, and their construction commenced. Finally, after about two decades of construction, the LHC and its detectors ATLAS and CMS were finally completed and installed in 2008 to confirm or exclude the existence of the Higgs boson (Jakobs & Seez, 2015). The LHC is located near Geneva in a 27 km long tunnel and was designed to collide beams of protons at an energy of 7 TeV in the beginning and later at 14 TeV. This is shown in Figure 2. TeV or Tera electron-volts is another measure of energy and equals 1000 GeV. The building of these accelerators and detectors was a massive scientific endeavor which is why the member countries of CERN invested billions of dollars in the accomplishment of this project. According to the CERN website, the total construction cost of LHC and its detectors was around 1500 million CHF (CERN Accelerating science).

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Aditi Sharma | Discovery of the Higgs Boson

Figure 2: The 27km long LHC ring with its detectors ATLAS and CMS

Higgs Production:

second most important process is the radiation of W or Z bosons from quarks, which fuse to produce a Higgs To observe the Higgs boson, scientists at the LHC first boson, as shown in Figure 3b. This process is referred to had to investigate several methods to produce it. Due to as vector-boson fusion (VBF). Additionally, there exist the abundance of gluons the most important production two other significant contributions to the Higgs producprocess for the Standard Model Higgs boson at the LHC tion mechanism, generally referred to as the associated is gluon fusion (Figure 3a). This production process also production of a Higgs boson with a vector boson (W happens to have the largest cross section (that is, area or Z) (Figure 3c), and with a pair of top and anti-top between the two particles within which they must meet quark (tt¯) (Figure 3d) (Jakobs & Seez, 2015). in order to scatter from each other) at the LHC. The

Figure 3: A representation of the various Higgs production methods.

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The predicted production cross-sections for a Standard Model Higgs at energy of 8 TeV are shown in Figure 2 as a function of the Higgs boson mass. It’s interesting to note that at the time these graphs were created, the mass of the Higgs boson was unknown meaning,

scientists were only theorizing the most probable mass of the Higgs bosons based on the most probable production cross-section. In Figure 4, the horizontal axis represents the mass of Higgs boson and the vertical axis represents the cross-section for the Higgs boson.

Figure 4: Predicted Production cross-sections of the Higgs Boson at energy 8TeV (from the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working group (2011,2012,1013)).

Higgs Decay:

individual decay mode with respect to the total number of particles which decay. Figure 5 also shows that the Another important piece of information needed to sucmost likely decay mode of the Higgs boson for its mass cessfully detect the Higgs boson is its possible decay of 125 GeV is into a pair of bottom quarks. This decay modes. Depending on its mass, the Higgs is predicted mode was only recently observed and confirmed in Auto decay into one of the many known standard model gust of 2018 by the ATLAS detector at CERN (Jakobs particles. The particles it decays into and the way it & Seez, 2015). does is called its decay mode. It is important to know Furthermore, to observe the decay of the Higgs boson the Higgs main decay modes because the particle itself as mentioned above, the quarks and gluons present inis very short-lived and can only be indirectly observed side the protons must collide head-on, instead of just a via the particles it decays into. Hence, physicists preglancing collision such that, any new particles produced dicted the following decay modes: into pairs of photons, via these collisions manifest themselves through disinZ bosons, W bosons, τ leptons and b quarks. This is tegration into the well-known particles of the standard illustrated in Figure 5 where the horizontal axis repremodel as mentioned above. An actual representation sents the mass of the Higgs and the vertical axis repfrom the data collected from one of these head-on colliresents the branching fraction for a decay. Branching sions is presented in (Figure 6).

Fraction is the fraction of particles which decay by an 29

Aditi Sharma | Discovery of the Higgs Boson

Figure 5: Predictions for the branching fractions of a Higgs boson as a function of its mass. For the Higgs mass of 125, the most likely decay mode is shown to be a pair of bottom quarks. (from the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working group (2011,2012,1013)).

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Figure 6: A visual representation of the collisions taking place in the CMS detecto.

Data and Results The mass of a Higgs Boson is not predicted by theory however, we know that for a given mass, all its other properties can be predicted. Hence in 2010, the LHC started to collect data after running various experiments to narrow down the possible mass range of the Higgs boson. By 2011, ATLAS experiments reported a mass range of 116-130 GeV and CMS reported a mass range of 115-127 GeV. Around the same time, physicists also noticed a small excess in the Higgs decay to two W bosons for a mass around 140 GeV. Furthermore, around the same mass, a small excess in the Higgs boson decay to two photons was also observed. Run 1 or the first LHC data-taking period lasted about 3 years, from April 2010 to February 2013 during which the collision energy was raised to 8 TeV in 2012. This led to a large amount of data being observed at the end of this run. About 5 billion events, from the examination of some 2000 trillion proton–proton interactions, was recorded in Run 1 by each of the two experiments, ATLAS and CMS (Gray & Mansoulié, 2019).

However, even after predicting the Higgs decay mode and having high energy colliders, it is still quite challenging to detect a Higgs boson as there often tends to be a lot of background signals or signals that are of no

use to us in our detection of the Higgs boson. Hence, very sophisticated analysis techniques are required to differentiate between a significant signal of events of interest and the large backgrounds from other processes.

In research in the field of particle physics, significance is measured in , or a number of standard deviations of the normal distribution. Typically, a significance of 3σ is regarded as evidence, while 5σ is labeled as an observation (Gray & Mansoulié, 2019). To put this into context, a significance of 5σ would mean that the probability of a statistical snafu would be less than 1 in a million. After interpreting all the data and combining all the decay channels, physicists notice that the Standard Model Higgs could be excluded for almost all masses, leaving us with a small window around mass of 125 GeV where an excess was observed via the Higgs decaying into a pair of photons, and into two Z bosons which further decay into four leptons.

Hence, on 4th July 2012, in a joint seminar between ATLAS and CMS, the collaboration announced that both the detectors had independently observed a particle with the properties of the Standard Model Higgs Boson. Both ATLAS and CMS witnessed an excess at the theorized mass of the Higgs boson which was 125 GeV with significance exceeding 5σ indicating that the probability of getting a result so significant by chance alone

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Aditi Sharma | Discovery of the Higgs Boson

is less than 1 in 3 million. (Gray & Mansoulié, 2019).

This is shown in Figure 7 where the red line represents the number of events assuming Higgs existence and the dotted line represents the number of events without the

Higgs. To conclude the session, CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer declared, “I think we have it.” (Gray & Mansoulié, 2019).

Figure 7: Results from the CMS experiment showing a clear peak at a mass of approximately 125 GeV as a result of the Higgs decaying into a pair of photons.

Conclusion The findings announced in the 2012 seminar were truly a huge scientific achievement and it did not go unnoticed. On 8th October 2013, decades of scientific research and analysis were finally paid off. François Englert and Peter Higgs -the man himself who theorized this particle- were jointly awarded the Nobel prize in physics “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider” (The Nobel Prize, 2013). This discovery of the Higgs boson reinforced the foundation of particle physics and exposed us to a whole new plethora of questions that still remain unanswered.

Can the Higgs boson help answer these questions and help us better understand the world we live in? Well, only time will tell.

References CERN Accelerating science. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2019, from https://home.cern/resources/faqs/factsand-figures-about-lhc Gianotti, F. & Virdee, TS. (2015). The discovery and measurements of a Higgs boson.Phil. Trans.

R. Soc. A 373: 20140384.

Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0384 Jakobs, K. & Seez, C. (2015). The Higgs Boson discovery. Scholarpedia, 10(9):32413. Retrieved from http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/The Higgs Boson discovery 32

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The

Higgs boson. (n.d.).

Retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2013/ https://home.cern/science/physics/higgs-boson summary/ Gray, H. & Mansoulié, B. (2019, July 8).

The CERN Accelerating science. (1n.d.). Retrieved April Higgs boson: the hunt, the discovery, the study 24, 2019, from https://home.cern/science/physics/ and some future perspectives. Retrieved from standard-model https://atlas.cern/updates/atlas-feature/higgsATLAS and CMS Collaborations, (2015).

Comboson bined Measurement of the Higgs Boson The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013.

NoMass, Phys.

Rev. Lett.

114: 33. belPrize.org.

Nobel Media AB 2019. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.191803.

Thu. 9 May 2019.

Retrieved from

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Sleep and Sleep Deprivation: A Review on Causes, Consequences, and Treatment.

