The Ethical Issue and its relevance
Climate change has been one of the most recurrent and hot topics in a myriad of discourses. This is because it is one of the most immediate threats to civilization since it not only affects our ecosystems, but it also undermines the foundations of our primary and fundamental rights, creates novel forms of injustice, and deepens inequities that are inherent in the society. Therefore, the adaptations to climate change and its subsequent mitigation are not just an issue of political will and scientific knowledge, but it also necessitates a broader view of an intricate situation (UNESCO, 2019). The ethical aspect of this is that it constitutes a considerable core of any commitment to mitigate climate change as well as its deleterious impacts.
In this regard, there are indeed three primary ethical dilemmas which further complicate the discourse on climate change. They include how to balance the responsibilities and rights of the developing and developed countries; how to gauge geo-engineering systems that are designed to slow or reverse the process of climate change; as well as how to evaluate our accountability to upcoming generations that are bound to live with the repercussions or consequences of our actions today (Somerville, 2008).
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There are three significant ethical challenges to the climate change process. The initial challenge is from the facet that global warming is a worldwide phenomenon as once the greenhouse gases are emitted, they have climatic effects on any part of the world, regardless of the sources of the gases. This thus results in a prisoner’s dilemma or what is alluded to as the tragedy of the commons between the different affected nations. Though each country prefers to decrease its global emissions in order to decrease the risks of catastrophic impacts, individually, each still prefers to continue with their activities unimpeded (Gardiner & Hartzell-Nichols, 2012). In the same manner, there are twisted vulnerabilities as many of the vulnerable countries are those that have fewer emissions, and this appears to be unfair, thus casting shadows over the theoretical and practical efforts that secure international collaboration. The second issue is that the present discharges have impacts that are intergenerational as the greenhouse gases have a long-lasting impact and can span across millennia. This is unfair, especially considering the extent of the consequences as things worsen over time. The third challenge is that the current tools are underdeveloped in many aspects, such as scientific uncertainty, universal justice, intergenerational ethics, as well as the ideal connection between nature and humans. For instance, the climate change proces raises some questions on the ethical value of non-human nature, like whether we are obliged to safeguard nonhuman life, special locations, or nature itself.
Motivations for Undertaking It
The major motivations for undertaking this issue stems from the fact that it significantly affects several aspects of our lives, and it primarily affects those that are most vulnerable. Therefore, this necessitates a complete change of our actions as it questions our moral and ethical nature. Most crucially, it affects the future generation without their knowledge and thus questions our moral capacity to do what is right to save the future generation from suffering. I also chose this topic because it is among the most overlooked subjects, and people often tend to downplay their role of fighting climate change for the present and the future. It also affects me on a personal level, and this is why I perceive it as a means to finding my stance on the issue and how I can contribute towards the potential solutions, but most importantly, it is a guide on how I can realign my moral and ethical compass on the issue.
References
Gardiner, S. M. & Hartzell-Nichols, L. (2012) Ethics and Global Climate Change. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):5
Somerville, R. (2008). The Ethics of Climate Change. Retrieved 30 September 2020, from https://e360.yale.edu/features/the_ethics_of_climate_change
UNESCO. (2019). The ethical principles of climate change. Retrieved 30 September 2020, from https://en.unesco.org/news/ethical-principles-climate-change
