[Rantman] Framing Global Warming as an ethical problem -- Climate Ethics presentation

[rPauli]

Our global warming quandary is a "ethically perfect storm"   Fail.   
This is NOT to condemn the situation as hopeless.
There may be a solution, it is just that an ethical win is nowhere to be 
found.

Ethically, we are trapped; morally insufficient.   And this is the clear 
reason why ALL politicians run away from the issue.   Republicans deny 
it and Democrats mumble and change the subject.   Legislation is 
tepid.   The US is not participating on the international stage.

UW philosophy professor Stephen Gardiner calls ""A Perfect Moral Storm" 
- because ethically it is impossible to win, morally we failed.

I am sharing my memo notes below from my recent presentation to my UW 
class in  Government Responses to Climate Change.   In the notes at the 
end are some links to some excellent YouTube videos.

RP

==============
Our time is the *Anthropocene epoch
*/Human dominance of bio-chemical and geological processes leaving real 
marks on the world - a morally complex, growing crisis. /

Classical Ethics involves   Fairness,   Justice,   Duties,   
Responsibilities

We can frame AGW  (Anthropogenic Global Warming) ethically using the 
major approaches to classical ethics:

-- *Utilitarianism* - we should act to achieve the greater good for the 
greatest number of people.

-- *Categorical Imperative* - (universalism) goodness & morality is 
declared and we put aside the real short term consequences.

-- *Friderich Nietzsche says morality* is just codification of the will 
of the strong. (a' la 1%)

First precept of ethics:   duty to "do no harm."

*Yet there is a human responsibility for AGW *

Each person's CO2 emissions -- may be slight - but will cause harm to 
everyone on the planet - near term and far future.

-- We caused AGW -- now only we can extricate ourselves

--  This is the very 1^st time for a group existentialist question -- do 
we have a right to decide fate of innocents?

What is our obligation to other species?

Wealthy nation inequitably harm the poorer nations.

How do we allocate responsibility?

Who pays for damages and restitution?

Cost/benefit analysis to future generations?

Unless we take immediate action, then increased future damages possible.

Ethical questions, further delay, wishful thinking & inaction is morally 
reckless.


Deciding on actions, we need to know two things:
*1**What is the science ? *
        Climate science and energy science.   Both the known and the 
modeled.

*2 What is our goal ?*
      Based on human values.   What actions?

Our human values underlie the selection of our goals.
What is good?
What do we want?:
  Do we want:

    -- a briefly strong economy ?
    -- comfort from an easy flow of carbon energy?
    -- a sustainable and safe future for our children ?
    -- multi-generational species survival?
    -- a peaceful and dignified end? 

James Garvey's book *Ethics of Climate Change* "Science tells what's 
happening and why, but not what to do about it."

Moral outrage about America based on:

    -- US caused a sizable fraction of warming, we have done so little,
    yet we can most afford to take serious action
    -- US emissions are mostly luxury based
    -- US is freeloading while other countries taking stronger action
    --  US ignores the rest of the world,  attending to our short-term
    interests. 

"You broke it, you bought it", "the polluter pays"

The rest of the world may feel anger and seek retribution.

Ethical criticism that discussing (wallowing in) uncertainties and costs 
amounts to self-interested vacillation.

Imposing delay appears as selfishness motives "Harming people for money"

Moral requirements of International Agreements:

  *

    Historical responsibilities - strong pollution since 1880's - heavy
    in the last 50 years.

  *

    Present capacities  - who can shoulder burden?

  *

    Sustainability - what capability?

  *

    Procedural fairness - clear and democratic process.

*This is a colossally complex moral dilemma*. Modern civilization caused 
the problem, our children burdened because

  *

    increasing destabilization actually lags carbon emissions.

  *

    potentially an extinction class event

  *

    our economic indulgences seem to delay and sabotage our best efforts

  *

    everyone needs to co-operate, and no-one wants to be the first to
    sacrifice comfort.


Princeton Ethics Professor Donald Brown offers a list of*Practical 
Consequences ...When Climate Change Is An Ethical Problem*

  *

    Domestic economic interests can never trump climate harms.

  *

    Everyone must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fair share

  *

    No right to refuse

  *

    Liability for damages and costs of historic emissions set from the
    notification date not the date that danger was proven.

  *

    Per capita emissions levels.

  *

    No harm to future generations.


UW prof of ethics Dr. Stephen Gardiner -

_*A PERFECT MORAL STORM : The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change*_ from 
the true story of the convergence of three bad storms -

*1. GLOBAL STORM destabilizing climate and our current global political 
situation* requires world cooperation and the suspension of individual 
selfish goals.

Injustice that rich nations benefit most, and poor nations are suffering 
most. Political timidity and scientific uncertainty about timing and 
magnitude make global agreements more difficult.

*2. INTERGENERATIONAL STORM is less optimistic since it morally 
multiplies effects.*  Moral committed to the future, yet abandon this 
mess to our children -- who are not prepared, not informed and did not 
choose their burden.  This temporal ethical storm spans generations.

*3. THEORETICAL / MORAL CORRUPTION -human ineptitude, moral frailty and 
psychological failure/* The storms of Global and Intergenerational 
challenges encourage a new ethical storm that bring forth moral 
corruption and displays our *Strategies for psychological adaptation 
include:* Distraction, Complacency, Unreasonable Doubt, Selective 
Attention,  Delusion, Pandering, False Witness, Hypocrisy

A convergence of horrific problems, and manipulative or self-deceptive 
behavior, denial are all predictable psychological coping mechanisms.