Zoë Drielsma| University College Roosevelt In partial fulfilment of the requirements for SCI-LIFE202 Human Physiology taught by Dr. Frans van Overveld

Abstract Sleep is an important process for maintaining homeostasis in humans. It is regulated by the circadian rhythm, and physiological pathways. When a patient has an abnormal sleep pattern, it can lead to a disturbance of day to day life, and over a longer period of time lead to more serious health problems like diabetes and coronary heart disease. The mechanism behind both normal and abnormal sleep remains partially unknown, and treatment is therefore far from perfect. Sleep medication is known to induce side effects such as development of tolerance and dependence. The effect on people’s day to day life, long term health, and the rising prevalence over the last decades, make sleep an important field for both current and future research.

Introduction It is the beginning and the end of every day for humans, as certain as the sun rising every morning, and yet so mysterious. In all its importance and regularity, the science behind sleep is still mostly unknown. Sleep is essential for optimizing human physiology, behavior, and health (Stanley, 2005, pp. 17–23), yet so little is known about it. So far, we know some of the effects of sleep deprivation, but there is much to discover. To many of us, sleep may feel like a state of emptiness, like nothing happens, but this is far from true. It is the result of two basic, independent mechanisms, the circadian and homeostatic processes, working together in a dynamic process in the brain (Buysse, 2014, pp. 9–17).

If a large part of the sleep mechanism is such a mystery, how can it be studied? Research has helped identify both normal and abnormal sleep patterns, factors that influence sleep -both positively and negatively-, and their influences on health. Age is an example of such a factor; the elderly seem to have a less efficient, more disrupted sleep pattern. Research on sleep can be both on a quantitative and qualitative level (Stanley, 2005, pp. 17–23). One can get enough sleep, but never reach a deeper state of sleep needed to rest fully. However one can have a good quality of sleep, but never get enough of it.

The medical branch concerning itself with sleep and sleep deprivation, is often referred to as sleep health; although defining sleep health itself is not easy. Buysse (2014) constructed the definition of sleep health as follows: “Sleep health is a sequence of sleep-wakefulness, different for every individual, dependent on social, and environmental needs, that upholds physical and mental health. Good sleep health is characterized by subjective satisfaction, adequate duration, high efficiency, appropriate timing, and sustained alertness during waking hours.” All these five dimensions are essential for a good sleep health.

The dimensions described by Buysse (2014) can be used to diagnose and observe abnormal sleep patterns. Sleep disorders are both prevalent, and diverse in what causes them. However they have in common that they result in disproportionate daytime fatigue, resulting in a major impact on safety and performance. Over time, chronic sleep deprivation is linked to increased morbidity and mortality. Sleep health is therefore an important factor in a person’s overall health (Stanley, 2005, pp. 17–23).

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The physiology of sleep

Klerman, 2019, pp. 475–486).

Circadian Rhythm One of two processes regulating sleep is the circadian rhythm; evolution’s response to earth’s 24-hour cycle of day and night. This internal clock allows organisms to recognize the passing of time and season, and regulate behavioural activities and physiological functions such as metabolism. It is presumed that this internal calendar for basic functions and activities is to enhance fitness. This mechanism regulates when humans eat and sleep in the most efficient way. Not only is the circadian rhythm an important clock for everyday activities, it also acts as a calendar; tracking the changing day length to adapt to the coming season (Schwartz &

Sleep Homeostasis To understand the physiology of sleep, it is important to understand the physiology of wakefulness, as they go hand in hand. The activity of either arousal-producing or sleep-producing neurons is suppressed by the other at all times. In order to maintain wakefulness, a comprehensive network of subcortical structures and pathways is needed to support the cortical activation. This ascending arousal system is regulated by neurochemicals.

These neurochemicals can be seen in Figure 1A, and include serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, histamine, and acetylcholine (Carley & Farabi, 2016, pp. 5–9).

Figure 1: Brain networks regulating sleep and wakefulness. Panel A depicts key elements of the ascending arousal systems, with diffuse excitatory projections to the cortex. Panel B shows pathways arising from the hypothalamus that inactivate the ascending arousal system during sleep. ACh, acetylcholine; DA, dopamine; GABA, gamma amino-butyric acid; Gal, galanin; HA, histamine; LDT, laterodorsal tegmentum; NE, norepinephrine; ORX, orexin; PeF, perifornical region; PPT, pedunculopontine tegmentum; TMN, tuberomammillary nucleus; vPAG, ventral periaqueductal gray matter; 5-HT, 5-hydroxytryptamine (Carley & Farabi, 2016, pp. 5–9).

To initiate and maintain sleep, the ascending arousal system needs to be suppressed by inhibitory neurons of the ventrolateral pre-optic area (VLPO), as can be seen in Figure 1B. It is not fully known how the VLPO is activated, but evidence suggests that extracellular adenosine is a candidate. During wakefulness, adenosine concentrations build up in the basal forebrain, and decline during ongoing sleep. Furthermore the VLPO expresses adenosine receptors, and experiments have shown that adenosine activates VLPO neurons in vivo. However it is almost certain that other hormones play a role in sleep regulation as well (Schwartz & Klerman, 2019, pp.

475–486)(Carley & Farabi, 2016, pp. 5–9).

Sleep comes in two recognizable stages, and is there-

fore not one homogenous phase. The phase associated with dreaming is called REM (rapid eye movement), the other phase is called NREM (non-rapid eye movement).

The cycle between REM and NREM is controlled by the alternating inhibition and activation of neurons within the brainstem (Carley & Farabi, 2016, pp. 5–9).

Causes for Sleep Deprivation Sleep deprivation can have multiple causes, ranging from environmental factors, like noise and stress, to a medical condition like restless leg syndrome. Environmental consequences such as noise and light do not

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require medical treatment, and can be solved by removing the source. However the negative effects discussed later on in this paper can still occur if the sleep deprivation persists over a longer period of time. Within the medical conditions, a distinction can be made between conditions caused by a physiological defect, or by a circadian error. Both should be treated to prevent the negative consequences that can occur with chronic sleep deprivation.

of RLS are alterations in cortical excitability. It was concluded in a paper on the pathophysiology of RLS that RLS should be treated as a multi-factorial result of the relationship between more than one neuronal network, in which sensorimotor control at the cortical level may play a vital role. (Scalise, 2009, pp. 1073–1074).

In another paper, summarizing the known mechanisms of RLS it was concluded that RLS is a heterogeneous disease with symptomatic or secondary forms like iron deficiency, uremia, and pregnancy (Paulus, Dowling, Rijsman, Stiasny-Kolster, & Trenkwalder, 2007).

Circadian Rhythm Disorder One disorder concerning sleep is the circadian rhythm disorder, or delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD). This disorder is characterized by the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) as “a pattern of delayed sleep onset and awakening times, with an inability to fall asleep and awaken at a desired or conventionally acceptable earlier time.” (Baroni, 2019, pp.

307–312). The cause of DSPD is what makes it different from insomnia. When patients with DSPD are, for example, on vacation, where they can sleep at their own preferred times, their sleep is of normal duration and quality. Whereas in insomnia, the problems lie in cognitive distortions, negative conditioning, and poor sleeping regiment, rather than a delayed sleep pattern.

Albeit a relatively simple disorder, it is fairly common, with prevalence exceeding 7% in adolescence (Baroni, 2019, pp. 307–312).

Consequences of Sleep Deprivation

Physiological Defects Narcolepsy is an example of a condition believed to be caused by physiological changes in the arousalproducing and sleep-producing mechanisms. A loss of orexin-releasing neurons in the forebrain causes the fragmented sleep and disproportionate daytime sleepiness linked to narcolepsy (Carley & Farabi, 2016, pp. 5–9).

Hypersomnia is the term used for a sleep cycle that is too long, whereas insomnia is a term used for all sleeping disorders that cause a lack of adequate sleep, either in quality, or in duration.

One disorder that fits in the insomnia category is restless leg syndrome (RLS). Little is known about the mechanisms causing RLS, or any sleep disorder for that matter. The clinical characterization is given as a conjunction of sensory (leg discomfort, dysesthesia, etc.) and motor (periodic leg movements) symptoms (Scalise, 2009, pp. 1073–1074). It has been observed that both the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system seem to be involved. The symptoms of RLS, excessive movement of the legs, are possibly dependent on the excitability of the spinal cord, and the subcortical control. Another proposed trigger for the expression

It was found that over time, partial sleep loss may lead to a higher risk of obesity and diabetes. Multiple pathways have been identified, including glucose regulation, insulin resistance, and a dysregulation of control over appetite leading to a disproportionate intake of food.

