LPPE1102 – Current Issues in Politics and Philosophy: Environmental Crisis

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the concepts of environmental injustice, carbon taxation, theories of consumption, and ethical approaches to the climate transition from the Session 6 lecture of LPPE1102.

Environmental inequality

A condition where some countries are more affected by environmental damage than others, and within countries, disadvantaged populations are more vulnerable due to less protection or fewer exit opportunities.

Gilets jaunes movement

A social movement in France that arose in response to a new carbon tax and the abolition of the ISF, claiming a disproportionate tax burden on working and middle classes.

ISF (Impôt de solidarité sur la fortune)

A wealth tax in France that was abolished by President Macron prior to the introduction of a new carbon tax.

Carbon tax

A tax on the carbon emissions generated by the production of goods and services, aimed at disincentivizing carbon-intensive activities and making hidden costs visible.

Conspicuous consumption

A concept by Thorstein Veblen where each social class tries to copy the class above and distinguish itself from the classes below through ostentatious consumption of luxury goods.

Actualization rate

A solution used by economists to reduce the rate of future losses when balancing transition costs for present generations with those of future generations.

Utilitarian approach

A framework searching for optimal warming through cost-benefit analysis, focusing on aggregate well-being but often neglecting issues of distribution and fundamental rights.

Basic rights approach

An ethical perspective that prioritizes basic human rights, such as physical integrity and housing, over non-essential preferences like owning a swimming pool or an SUV.

Mutual advantage approach

A transition strategy where no one should lose from environmental efforts, often requiring compensation for those who have an interest in preserving the status quo.

Thorstein Veblen

The economist associated with the 'vicious circle of conspicuous consumption' and the idea that inequality stimulates carbon-intensive production.

Nordhaus's temperature recommendations

Economist who recommended targets of $2.6^\text{o}\text{C}$ in 2100 and $3.4^\text{o}\text{C}$ in 2200.

Stern's temperature recommendations

Economist who recommended climate targets of $2^\text{o}\text{C}$ and $3^\text{o}\text{C}$.

Paris agreement goals

An international climate target aiming for temperature increases of only $1.5^\text{o}\text{C}$ or $2^\text{o}\text{C}$ by 2100.

1 million Btu

An energy unit roughly equivalent to $8\text{ gallons}$ of gasoline according to the provided global energy maps.

Average energy consumption in France (2004)

The mean energy consumption was recorded as $156\text{ kWh}$ per person per day.

Energy consumption of the richest 10% in France

Approximately $250\text{ kWh}$ per person per day, significantly higher than the average and the poorest decile.

Australian fiscal reform (2012)

A reform that introduced an increase in income tax progressivity simultaneously with a new carbon tax.

Sufficiency

A goal substituted for utility-maximization in the basic rights approach to environmental justice.

Existential risk

The level of threat the environmental crisis poses to humankind as identified in the lecture conclusion.

Realpolitik

A pragmatic political perspective that often threatens fairness in the transition towards sustainability.

Environmental justice

A framework for addressing the ravages of toxic chemicals and climate change, specifically standing with frontline communities.

Hidden costs of carbon

Environmental or social damages from emissions that are not reflected in market prices but that a carbon tax aims to make visible.

Exit opportunities

The relative ability of individuals to move away from or avoid environmental hazards, which is typically lower for disadvantaged populations.

Social resentment

A political outcome resulting from policies, like the carbon tax, that appear to place a disproportionate burden on the working and middle classes.

Tradable carbon quotas

A potential method for distributing the carbon budget between states or individuals through market-based allowances.

Transition efforts

The distribution of costs and actions required to move an economy toward sustainable practices.

Frontline communities

Populations that are the first and most severely impacted by environmental injustices and climate change.

Unequal societies and work time

The observation that societies with high inequality are often the ones where people spend the most time working, contributing to higher consumption.

Status quo losers

Entities, such as oil-dependent countries, that would lose economically from a transition and are the focus of the mutual advantage approach.

Incentive for blackmail

An objection to the mutual advantage approach where polluters may demand more compensation to avoid continuing harmful activities.

Physical integrity

A primary human right that, under the basic rights approach, holds priority over non-essential economic preferences.

Pierre-Étienne Vandamme

The lecturer from the Chaire Hoover d’éthique économique et sociale at UCLouvain for this politics and philosophy session.

Optimal warming

The specific degree of temperature rise determined by a utilitarian cost-benefit analysis as being most efficient for society.

Carbon-intensive activities

Actions or production methods that release high amounts of carbon dioxide, which carbon taxes seek to disincentivize.

Aggregate well-being

The total sum of utility or welfare in a population, which is the primary focus of the utilitarian approach to climate change.

Transition redistribution

The use of carbon tax revenues to assist low-income citizens or fund other transition policies to ensure fairness.

Risk of disappearance

A factor used in calculating actualization rates that accounts for the long-term possibility of humankind's extinction.

Ethics of responsibility

The concept regarding humankind's duties towards nature, other species, and future generations.

Global inequality mirror

The idea that environmental inequality reflects and reinforces existing social and global disparities.

Disproportionate political influence

A characteristic of the rich that allows them to potentially resist sustainable development policies.