*Prisoner's Dilemma --*it is rational for most generations to cooperate 
-- yet individually rational for all generations not to cooperate.
*Tragedy of the Commons* - is observation of human failure to share a 
common resource. (essentially a Prisoner's Dilemma involving a common 
resource.)

Our inaction has a domino effect in undermining the collective action:

-- apathy and ideological fervor

-- shadow solutions like Geo-engineering.

-- completely missing intergenerational justice

The Intergenerational Storm, where we fail to protect the future of our 
species - (genetic abandonment) is so difficult to face that instead we 
turn away and revert back to the current Global Storm - within which we 
have a chance of hopeful action.

*Gardiner thinks we do this purposefully, escaping... To give ourselves 
moral cover.*

In climate policy, the benefit goes to the present population/generation 
which is rhetorically adaptive and portrays itself itself as taking the 
issue seriously. With the continued negotiation of weak, ineffectual 
global accords - any generation can avoid blame.

The storms of spacial, the temporal and the morally corrupt interact to 
re-enforce each other in a perfect storm.

====== Conclusion ==========

Individual culpability is morally the same as corporate.

Colossal change required to everyone and every institution

Collective action necessary


Proposing 3 types of roles for an active future:*
Warrior* fighter ,leader and driver of both adaptive change - and 
mitigation prevention.  Prevention, positive response.*
Mediator* negotiator, scientist, engineer, teacher, administrator and 
communicator. Mitigation*
Hospice worker* caretaker, nurse, social worker and tender to the ailing 
the dying and victims of climate destabilization.  Compassion, acceptance.

Ethical defeat does not mean we are immobilized.

== Important terms ===

*The Prisoners Dilemma *- in game theory and public policy - "shows why 
two individuals might not agree, even if appears that it is best to do 
so." where 2 prisoners must choose whether to co-operate or defect 
turning in their fellow criminal. Each act has its rewards, and while 
cooperation is preferred, selfish behavior has a greater reward in the 
short term.

*The Tragedy of the Commons*an important concept used in global warming 
policy. It is based on Garret Hardin's 1968 essay - using the metaphor 
of the herd grazing on community owned grounds. If 10 sheep graze on the 
grass everyone is happy until too many overgraze, then everyone loses. 
Hardin says that rational individuals, acting in their self-interest, 
will eventually deplete a shared limited resource - over-stressing a 
commons like our atmosphere, even though it is clearly against 
everyone's and anyone's long-term interest for this to happen./Climate 
change is the Tragedy of the Commons set in 4 dimensions (Scigliano, 2011)/


                                                       == Links - notes 
======

The Ethics of Climate Change: Right and Wrong in a Warming World by 
James Garvey
http://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Climate-Change-Right-Warming/dp/0826497373
Book reviewed 
at:<http://www.easterbrook.ca/steve/?p=2234&cpage=1>_http://www.easterbrook.ca/steve/?p=2234&cpage=1_ 
<http://www.easterbrook.ca/steve/?p=2234&cpage=1>

Professor Stephen Gardiner's The Perfect Moral Storm --
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_ethical_dimension_of_tackling_climate_change/2456/__
_http://hettingern.people.cofc.edu/Environmental_Philosophy_Sp_09/Gardner_Perfect_Moral_Storm.pdf_ 
<http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryOther/EnvironmentalHistory/?view=usa&ci=9780195379440>
__http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryOther/EnvironmentalHistory/?view=usa&ci=9780195379440 
<http://www.erica.demon.co.uk/EV/EV1522.html>
_http://www.erica.demon.co.uk/EV/EV1522.html_

Prof Donald Brown - Penn State Associate Professor of Environmental 
Ethics, Science and Law.*
Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change 14 minute video 
*http://youtu.be/I4uHUoO5HwY**
Climate Change Is An Ethical Problem
_http://rockblogs.psu.edu/climate/2011/08/ten-practical-policy-consequences-of-acknowledging-that-climate-change-is-an-ethical-problem.html_

Human rights, human future
_http://www.wbgu.de/fileadmin/templates/dateien/veroeffentlichungen/factsheets/fs2011-fs1/wbgu_fs1_2011_en.pdf_


White Paper on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change
_http://www.chile-co2.cl/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/edcc-whitepaper.pdf_

INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE EFFORTS BEYOND 2012: A SURVEY OF APPROACHES
http://www.pewclimate.org/publications/report/international-climate-efforts-beyond-2012-survey-approaches
_http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/2012%20new.pdf_

Dr. Peter Singer -- Professor of Bioethics Princeton
_Peter Singer _http://youtu.be/3wCNJJwIPY4, 
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer_

Famine, Affluence and Morality (1972) 
http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/1972----.htm

Game Theory and Global Warming_http://www4.ncsu.edu/~schecter/gtgw.pdf_ 
<http://www4.ncsu.edu/%7Eschecter/gtgw.pdf>

_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pPnc-ocQOA_ 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pPnc-ocQOA&feature=related>2008 
UChannel Dale Jamieson NYU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWqB4-em308 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWqB4-em308&feature=related>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYtA9Pz7XqE 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYtA9Pz7XqE&feature=related>
http://www.econ.jku.at/members/pruckner/files/papers/modelling.pdf


/"The minimum that is scientifically necessary, far exceeds the maximum 
that is politically feasible" - Al Gore/

rp 11-2-11


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