In search for a reason behind the increasing prevalence of obesity and diabetes worldwide over the past few decades, epidemiologists have selected chronic partial sleep deprivation as a possible factor. Chronic partial sleep deprivation has become more prevalent over the last few decades, and is found to affect pathways linked to diabetes and obesity, making it the perfect candidate.

This is an interesting angle to investigate, as chronic partial sleep deprivation could be solved by simply adjusting sleep habits (Knutson, Spiegel, Penev, & Van Cauter, 2007, pp. 163–178).

Another study found that during controlled sleep deprivation autonomic functioning, hormonal profiles, and inflammatory and coagulation mediators are all transformed. The mechanism behind this adaptation is not known, however most definitely related to the stress of sustaining wakefulness, as the observations are similar to those of chronic stress. Whether these changes are permanent, and if systems adapt over time is not known. The data on short-term sleep deprivation suggest that the lack of sleep causes blood pressure, inflammation, hormones, and autonomic tone to change in such a way that it aids in the advancement of cardiovascular disease, primarily atherosclerosis (Mullington, Haack, Toth, Serrador, & Meier-Ewert, 2009, pp.

294–302). With all these data, the authors constructed a hypothesis on these effects, saying it is reasonable to assume that the establishment of basal elevations in inflammatory mediators and coagulatory factors is possibly a result of constant undersleeping. Thereby grooming an otherwise healthy person for development of disease (Mullington et al., 2009, pp. 294–302).

Table 1 shows the associated health outcomes for each

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previously discussed dimension. Although there are many pieces of the puzzle missing, it cannot be denied

that chronic sleep deprivation has a negative effect on human health, as can be seen in table 1.

Table 1: Health outcomes associated with chronic sleep deprivation (Buysse, 2014, pp. 9–17).

Diagnosis and treatment

that they are expected to (Baroni, 2019, pp. 307–312).

Treating DSPD means resetting a patient’s sleep cycle In the introduction five dimensions relevant to the mea- so that they sleep and wake earlier. The new sleep cysurement of sleep were named. These dimensions can be cle can differ per patient, depending on their personal used to identify the cause of the problem: environmen- situation, but usually involves waking up at 8 am. A tal, circadian, or physiological. Sleep duration, alert- basic understanding of optimizing conditions for sleep ness/sleepiness, and satisfaction/quality are important are needed to improve the patient’s ability to fall asleep factors in determining if there is in fact a sleeping disor- at night. Lastly, light is a well-known factor of the cirder. Timing of sleep can indicate an abnormal circadian cadian rhythm, and can be used to reset a patient’s rhythm, while sleep continuity is a strong indicator for a natural rhythm (Baroni, 2019, pp. 307–312). physiological factor causing the problem (Buysse, 2014, Bright light exposure, for example from a lamp that pp. 9–17). emits 2,000 to 10,000 lux for 30 minutes after waking up every morning, possibly for the rest of a patient’s life, is the most common form of treatment. Depending Circadian Rhythm Disorder on the patient, the time at which the lamp should be DSPD will clinically manifest as a struggle falling asleep turned on varies, and is usually brought forward over and failure to wake up at desired times, excessive morn- time to a desired wake-up time. This resets the brain ing sleepiness, tardiness, falling asleep in class, and ex- so the time at night, at which the patient falls asleep, is cessive absences (Baroni, 2019, pp. 307–312). It can brought forward as a result of the earlier wake-up time be diagnosed by tracking a patient’s sleep with both (Baroni, 2019, pp. 307–312). This also relieves the pasubjective measurements, such as a sleep diary, and ob- tient of the sleepiness experienced in the morning. jective measurements, for example an actigraphy. Although DSPD itself is not a harmful disorder that has Physiological Defects to be treated, the natural sleep cycle of a patient does not fit in with the current societal demands. As a result Sleep deprivation caused by an error in the physiological the patient does experience a lack of sleep and the as- pathways can often be treated with drugs. These drugs sociated health risk. It should therefore be treated, so can either make up for a lack of, inhibit, or stimulate a that the patient can function normally within the hours certain substance, resolving the problem. Two medica38

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tions for RLS have been accepted since 2011. Rotigotine, a dopamine antagonist, and gabapentin enacarbil, a non-dopaminergic drug. A possible side-effect of dopamine antagonists is augmentation, however the augmentation is significantly lower in patients using rotigotine. Gabapentin enacarbil has not been linked to augmentation (Toro, 2014, pp. 227–232).

Drugs used for the treatment of insomnia usually affect either the sleep-promoting, or wake-promoting mechanisms. Drugs like antihistamines work as an antagonist in the wake-promoting system, while drugs like barbiturates or benzodiazepines work as agonists in the sleeppromoting system. When treating narcolepsy, it is the exact opposite. These treatments do however have side effects and are limited in their results. Benzodiazepines work by modulating the activity of GABAA receptors, and should only be used as a short-term treatment. The side effects of these drugs are well documented, and include: cognitive and psychomotor impairment, daytime sedation, hangover effect, and the development of dependence and tolerance (Szabadi, 2014, pp. 701–708).

New developments in drugs for the treatment of sleep disorders have been made by mapping the SCN-pinealgland circuitry and the sleep-arousal system, and their neurochemical features. Four examples that have shown great promise are a 5HT2A receptor and orexin receptor antagonist, a melatonin receptor agonist, and a H3 histamine receptor antagonist (Szabadi, 2014, pp.

701–708). However there is still much to discover and improve in this field, both in understanding the exact mechanisms, and in improving treatment options.

Baroni, A. (2019).

Teens Who Can’t Sleep: Insomnia or Circadian Rhythm Disorder?

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 58(3), 307–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2018.1.010 Buysse, D. J. (2014). Sleep Health: Can We Define It? Does It Matter? Sleep, 37(1), 9–17. https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.3298 Carley, D. W., & Farabi, S. S. (2016). Physiology of Sleep. Diabetes Spectrum, 29(1), 5–9. https://doi.org/10.2337/diaspect.29.1.5 Knutson, K. L., Spiegel, K., Penev, P., & Van Cauter, E. (2007). The metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 11(3), 163–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2007.01.002 Mullington, J. M., Haack, M., Toth, M., Serrador, J. M., & Meier-Ewert, H. K. (2009).

Cardiovascular, Inflammatory, and Metabolic Consequences of Sleep Deprivation.

Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 51(4), 294–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2008.10.003 Paulus, W., Dowling, P., Rijsman, R., StiasnyKolster, K., & Trenkwalder, C. (2007).

Update of the pathophysiology of the RestlessLegs-Syndrome. Movement Disorders, 22(S18), S431–S439. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.21824 Scalise, A. (2009).

Patho-physiology of restless legs syndrome: A very tedious puzzle!

Sleep Medicine, 10(10), 1073–1074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2009.02.001 Schwartz, W. J., & Klerman, E. B. (2019). Circadian Neurobiology and the Physiologic Regulation of Sleep and Wakefulness. Neurologic Clinics, 37(3), Conclusion 475–486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ncl.2019.03.001 Stanley, N. (2005).

The physiology of sleep and It is clear that the long term effects of chronic sleep dethe impact of ageing. European Urology Suppleprivation are not to be underestimated. Within the curments, 3(6), 17–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1569rent society, sleep deprivation is becoming more prob9056(05)80003-x lematic and prevalent. Sleep-health care is an important Szabadi, E. (2014). Selective targets for arousalstep to prevent more severe health problems in the fumodifying drugs: implications for the treatment ture. However research into treatment of sleep disorders of sleep disorders. Drug Discovery Today, 19(5), is minimal, even though many patients do not respond 701–708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2014.01. to current treatment. The treatment available is flawed, 001 limited in their effectiveness, and has many serious side Toro, B. E. C. (2014).

New Treatment Options effects. It is therefore of great importance to improve for the Management of Restless Leg Syndrome. our understanding of sleep and treatment methods for Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 46(4), 227–232. sleep deprivation, and much more research is needed. https://doi.org/10.1097/jnn.0000000000000068 This proves to be a challenge as the knowledge on sleep mechanisms is limited. The information at hand seems extensive, however many questions remain unanswered.

For now we can only dream of a complete understanding of the mysteries of sleep.

References 39

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Adoption of Solar Panels by Dutch Households Ivo Verhoeven| University College Roosevelt In partial fulfilment of the requirements for SSCECON-307 Econometrics taught by Dr. Alexei Karas

Introduction

in adoption (Koch & Christ, 2018)(Strazzera & Statzu, 2017). Fleiss et al. (2017) finds that citizen’s particWith the gradual onset of more pronounced climate ipation in CPIs is not ideologically driven, but almost change effects, more countries are turning towards re- purely an economic decision; a finding supported by renewable energy sources. While the vast majority of cent evidence in Australia (Best, Burke, Nishitateno, et effort is currently spent on the diversification of en- al., 2019). Qureshi, Ullah, and Arentsen (2017) paints ergy production facilities at a national or super-national a more nuanced picture, with financial and spatial conscale, one potential solution is energy generation by siderations ranking high as barriers in the PV adoption decision, but environmental friendliness, energy security households.

