Module 6: Environmental Ethics

cookie cutter model

Taking what we already know and superimposing it over different areas.

development

Uprooting of what is already there, frequently without much concern of what was there before.

extraction

Understanding natural resources as to-be-used, without any concern for reciprocity or appreciation for the cyclical nature of the universe.

colonialism

A sense of the exclusive rightness of our outlook on the word, such that we feel we must impose it on others.

what is steve gardner’s main argument in “A perfect storm”?

climate change represents a “perfect moral storm”—a rare convergence of multiple ethical challenges that uniquely undermine humanity’s ability to act responsibly.

what are the three dimensions that Steve gardener believes the storm arises from?

• the Global Storm,

• the Intergenerational Storm, and

• the Theoretical Storm.

what does gardener believe the three dimesions make humans vulnerable to?

moral corruption, delay, disguise, and distort ethical responsibilities

why is climate change a moral problem?

ethical reflection is needed to interpret impacts, weigh interests, and justify action.

desrcibe the global storm

spatiall awareness of climate change

1. dispersion of causes and effects

2. fragmentation of agency (billions of contributors)

3. the world is stuck in a Prisoner’s Dilemma/Tragedy of the Commons dynamic:

   • each nation prefers others to reduce emissions,

additional complication of global storm

• scientific uncertainty about national-level impacts, allowing nations to convince themselves that they may not be harmed or may benefit,

• vested interests in existing fossil-fuel–based systems,

• status quo bias, since the costs of change are immediate and concrete while climate harms feel distant.

describe the intergenerational storm

temporal dimesion of climate change

1. massive temporal dispersion (climate change effects are severely lagged)

2. Severe Intergenerational Collective Action Problem - Unlike nations in a commons problem, future generations cannot bargain, punish, or negotiate.

3. moral multiplying effects

Thus, each generation’s inaction makes the ethical situation profoundly worse for those who come after.

describe the theorhetical storm

our inadequate moral theories.

climate change raises ethical questions

• how to treat scientific uncertainty,

• how to weigh the interests of future, non-existent persons,

• how to protect nonhuman nature,

• how to think about risk, catastrophe, and long time scales.

what is moral corruption

the manipulation of moral reasoning to disguise inaction.

• Distraction (focusing on less important issues)

• Complacency

• Unreasonable doubt (manufacturing uncertainty)

• Selective attention (highlighting costs of action but ignoring intergenerational harms)

• Delusion

• Pandering

• False witness

• Hypocrisy