The Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change

The Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change

YouTube video of panel. Link

For one of the first side events of CSD-15, 90 people, some sitting and some standing, packed a room to hear six panellists speak on the ethical dimensions of climate change. Despite media attention, not much has focused on the ethical questions and principles underlying the issue. Tahirih Naylor, the Bahá’í International Community’s UN representative who chaired the event, expressed the Bahá’ís’ interest in “supporting a continuing discourse that will include scientific, policy, and religious perspectives on the ethical dimensions of climate change.”

H.E. Mr. Enele Sopoaga, Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Tuvalu to the UN, opened the session, noting that several important climate change reports had come out recently. The message of those reports, he said, was that the future will be catastrophic for all countries if the international community fails to do something urgently. For islands such as his as well as other atoll states: Maldives, Marshall Islands, and Kiribati, scenarios for the future include “total extinction.” Inaction, he said, is contrary to the precautionary principle, agreed to 15 years ago in Rio. Yet action on climate change has been stalled by lack of global leadership, the serious deficit of public awareness, and total absence of moral responsibility. He cited a moral obligation to help Tuvalu, small island states, and LDCs, to rise above the blaming game, political and economic considerations and make climate change a priority comparable to Security Council action on AIDS.

Mr. Om Pradhan, UN Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) noted that the science about climate change was settled; what is lacking is political will. The IPCC reports made it clear who bears responsibility and who will be most affected. The developed countries need to take responsibility with mitigation and assist with national adaptation programs by providing resources, technology, and capacity building for developed countries.

Don Brown, Project Coordinator of the Collaborate Program on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change, Rock Ethics Institute, sought to convince the participants that the ethical dimensions of climate change are much more than meets the eye, as developed further in that paper.(See: http://rockethics.psu.edu/climate/edcc-whitepaper.pdf.) He talked about not discussing ethics in an abstract way, but applying ethics and ethical analysis to the policy questions we now face. Looking at climate change from an ethical perspective, he said, will transform the nature of negotiations about responsibility, legal norms, and both soft and hard law. Bringing this reality will help inspire understanding, commitment and action.

Dr. Arthur Dahl, a marine biologist and former Deputy Assistant Director of UNEP, stated that “We are not just talking about climate and energy, we’re talking about the future of civilization.” The climate crisis represents the greatest market failure in the history of the planet. We have to go to the level of values and ethics, including the examining of values underlying the economic system Religion has a role in becoming a source of unity, to acknowledge our common humanity and build a sense of global solidarity. There is a need for education for sustainable development and a more altruistic economics. We need to actively look for sources of unity, with the support of NGOs, that allow us to rise above our narrow interests and develop the trust and ethical foundations to work together, build agreements, and meet the challenges ahead.

Tony Barnston of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Colombia University, noted that it takes humans years to adjust to ‘inconvenient discoveries’, citing cigarette smoking and prolonged exposure to the sun as two examples. A more urgent change is needed and a far shorter lag time when it comes to stemming greenhouse gas emissions. We need to move quickly to the action step, as the implications of not acting are severe and wide reaching.

Rabbi Lawrence Troster, Fellowship Program Director of GreenFaith stressed that the various religions agree on the moral crisis that faces us. He said that humans have the power to disrupt God’s natural order by violating boundaries set for behaviour. As in the Nazi era, this is an important moment in history. He closed by calling on people to seek out the ethical implications in climate issues, recognizing it as a moral imperative to understand the “meaning of this hour.” On a hopeful note, while many religions speak of great catastrophes, they also speak of a time humanity will be more in balance with the natural environment.

There was a lively discussion after the presentation. Many questions centered on economics, and the panellists clarified that the ethics underlying cost-benefit analysis and market mechanisms need to be examined and questioned. Brown concluded the panellist responses, saying that at the upcoming summit in Bali, countries can no longer grandfather in their behavior. Everything must be morally and ethically justified – we need to emerge from Bali with a morally-based ethical consensus on climate change.

The session concluded with a deeper understanding and renewed commitment to raise the ethical dimensions of climate change in our discussions at the CSD and beyond.