Briguglio and Formosa (2017) identified Belgium, and social acceptability ranking as the most important Australia and Malta as especially successful in involv- drivers.

Other papers focus on comparative national variing household energy production in the national plan towards independence of fossil fuels. Fleiss, Hatzl, See- ables, using both macro-economic as well as policy inbauer, and Posch (2017) further notes the development dicators. Of particular interest is whether feed-in tariffs of PV-CPI schemes in Austria. With the adoption of the and other government pay-back schemes aid in boost(I)SDE+ subsidy and tax write-offs, the Dutch govern- ing adoption rates. Van Hemmen (2011) find that feedment is trying to promote similar efforts in the Nether- in tariffs were especially strong motivators in adoption lands. Already in 2014, the market for community en- rates, but monetary incentives were only as effective as ergy initiatives in the Netherlands was considered bur- socio-economic factors already present within a coungeoning despite a market-oriented institutional arrange- try. Smith and Urpelainen (2014) find a strong association between feed-in tariffs and production of renewable ment (Oteman, Wiering, & Helderman, 2014).

While there has been exhaustive study towards the energy in industrial countries, but strongly doubt this consumption of renewable energy by households, and being a causal relationship. While focusing on interthe potential demand for household generated energy municipality differences in Malta, Briguglio and Forschemes, little quantitative research has been conducted mosa (2017) finds that government support is indicative investigating the determinants adoption of these tech- of uptake of PV technologies, along with house ownership and possession of roof space. nologies by individual households.

This paper aims to contribute the already existing The majority of studies have been qualitative in nature. The thesis by Vasseur (2014) is particularly ex- literature by estimating the relationship between househaustive in its segmentation of potential PV adopters hold renewable energy production and the described in the Netherlands by survey responses. Especially fi- variables at a country-wide scale. The periods for which nancial variables were found to be drivers, although sig- data is available proved to be an important inflection nificant differences exist in within household dynamics point for the wide-scale adoption of PV technology in between adopters and non-adopters. Further studies the Netherlands. While no policy variables were incorroborate these findings, but add the sense of partici- cluded, the inherent socio-economic differences between pation in green energy and social acceptance (i.e. instal- Dutch municipalities were enough to serve as good prelation of solar panels by neighbours) to be a major driver dictors.

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Ivo Verhoeven | Adoption of Solar Panels by Dutch Households

Figure 1: A map of the Netherlands divided by the areas of the net managers. Not included in the image is Endinet, responsible for major population areas in Noord-Brabant, which merged with Enexis as of January 1 2017. Taken from stroom en gas in Nederland (n.d.).

Data

weighted mean based on the number of connections present. This meant going from ≈ 300e + 03 rows to only 327 list-wise complete entries, where each Electricity consumption data was provided through the row corresponds to a recognised municipality; from ’sopen-access data infrastructure set up by the largest Hertogenbosch to Zwolle. network managers in the Netherlands; Liander, Enexis Data for demographic control variables were taken (and Endinet), Stedin, Enuris and Westland Infra. In- from the regional reports of the CBS as well, with the cluded are the anonymized (aggregated at 10 connec- smallest level of granularity corresponding to municipaltions or more) consumption data for ”kleinverbruikers” ities. Due to the current nature of the analysis, certain (individuals and small businesses), users with connec- variables were not available yet for 2018 onwards, limtions of less than 3 fuses at 80 amperes or capacity for iting the analysis to the year range 2013 (first year of 40 m3 hr−1 of gas (Liander, 2019). The data are stored records by netmanagers) to 2017 (last year recorded by in comma delimited files, and are updated yearly to re- CBS). flect usage over the past year. Beyond minor changes in notation, all companies use the same variables, units and delimiters for their records. As such, merging the Cross-Sectional Analysis files across companies can be done with confidence in consistent data.

The Dependent Variable To aggregate data from township to municipality level, an inner join was performed with the list Household renewable energy (RE) production is conof ”Woonplaatsen” provided by the Dutch Statistics structed as the difference of the delivered and the conBureau (CBS, n.d.). Absolute values were summed, sumed energy. It is expected that the production source whereas percentual values were combined using a is predominantly from PV technology. As expected, 42

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with greater adoption rates of solar panels by individuals, there is a strong time dependent trend, seeing a 5.12 factor increase over the 5 years analysed. Beyond just an increase in mean generated electricity, the variances have increased substantially also. The time trend of the dependent variable is depicted in fig. 2. With

far greater numbers of positive outliers than negative ones, the dependent variable did not appear normally distributed (platykurtic and positive-skew), resulting in non-normal residuals in OLS. As such, the generated electricity variable was log-transformed. The model in terms of dependent variables is described below.

Figure 2: Time trends of energy generation by households. Sub-figure (a) shows both an increase in the mean of the dependent across time, and an increase in variance, indicating a non-stationarity, while sub-figure (b) shows trends for large population centres (n¿100k). Across the dataset, no city recorded negative growth in self-generated electricity.

Model Specification

straints of households (Pot) and, iv) the potential due to demographic features of municipalities (Dem). This model may be specified as equation 1, where bold-faced characters are the described sets of variables. Note that no time-indices are included, indicating the estimated model to be partitioned across period; the initial estimate treats the process as a series of successive crosssections.

The quantity of household electricity generated within a municipality, in log form, is specified as a linear function of determinants. From the literature, four important groups of variables have been identified: i) the expected future profit derived from RET installation (Yield), ii) the investment necessary for installation (Cost), iii) the potential for installation due to non-financial con-

Yield While households have a direct incentive to use the energy produced from RETs as opposed to drawing from

the net, it is reasonable to assume that energy production and consumption are not perfectly correlated. As an example, solar panel energy production is highly de43

Ivo Verhoeven | Adoption of Solar Panels by Dutch Households

pendent on the time of day; no energy is produced at night. Furthermore, the seasonal pattern in production is expected to be inversely correlated to seasonal patterns in household energy consumption; the colder months see lower production, but higher consumption and vice-versa.

While no direct profit can be derived from the extraneous production of RETs, as net-managers do not pay for energy delivered, the ”saldeer” method does ensure reducing energy bills in the long-term (Rijksoverheid, 2019). As such, it is expected that the derived profit is directly proportional to the cost of the current energy consumption. Variables included in the aim to capture this effect are consumption density and household size. Consumption density directly measures the mean consumed energy per household, whereas household size captures the mean number of residents per address. Both variables are expected to carry positive signs, as increases in either would indicate an increase in energy consumption.

Cost While the cost of solar panels and RETs have been dropping steadily in the Netherlands (MilieuCentraal (2019) reports a 16% between the periods included in the data), installation remains an extremely capital intensive investment. As such, it is expected that not all households will be able to afford installation.

Variables included that capture household ability to afford RETs are median wealth and mean property value. Both are expected to carry a positive sign; greater wealth should indicate greater ability to install RETs. A third variable included are the share of households with smart meters. These devices are a necessary upgrade for solar panels and carry a cost. Hence, using the same argument as the other cost variables, the sign is expected to be positive. However, Dutch net managers have been installing smart-meters (with an opt-out option) with the goal of achieving 100% coverage by 2020.

The effect is thus expected to diminish with time.

Table 1: Summary statistics for the variables included in the OLS regressions. Variables exhibiting non-normal distributions have been log-transformed, denoted by a lowercase l. Shares are percentages [%]; count units are depicted as [#]. for population, indicating urbanity of municipalities.

Rented households are expected to reflect great diffiWhile the cost and yield considerations might indicate culty in enacting structural change in the household, strong incentives to adopt RETs, not all households perhaps through increased apathy of the renter to the have access to the non-financial capacity to accommo- house which they do not own. The housing density indate these technologies. As an example, apartment stead captures the effect of diminished space per resicomplexes will have plenty of households who might dent/household, increasing reluctance to adopt spaceprofit from RET installation, but lack the floor- and consuming technologies. Both variables are expected to roof-space. Included variables that reflect these effects carry negative signs. are the number of connections, share of rented households and the number of households per km2 (density). The number of connections serves as a proxy Potential

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Demographics The final block of variables aims to capture the effect of population variations that influence adoption decisions.

