Post #4

Climate Change and Our Moral Obligation

Scientists say that, under current rates of global emissions, the planet will be 2.5 to 10° F warmer by the end of the century, causing cataclysmic changes to our environment in terms of drought, weather disturbances, rising sea-levels and ocean acidification, and international conflict — threats to our very livelihood as we now know it. It is clear that if we value the safety of our planet and those who inhabit it, the security of future generations still to come, or if nothing else, the entirety of human life itself, we as humans — whether it be young or old, black or white, male or female — indeed have the moral obligation to take whatever means necessary in ensuring the earth’s longevity and its protection from ourselves. As put by Moore and Nelson in Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril, “because we have an obligation not to destroy our own kind, our own selves, our own cultures, we have a corresponding moral obligation not to destroy the ecological and geological foundations of our lives and the future of humankind on Earth.” The threat of climate change is global, one which transcends concepts of nation-state, race, culture, religion, or socio-economic status, and accordingly, calls on each and every one of us to take part in addressing it.

Changing the projected course of our planet and averting the worst case scenario that accompanies its environmental degradation — its demise — requires us to make profound changes in the way we look at it. Over the course of human history, we have largely treated earth and its resources as our own benefactors, fruitfully supplying us with the means not only to sustainably live, but to thrive, squeezing and stripping the earth of its resources in whatever capitalistic venture we see fit. Here, the relationship between economic production and the environment is well defined: the earth provides us valuable resources which we use to nourish our lives and enrich our economies, and in response, we continue to take more until there is no more to take — and then we move elsewhere to take more from there. As pointed out by Speth in Moral Ground, “for all the material blessings economic progress has provided, its impact on the natural world must be counted in the balance as tragic loss.” We must redefine our relationship with the earth from one of parasitism, leeching it of its resources for our own selfish desires, to one of mutualism, in which we take measures to nurture our environment as it has done to us, and in response, it may continue to provide a safe and sustainable home not only for us, but for future generations to come.

To be fair to those who have long acknowledged the dangers of climate change, and who continue to stand up in defense of the earth and its environment, the term “we” was used very generously in the preceding paragraph. While it is certainly true that powerful corporate interests, faced with the risk of losing money in transitioning to sustainable and renewable energy, serve as strong deterrent to progressive environmental policy, there are people and organizations all over the world who recognize the severity of the threat that climate change poses and are working to bring about positive change for the environment. From Greta Thunberg and her Fridays For Future movement sparking environmental strikes around the world, to organizations like 350.org and Greenpeace working to end the age of fossil fuels and open the door to renewable energy. All over the world, people are standing up and fighting against the powers of greed in order to ensure the safety of our planet.

The effects of climate change are not only far-reaching, but deeply personal. Take the Alaskan village of Newtok, for example, where a village of 350 people were uprooted from their homes, an entire community forced to relocate due to flooding coastlines. Or the Inuit people of the Arctic, who not only see their land as a home, but as an integral part of themselves and their culture — as the population of marine mammals, walruses, and polar bears continue to fall prey to melting ice caps, so do the Inuit people who rely on them for food. As demonstrated by Watt-Cloutier in Moral Ground, the fight for one’s own environment reflects “our right to culture, our right to lands traditionally used and occupied, our right to health, our right to physical security, our right to our own means of subsistence, and our rights to residence and movement.” For many people, the idea of place does not merely equate to location, but rather has a much deeper, and more meaningful significance. In many indigenous societies, land is not merely seen as the ground on which human activity is conducted, but rather serves as an integral extension of themselves, as the relationship between the land and the people inhabiting it are deeply intertwined with one another. In this way, these cultures provide a startling demonstration of how climate change poses a threat even the very roots of meaning in our lives as humans.