The variable age, in quadratic form, is expected to carry a positive first order but a negative second order term.

With age comes the accumulation of wealth, making it easier to adopt RETs, however this also reduces the total yield of installation. The elderly will have the necessary funds, but the investment will not return nearly as much as for more youthful citizens. Interestingly, studies have found a significant gender effect (Vasseur 2014).

Lastly, weather trends and other geographic dependent effects are expected to be relevant. No variable was available to directly capture these effects, and as such provincial indicators have been included in this first model. Municipality-level fixed-effects were considered once moving away from partitioned OLS estimation.

Estimation The estimate of equation 1 is done through a series of partitioned regressions; each cross-section of pooled municipalities includes only one time-period. Each crosssection contains 327 list-wise complete municipalities,

except for 2017 which contains 5 fewer municipalities.

The estimates of the coefficients are displayed in table 2.

Overall, the regressions achieved moderate predictive power with R2 ranging between 0.50 and 0.64. Residuals appeared asymptotically normally distributed, although every consecutive year introduced a greater degree of left-ward skew. A Breusch-Pagan test provided strong evidence (p ¡ 0.01) for heteroskedasticity for every period. Due to the severity of the evidence, a feasible generalised least squares was ran. The results are displayed in table 7 of the appendices. Note that besides a few changes in estimated coefficients, there exists stark similarity between estimation results. None of the inference results were altered, and as such the results in table 2 may be considered heteroskedasticity-robust.

Already a number of interesting results are obvious. For interpretation of large coefficients, an exponential transformation must be applied for a percentual point change interpretation to be valid; as such the described coefficients differ from those displayed. Contrary to expectations, the coefficients on household size are strongly negative. Increasing the mean household size for a municipality by one person would reduce RE generation by between 42% and 62%. Neither consumption density nor property value are believed to be significant predictors.

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Ivo Verhoeven | Adoption of Solar Panels by Dutch Households

Table 2: The partitioned OLS regressions. The Province Exclusion row provides the result of an F-test for exclusion of the 12 province dummy variables. The values of the provincial indicators are reported in appendix table 6.

On the contrary, median wealth is; with a 1% increase in median wealth increasing household electricity generation by between 0.15% and 0.31%. Furthermore, the share of houses with smart-meters is significant, but steadily decreasing over panel years. While statistically significant, the coefficient is not economically significant, with a 1% increase in households with smart-meters having an effect between 0.2% and 0.3% after 2013.

The negative coefficients on installed connections and housing density suggest urban population centers have much more trouble with installation of RETs compared to more rural municipalities. A 1% increase in the first will result in roughly a 0.2% decrease, while the second will see a 0.1% decrease. The share of rented households is also a strong negative predictor, with a

1% increase in renters indicating a 3% - 4% decrease in household generation.

Lastly, population factors indicate a quadratic age effect in most cross-sections while no strong evidence for a gender effect is found. In all years besides 2013, both the first- and second-order age terms are significant. As such, age on renewable energy production by households follows an inverted U-shape. Based on the coefficients, the optimum mean age for RETs is between 41 and 42. In every year, the provincial dummy variables are jointly strongly significant.

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Dynamic Panel Analysis

Assume municipalities -as an aggregate of households rather than an administrative unit- act as economic agents attempting to increase their adoption RET by

households. Over the long run, municipalities are expected to reach a saturation point (or equilibrium) in their adoption of household renewable energy, determined by the control variables described in the previous section. These reflect the inherent differences between municipalities’ capacity for these household technologies. Symbolically, this relationship is described as:

As is clear from fig. 2, the dependent variable is clearly not at an equilibrium point between 2013 and 2016. Instead, with the introduction and gradual social acceptance of RETs, there has been a strong positive time dependency. While these trends can be captured using simple trend and seasonal proxies, a method that specifically employs the panel-regression data structure is the partial adjustment framework. The key assump-

tion of the partial adjustment framework is that annual change in the dependent variable is proportional to the difference between equilibrium and the current value.

The inertia coefficient capturing the linear relationship between the two is generally referred to as the speed of adjustment parameter. Intuitively, this implies the step towards the desired level of energy production is dependent on the distance away from it.

Rewriting eq. 3 using eq. 2 provides one with an estimable equation of the following form, where the super-

scripts (*) and (t-1) denote the equilibrium and lagged coefficients respectively,

The initial estimates for λ and β follow as 1 - δ̂ (t−1) and δ̂/λ̂ respectively. To further take into account the unobservable heterogeneous error across municipalities,

a set of dummy variables, denoted by η, are introduced.

The full model for estimation is thus,

Estimation

ods (both OLS). Note that the third estimates differ substantially from the prior two results, although this model shows the highest value of R2. Due to the addition of fixed-effects (demeaning the independent variables via means of dummy variables of every municipality), a bias is proportional to the inverse of the considered time period Nickell (1981). For small time lengths,

Theoretical Framework

The results of estimation via the partial adjustment framework are displayed in table 3. Overall, the model achieves very strong predictive power, with R2 values exceeding the 0.80 level. The significant results match those of table 2 for the first two estimation meth-

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Ivo Verhoeven | Adoption of Solar Panels by Dutch Households

this can be substantial (in this case 1/4 ). For this rea- variables is chosen as the ’best’ available model. son, OLS regression with added provincial level dummy

Table 3: Regression estimates according to the Partial Adjustment Framework (see equations 4 and 6). Note that the displayed coefficients are the δ parameters. Conversion to speed of adjustment λ and equilibrium model β’s is done for the second OLS regression in equations 7 and 8.

Model residuals were visually approximately normally distributed, although this was expected given the large sample size. A Breusch-Pagan test provided strong evidence for heteroskedasticity (F(23, 1279) = 7.61, p¡ 0.001). Again, re-estimation via inverse variance weighted least-squares provided a model with few significant changes to the OLS estimate. This GLS

model is displayed in appendix table 8. Much like the cross-sectional OLS estimate, few differences exist between the re-estimated parameters and those displayed in table 3, and may be assumed to be robust under heteroskedasticity.

A serial correlation test without assuming strict exogeneity revealed strongly significant evidence for serial

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correlation ( = 0.101, t(975) = 1.68, p ¿ 0.05). PraisWinsten was used for re-estimation, also displayed in appendix table 8. While it did reveal a significant gender effect, few variables showed significant deviation from the OLS estimate. As such, the model estimates presented in table 3 are assumed to be robust under serial correlation.

The results in table 3 reflect the δ parameters ac-

cording to equation 6 and hold no practical significance on their own. The estimated results can be converted back to produce estimates directly comparable to those in table 2 for the equilibrium state once the rate of adjustment parameter λ if found. Note that conversion does not affect inference using the standard t-statistic as in table 3.

The transformed coefficients are similar to those described in table 2, with the majority of the partial adjustment estimates falling within the ranges of coefficient values displayed. Differences might be explained by the addition of province level dummies. Intuitively these results make sense, as the regressions conducted in table 2 reflect the static equilibrium component of partial adjustment.

Beyond merely a robustness check of the originally estimated model, the main added value of these results is the specific speed of adjustment parameter. A value of 0.46 indicates a nearly 60% year-on-year reduction of the distance between the equilibrium and current situation. Naturally, not all of this is from new adopters; those who had RETs installed later in the year will bump the generated amount in the year after. Furthermore, this parameter should not be interpreted as 60% of the potential adopters taking the plunge; however, it may certainly be expected that new adopters reflect a large proportion of the increase. A more thorough assessment of possible determinants of this parameter is provided in the next section.

used education, both at the secondary and tertiary levels, along with pro-governmental support and favour for the green political party to extend their model beyond the variables included in table 2. While statistically insignificant in their model, Vasseur (2014) found a series of similar variables to be able to successfully discriminate between voluntary and non-voluntary adopters.

The preliminary findings of this study suggest that the level of urbanity is a currently neglected, but very important factor in adoption rates.

Where previous analyses stopped after considering the static situation, the model estimates that produced equations. 7 and 8 can be extended to allow for interactions between the speed of adjustment and additional variables. From a methodological perspective, where the equilibrium model defines an upper bound for the growth, the interactions in the adjustment model allow for different slopes towards these upper bounds.

The introduced variables are the proportion of higher educated residents, defined as those having attained a Bachelor degree or above, the proportion of urban or rural households, based on the address density within a radius about the household, and the proportion of votes for the left and progressive parties in the 2017 Dutch general elections.

Determinants of the Speed of Adjustment In an attempt to predict the proportions of houses with solar panels in Malta, Briguglio and Formosa (2017)

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Ivo Verhoeven | Adoption of Solar Panels by Dutch Households

Table 4: Summary statistics for the variables interactions. Note that using the CBS definitions for urbanity, 1500 or more addresses per km−2 to be strongly urban, between 1000 and 1500 addresses to be urban and between 500 and 1000 to be rural.

ban ones, dampening the predictions for a sunny future in the Dutch PV market considerably (Vasseur, 2014) Oteman et al. (2014).

A potential area for future research might be the link between the partial adjustment model, household proximity and the concept of social acceptance. The research of Koch and Christ (2018), Strazzera and Statzu (2017) and Qureshi et al. (2017) seem to indicate these factors to play a crucial role. The speed of adjustment parameter might be seen as a social force, where the presence of more solar panels in the neighbourhood will induce surrounding households to also adopt these technologies, requiring more and more to appeal to more stubborn potential adopters.

Of further interest might be the addition of subsidy or loan data to take into account governmental support. While subsidies did exist at the municipality level during the considered time-span, these have been phased as the return on investment for PV technologies Conclusion has become considerably more favourable. Regardless, findings with such measures taken into account could The aim of this study was to explore suggested deterprove very beneficial for nations only starting to emminants of PV and other RE technology adoption rates brace RETs. by households. Beyond corroboration of earlier existNaturally this study is not without its limitations. ing research, with emphasis on Briguglio and Formosa Of primary concern is the use of a proxy dependent vari(2017), the main contributions of this research include able. Rather than looking at physical PV installations, the partial adjustment framework, proving to be a flexthis paper has taken the proportional energy producible and powerful tool for estimating product growth tion. The finding that more rural habitats will tend processes, and suggested determinants of the speed of towards more RET generation proportionally might be adjustment parameter. While the idea that financial a trivial one considering the far lower total energy conconsiderations are key in the adoption decision process sumption of these municipalities. The findings of hetwas also found in this analysis, access to roof space and eroskedasticity and serial correlation further suggest low-urban living space are at least equally as importhat OLS estimation may not be ideal, although cortant. Furthermore, while growth seems fast nationwide, rections showed reasonable robustness. Given the short there do exist significant differences between education time span of the panel data a more efficient estimation levels, along with an unexpected negative relationship method might exist. Otherwise, re-estimation of the with green political stances. More importantly, this refindings in this paper is likely doable in the near future search finds strong evidence that the adoption of RET once more data has been released. is far more attractive for more rural habitats than ur-

The estimates for the model with variable slopes is depicted in table 4. Few of the slopes are significant, with greater tendency for the included intersect to be significant. Of note however, is the positive significant sign on the interaction with share of left votes, along with the negative sign on the intersect for the fully specified model (7). While these parties reflect the most environmentally progressive voters, their prevalence significantly slows the adoption of RETs; by 0.2 - 0.6% for an increased 1% received vote share. Furthermore, the explicit inclusion of variables controlling the urbanity of households manages to control a significant proportion of the remaining variance in the data. Not only is this reflected in the spike in R2 , but also a joint-significance test (F (3, 1269) = 10.14, p ¡ 0.001). Lastly, tertiary education seems to have a strong effect on both raising the equilibrium and the speed of adjustment.

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Table 5: Interaction effects with the adjustment speed parameter. Note that by the definition of λ as in equation 3, the relationships are complementary; positive coefficients on the interactions are negative impacting the speed of adjustment, and vice versa. This is not the case for the added slope parameters.

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Stroom en gas in Nederland, O. N. (n.d.).

Netbeheerders elektriciteit in nederland. https://www.energieleveran ciers.nl/netbeheerders/overzicht-netbeheerders.

Energieleveranciers.nl.

Van Hemmen, H. (2011). Determinants of international solar panel adoption. Environmental Science.

Vasseur, V. (2014). A sunny future for photovoltaic systems in the netherlands?: an analysis of the role of government and users in the diffusion of an emerging technology. Maastricht University

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Table 6: The partitioned OLS regressions with province dummy variables included.

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Ivo Verhoeven | Adoption of Solar Panels by Dutch Households

Table 7: FGLS results of the partitioned OLS model.

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Table 8: GLS estimation of the Partial Adjustment model with provincial dummy variables included.

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The European Parliament as a Securitising Actor in the Changing Discourse on Climate Change Elise Renkema| University College Roosevelt In partial fulfilment of the requirements for SSCPOLI-302 European Union Politics taught by Dr. Herman Lelieveldt

Introduction

Securitisation Theory

On November 28, 2019, the European Parliament declared a ‘climate and environmental emergency’; and called on ‘the Commission, the member states, and all global actors, (...) to urgently take the concrete action needed in order to fight and contain this threat before it is too late’. The European Parliament’s statement implies that current policies to fight climate change are insufficient. Though climate change has been present on the political agenda of the European Union for decades, the priority that has been given to this collective action problem has varied. A change in direction is urgently needed to address the alarming rate of biodiversity loss, increasing impacts of climate change and the overconsumption of natural resources in the European Union (EEA, 2019). The European Parliament does not have the institutional powers to initiate this much needed change itself, but declarations such as the climate emergency may hold more power than they seem to possess.

It is therefore compelling to evaluate the significance of this call to action.

Previous research has focused on the role of the European Council in setting the discourse on climate change in the European Union (Dupont, 2019; Sperling & Webber, 2019; van Schaik, 2010; Skovgaard, 2013; Miskimmon, 2017). This paper will analyse the European Union’s discourse on climate change, in line with the Copenhagen school of thought (Waever, 1996) and with a focus on the role of the European Parliament as a securitising actor. The research question is therefore: How has climate change become a securitised issue in the European Union and how can the European Parliament promote its current place on the political agenda? First, securitisation theory is discussed, which is then applied to the discourse on climate change in the European Union. After, the role of different European institutions as securitising actors of climate changes is outlined. Thirdly, a case study on the European Parliament is examined.

The theory of securitisation adopts a constructivist, post-structuralist approach to the studies of politics.

The Copenhagen school of thought to International Relations identifies threats as social constructs (Waever, 1996). Buzan & Weaver (2003: 691) define securitisation as the process by which an actor identifies a threat, attributes a special status to that threat and by doing so, is able to justify and then execute urgent and exceptional measures in response. When an actor identifies an issue as a threat, a specific frame can be applied to the issue to present it as a threat to others as well (Waever, 1996). Sperling & Webber (2019) argue that securitisation is a combination of several components: speech act, issue selection, referent object, securitising actor, and an audience. Furthermore, they present six stages of securitisation which are discussed in the following paragraphs.

First, the speech act is defined by Waever (1995) as defining the situation and thereby calling it a threat.

Dupont (2019) argues that a securitising speech has the effect of giving priority to a political issue. Second, issue selection is related to politics of exception (Croft, 2012). In order for an issue to become securitised, it has to be an existential threat. If the issue is not addressed, the survival of the referent object would be at stake. To return to stability, the issue needs to be dealt with. The third component, a referent object, is an object that is perceived to be existentially threatened and has a legitimate claim to survival (Buzan et al 1998: 36). Often, this is a group of people. The fourth component is the securitising actor, which is an actor with sufficient authority and influence to effectively securitise an issue (Sperling & Webber, 2019). The fifth component is the audience, the ultimate decider of the success of the securitising move in its decision to accept or not to accept to operation (Bagge Lausten & Waever, 2000). Côté (2016) argues that the audience is actively engaged in an interactive process with the securitising actor, which

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entails dialogue and negotiation (Sterling & Webber, 2018).

Sperling & Webber (2019) summarise the securitisation process in six stages. The first stage of the process is the status quo of the agenda. This can be described as the regular state of affairs. The second stage is a single or a series of cascading events that disrupt the status quo, and ‘prompt a perception by the securitising actor that the qualitative character of security has worsened’ (Sperling & Webber, 2019). As a third stage, there is the securitising move through a speech act. Subsequently, the fourth stage is a recursive interaction between the securitising actor and the audience.

The audience is therefore not simply a recipient of a securitising speech act, but it empowers it, according to Sperling & Weber. When the audience successfully accepts an issue as a security threat, the fifth stage is to formulate and implement policies that will attempt to resolve the issue. This results in the sixth and last stage of the securitisation process: the routinisation of the revised political agenda. This is where the process begins again with a new status quo. In the new status quo, the securitising actor is empowered to adopt extraordinary measures to resolve the securitised issue (Sperling & Webber, 2019).

The EU as a Collective Securitising Actor The next section will apply the aforementioned theory of securitisation to the European Union (EU) as a securitising actor. Since the theory of securitisation was first introduced, two major changes have occurred to its application. Firstly, though securitisation has been considered a feature of military policy in the past, it is now applicable to many policy areas (Buzal et al 1998).

These include environmental, economic and social policy. This is beneficial for the European Union, as it does not have a military body of its own. The European Union relies on its socio-political power in securitising issues. Secondly, certain security threats have become more systematic and long-term (Sterling & Webber, 2019). This makes it more difficult for an actor to successfully securitise an issue, as there can be more short-term issues present that demand more urgent attention and can be solved through more straightforward policies.

It is important to note how the EU is a considerably exceptional actor of securitisation. The European Union is a somewhat complex securitising actor, because it consists of both individual actors, as well as one collective actor as a whole. Collective securitisation requires the securitising actor to be empowered to speak

on behalf of other empowered actors who are individual securitising actors themselves (Sperling & Webber, 2019). As a result of the multi-level governance structure of the European Union, multiple securitising actors have arisen over the decades within the EU (Sperling & Webber, 2019). As a result, there are also multiple audiences (Dupont, 2019). Each member state is an empowered securitising actor of their own. Simultaneously, the Commission, European Parliament, the Council, and the European Council can also be considered securitising actors. Lastly, the European Union as a whole can also be treated as one collective securitising actor on the international stage.

Dupont (2019) argues that the European Union has two audiences in the process of collective securitisation: an internal and an external one. The internal audience refers to the member states and each institution. The external audience of the EU consists of other countries on the international stage. The EU’s ability to act as a whole on the international stage is linked to its capacity to represent itself with one, collective voice (van Schaik, 2010). It is important to note that these two audiences are interdependent (Sperling & Webber, 2019).

The EU’s credibility to securitise an issue to the international audience is dependent on convincing its internal audience (Dupont, 2019). Ultimately, there is an inherent plurality to the internal securitisation in European governance because of its hybrid nature (Miskimmon, 2017). As a result, the recursive interaction between and within member states and EU institutions is inevitable.

The Changing Discourse on Climate Change in the EU Next, the discourse on climate change within the European Union will be discussed. For this, Dupont’s (2019) application of Sterling & Webber’s (2019) stages of securitisation will be adopted. Climate change is, by definition, a common goods issue (Dupont, 2019). According to Webber & Sperling (2019), climate change can therefore be considered a collective action problem. It is also an issue that can be considered systematic and long-term. As a result, other crises have been prioritised in the past, such as the economic crisis, or the annexation of the Crimea. Nonetheless, climate change has been present on the EU’s agenda for a considerable time. Dupont (2019) argues that the EU has become a collective actor of securitisation over time through a variety of speech acts. She applied the stages of securitisation discussed above to the case of climate change.

These steps will now be outlined, to explain the complexity of the EU as a securitising actor.

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The Status Quo The status quo of climate change is designated to the 1980s-1990s by Dupont (2019). In the 1980s, it was clear that the earth was warming due to human actions. In 1992, the first ‘Earth Summit’ was held, in which the EU expressed to the international community that policies had to be adopted to stop global warming, as it was then called. The EU did not adopt strong internal policies on the problem yet. Therefore, this period can be characterised as a time of EU ‘rhetorical leadership’ (Oberthür & Roche Kelly, 2008). The significance of the words that are used to describe a phenomenon should not be underestimated (Fløttum et al., 2014).) Global warming does not imply that the process is problematic, or due to human causes. This phrasing therefore indicates how climate change was perceived in the 1980s-1990s. This period can be described as the status quo, because climate change was viewed as an environmental issue, but it was only deemed to require ‘usual’ policy responses.

Internally, Dupont (2019) claims that the discourse on climate change was dominated by the Council at this time. She proposes that this is due to the absence of political authority of the European Parliament and the beginning stage of the Commission. From the mid-1990s onwards, the Council can be argued to start employing speech acts, by describing climate change as a ‘risk’.

Corry (2012) argues that this was already a securitising move, though Dupont is more sceptical. She claims that some statements on climate change could be recognised as securitisation, but that the status quo remained the same. As Sperling & Webber (2019) argue, the success of a securitising move can be recognised in the adoption of extraordinary policies on the securitised issue. The Commission proposed a carbon tax, which did not gain sufficient support with member states, after which the commission withdrew the proposal in 2001 (European Commission, 2001). The failure of a carbon tax can therefore be argued to indicate an unsuccessful securitisation to the EU’s internal audience, i.e. the member states. Externally, the Kyoto Protocol established commitments for the signed parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 1997 (Oberthür, 1999). The EU adopted a more demanding target than other parties, which indicated the start of the EU as an international leader in climate policy.

draw from the agreement, or to take up active leadership (Dupont & Oberthür, 2015). Up until that point, the EU had taken up rhetorical leadership, but lacked internal policies to prove their dedication (Oberthür and Roche Kelly, 2008). The reaction to the US withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol is reflected in the discourse on climate change in the European Council (Dupont, 2019). The European Council moved from calling climate change a ‘risk’ to calling it a ‘a global threat to future wellbeing and economic progress’ in 2001 (European Council, 2001). At this point of time, global warming had been reframed to climate change (Council of the European Union, 2006). The recognition of climate change as a priority on the EU’s agenda can also be recognised in the EU’s climate policy of the time. In 2007, the European Council adopted the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% by 2020, compared to 1990 GHG levels (European Council, 2007). Furthermore, the EU created the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) (Directive 2003/87/EC), which is regarded to be the central climate policy of the EU (Oberthür & Roche Kelly, 2008). Ultimately, Dupont (2019) argues, it was the decision of the US to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol that initiated the EU to securitise climate change through a series of securitising speech acts. The securitisation can be considered successful, as it resulted in the adoption of extraordinary policy measures. The adoption of the ETS with EU-wide implementation is perceived as extraordinary measures by Dupont (2019). Internally, member states agreed on the importance of EU-level action. Externally, other countries accepted the EU as an example of ambitious climate policy. Dupont & Oberthür (2011) argue that the EU moved from their rhetorical leadership of the 1990s to ‘leadership-by-example’ in the 2000s. From 2000 to 2007/8, Dupont (2019) argues, climate change was an issue of high politics.

The New Status Quo

Climate change was thus regarded as a collective security issue, which would be best solved through European action (Dupont, 2019). This collectivist, centralised approach to climate action was considered the new status quo in the securitisation process. Dupont (2019) attributes this status quo to the acceptance of the two audiences: an acceptance of the internal audience for Precipitating Events and Definite Securi- collective action (Eurobarometer, 2008) and an acceptance of the EU’s leadership position internationally. tisation This accepted leadership pressured the EU to continue Dupont (2019) constitutes the precipitating event as the ambitious collective measures. The European Council moment US President George W. Bush declared that frequently affirmed the EU to ‘lead the fight against clithe US would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 2001. mate change’, and upheld the idea that climate change At this point, the EU had to choose whether to with- is a threat (European Council, 2017).

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However, a number of crises since the economic crisis of 2007/2008 led to the fact that climate change is not the sole prioritised issue on the European Council’s agenda (Skovgaard, 2014). Externally, the new status quo was disrupted by the failure of the COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, which was supposed to lead to an increase of international collective action against climate change (Dimitrov, 2010). The EU ratified the Paris Agreement (2015) soon after signing it, hoping other signing parties would follow (Oberthür, 2016). In 2017, however, the US announced it would withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

Internally, member states’ views on collective climate action have become increasingly divided (Dupont, 2019). In 2011, the Commission presented its lowcarbon economy roadmap to the European Council (European Commission, 2011). Its adoption was blocked, however, by Poland (Skovgaard, 2014). More recently, the EU’s 2014 climate and energy targets for 2030 were argued to be insufficient to the goal of climate neutrality in 2050 (Dupont & Oberthür, 2015).

The perceived importance of climate action appears to begin to waver because of an over-crowded agenda (Dupont, 2019). As a result, the internal consensus and the external pressure on EU collective climate action has weakened. However, as was explained by Sperling & Webber (2019), a new status quo can be the beginning of a new securitisation process.

sembly’ and has increased its powers gradually since (European Parliament, 2019b). With the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997), the European Parliament was placed on equal footing with the Council. The Treaty of Lisbon (2007) extended the European Parliament further, making the ordinary legislative procedure the most widely used decision-making procedure, in which the EP codecides with the Council. The power most relevant to this paper, is scrutiny over the executive (i.e. the Commission) (European Parliament, 2019c).

November 28, 2019, the European Parliament declared an EU-wide climate emergency (European Parliament, 2019a). The declaration is as following: ‘The European Parliament, (...) (1) declares a climate and environmental emergency; calls on the Commission, the member states, and all global actors, and declares its own commitment, to urgently take the concrete action needed in order to fight and contain this threat before it is too late; (2) Urges the new Commission to fully assess the climate and environmental impact of all relevant legislative and budgetary proposals, and ensure that they are all fully aligned with the objective of limiting global warming to under 1,5 °C, and that they are not contributing to biodiversity loss; (3) Recognises its institutional responsibility to reduce its carbon footprint; proposes to adopt its own measures to reduce emissions, including replacing its fleet vehicles with zero-emissions vehicles, and calls on all the Member States to agree to a single seat for the European Parliament; (4) Urges the new Commission to address European Parliament as a Securi- the inconsistencies of current Union policies on the climate and environment emergency, in particular through tising Actor of Climate Change a far-reaching reform of its agricultural, trade, transPrevious research has primarily focused on the Euro- port, energy and infrastructure investment policies; (5) pean Council as a securitising actor. A reason for this Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the could be that this intergovernmental institution is re- Council, the Commission and the governments and parsponsible for defining the political direction of the Eu- liaments of the Member States.’ (European Parliament, ropean Union, as it consists of the heads of state and 2019a).

The declaration passed with 429 votes in favour, government of the member states. The European Par225 against, and 19 abstentions (Rankin, 2019). Sevliament, however, has enjoyed an increase of its formal powers as a supranational institution. This section will eral MEPs and external actors published statements retherefore attempt to occupy the niche of the European garding the declaration and its intention. Greenpeace’s Parliament as a securitising actor of climate change. As EU policy advisor Sebastion Mang, for example, argued: explained above, it is argued that the current discourse ‘Our house is on fire. The European Parliament has seen on the importance of climate action has begun to fal- the blaze, but it’s not enough to stand by and watch.’ ter. The European Parliament could prove itself to be (Rankin, 2019). The European Conservatives and Revital in re-establishing the importance of collective cli- formists group also did not support the act: ‘Rampmate action of the EU. As a case study, the declaration ing up the rhetoric does not get us away from the seriof a ‘climate emergency’ of the European Parliament in ous discussion that now needs to take place.’ (Rankin, 2019). The importance of the words used to describe November 2019 will be adopted.

The European Parliament (EP) is considered one of the declaration was also argued by several MEP’s. The the EU’s supranational institutions and the EU’s only European People’s Party was in favour of declaring a directly democratically-elected institution. It was es- ‘climate urgency’, rather than a ‘climate emergency’. tablished in 1958 as the ‘European Parliamentary As- Emergency translates into Notstand in German, which 60

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is associated with a Nazi law (Rankin, 2019). One EPP MEP argued emergency was not the right word, as: ‘Emergency can also be interpreted as undermining fundamental rights, like freedom of press and democracy’ (Rankin, 2019). In the preface of the statement above, the EP therefore acknowledges ‘no emergency should ever be used to erode democratic institutions or to undermine fundamental rights’ (European Parliament, 2019a). The resolution was put forward by French MEP and Environmental Committee Chair Pascal Canfin (Deutsche Welle, 2019). He argued that: ‘Europe is the first continent to declare a climate emergency, just before the COP25, when the new commissions takes office, and three weeks after Donald Trump confirmed the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris agreement, is a strong message sent to citizens and the rest of the world’ (Canfin, as cited by Deutsche Welle, 2019).

It can be argued that the European Parliament is attempting to securitise climate change and re-establish the issue high on the European Council’s and Commission’s agenda. To establish this, the components Sperling & Webber (2019) provide can be applied to this declaration: speech act, issue selection, referent object, securitising actor, and an audience. The speech act is a straightforward one: the climate emergency that the EP declared in November 2019. The EP is attempting to present climate change as a threat through the language it uses in the statement, which constitutes as a speech act according to Waever (1995). With this declaration, the EP attempts to give priority to the issue of climate change, and for ‘all global actors, and declares its own commitment, to urgently take the concrete action needed’ (European Parliament, 2019a, point 1).

The issue selected (Croft, 2012), i.e. climate change, is presented as an existential threat. This can be recognised in the declaration: ‘(...) to fight and contain this threat before it is too late’ (point 1). The referent object (Buzam et al, 1998) is the global actors that are called upon, who are existentially threatened. That the threat is an existential one is stressed through the quote ‘before it is too late’, which implies that there is limited time before climate change is no longer under control.

The securitising actor is the European Parliament, as previously stated.

Lastly, and arguably most importantly in the process of securitisation, is the audience (Bagge Lausten & Waever, 2000). The EP addresses both its internal (EU-wide) and external (international) audience. The reason for this might be the international COP25 that was planned for the week following the climate resolution (Deutsche Welle, 2019). In the declaration, the audience of the declaration is ‘the Commission, the member states, and all global actors’ (European Parliament, 2019a). The EP is thus attempting to convince both its

internal audience (‘the Commission, the member states’ and other EU institutions) and its external audience (‘all global actors’) to prioritise the issue of climate change and recognise that it is an existential threat, for which extraordinary measures need to be adopted.

Besides the upcoming COP25, another reasoning for the declaration of this solution could be that the EP is attempting to remind the new Commission of the EU’s past rhetoric on climate change. This can be recognised in point 1 of the declaration (Urges the new Commission to fully assess the climate and environmental impact of all relevant legislative and budgetary proposals (...), European Parliament, 2019a). Reminding actors of their past rhetorics fits in the theory of rhetorical entrapment. Rhetorical entrapment is defined by Skovgaard as: ‘a process in which actors find it difficult to argue against a given policy because the arguments in favour of the policy refer to norms which are difficult to question’ (2013: 1145). Actors can be ‘trapped’ into a norm as a result of previous commitments. If an actor then goes against a norm they have advocated in the past, it could possibly result in public shaming. To apply this theory to the audiences of securitisation, if the European Union presents one norm to its external audience, it can be considered trapped into this norm for its internal policies. The public shaming of breaching one’s own norm can be done by other actors, for example the European Parliament. In the current case study, the EP is not shaming the Commission publicly, but reminding them of their previous commitments and rhetoric on climate change, as discussed in the section above. The EP does not have the right to initiate legislation, but it can remind other European institutions of past commitments and set their agenda through speech acts. As such, the formal institutional powers of the EP do not increase, but their soft power to amend the agenda of the EU as a whole does.

Discussion Ultimately, climate change has moved up and down the political agenda of the European Union since it was first discussed. As outlined above, it can be argued that the current discourse on climate change has begun to falter. It could be placed higher on the EU political agenda, and in the minds of its citizens, through speech acts. The timing of the climate emergency by the European Parliament declaration is tactical - days before the official first day in office of the new Commission and a week before the COP25. With this, the European Parliament attempts to convince its internal and external audience of the importance to act on climate change. By calling the threat a climate emergency,

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Our Authors Dana Zoutman is a linguistics, literature and rhetoric major from The Hague, The Netherlands. During her time at UCR, she transitioned from the sciences to the Arts and Humanities, and from there her interdisciplinary interest developed into a research focus in environmental humanities, mainly from an ecolinguistic perspective.

After UCR, she intends to do a research masters in linguistics and further develop her studies into environmental discourse.

Claire Dépit was born in Reims, France in 1999. At UCR she is currently majoring in law and anthropology.

Out of a strong interest in Eastern Religions, she has also completed a minor in religious studies. In 2019, she was the mentee of a lawyer and human rights defender from India, as part of an internship for the ‘Shelter City’ programme. After her studies at UCR, she intends to develop a project related to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, before pursuing a master’s degree.

Aditi Sharma was born in India but spent most of her life in Dubai, UAE. She is a science major at UCR and focuses on the mathematics and physics tracks. After graduating from UCR, she intends to go to a good grad school to pursue particle physics or work in her field to gain some hands-on experience.

Zoë Drielsma is a student from Heerlen, in the south of The Netherlands. She is completing her pre-medical bachelor programme with a minor in antiquity. After UCR she plans to follow a medical research master in The Netherlands.

Ivo Verhoeven is set to graduate in mathematics, computer science, and statistics from University College Roosevelt in 2020. Originally hailing from Axel, Zeeland, he spent the majority of his childhood in Kuwait and Canada, observing firsthand the need for citizen participation in the transition towards renewable energy.

Currently finishing his bachelor’s thesis on probabilistic graphical models for speech recognition, he plans to study artificial intelligence at the University of Amsterdam next year.

Elise Renkema was born in The Hague and is set to graduate in political science and law from University College Roosevelt in 2020. In the future, she hopes to go into research within the field of political science and public administration.

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