Inaction on Global Warming - as Reckless as Drunk Driving

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While it is crucial to focus on how climate change should be addressed from a collective perspective, it is also important to discuss individual responsibility. One view of an individual responsibility that some argue is primarily political, to say they have little to no duty to change their consumption or lifestyle selections. I find this argument appalling and selfish. “We are part of the earth and it is part of us…What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth” (Chief Seattle). The other side of the debate is that individuals should take responsibility for their consumption and lifestyle selections, and develop a set of “green virtues” that are not conditional on how others respond.

What I have come to find in my research is that a majority of people in our country believe that climate change will harm Americans, but don’t think it will happen to them as an individual. According to a New York Times article, “Part of this is the problem of risk perception. Global warming is precisely the kind of threat humans are awful at dealing with: a problem with enormous consequences over the long term, but little that is sharply visible on a personal level in the short term” (NY Times). It is ironic that it is in our own human nature when an impending threat is present, our fight-or-flight instincts kick in, but when the threat is slow-paced and nonconcrete, our motivation to act upon it is at a low. Most Americans simply do not see climate change as a top contender to making it on the priority list. How can you negate the severity of an issue just because the consequences aren’t affecting you personally/imminently? It is ultimately a selfish way to not only think, but to live your life.

It is also interesting to point out this fact: “33% of Americans surveyed said they discuss global warming at least occasionally with friends and family—and 31% said they never do” (NY Times). What is even more intriguing is the regional patterns this coincides with. In the areas of the country which have been affected by wildfires and droughts, those residents are more likely to talk about climate change. Again, this points to our fight-or-flight instinct beginning to change our thought process when we physically see and experience the changes in our earth and its weather patterns. Residents in areas of the country whom haven’t seen much particular change (middle-to-middle-east), have an extremely low chance of global warming comping up in conversation. Out of sight, out of mind.

All things considered, a large problem with the debate over our individual/moral responsibility to climate change is that one single person’s emissions seem very small in comparison with the global total. What is crucial to consider is that, “on average and over the course of a lifetime, the emissions of a single typical American are significant enough to contribute to the severe suffering and/or deaths of two future people” (Gardiner). I found that statement shocking. If more people, not only in America but around the world, were to be made aware of that statement, their moral values may kick in. We both collectively and individually must focus on the fact that just by making minor changes in our day-to-day lives, we can save those of future generations, and possibly our own.

Lastly, attention must be brought to a recent disappointment to our nation faced under the new administration. Last month, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. Throughout his campaign, Trump quite boldly stated his view on global warming and that he wanted no part in honoring the commitment to reduce emissions. “Trump is effectively solidifying the climate policy that he has been pursuing since the presidential campaign, one of diminished international responsibility and increased domestic extraction of fossil fuels. It’s an action that will have considerable consequences, both at home and abroad—consequences that will reverberate immediately, as well as decades into the future” (Geiling).

It is genuinely heartbreaking to watch such a harmful decision be made for not only the health of our nation, but the health of our planet as a whole. By President Trump pulling out of this agreement, he is completely negating the fact that he has any moral obligation to help fight against climate change, which in turn will give people around the world the same arrogance.

In conclusion, it is clear that climate change involves serious ethical dilemmas, especially in its global, intergenerational, and ecological proportions. Despite the challenges we are facing not only in our home nation, but around the world, there is an overall important consensus regarding the need for serious action and the significance of vital ethical concerns, such as fairness and responsibility. Climate ethics is a developing field that has much to offer, but there is much more work that remains to be done. “Our challenge for the future is that we realize we are very much a part of the earth’s ecosystem, and we must learn to respect and live according to the basic biological laws of nature.” (Jim Fowler).

Works Cited

- Farber, Daniel. "Opinion | Inaction on Global Warming Is as Reckless as Drunken Driving. "The Washington Post. WP Company, 05 Jan. 2016. Web.

- Gardiner, Stephen. "Opinion | Why Climate Change Is an Ethical Problem." The Washington Post. WP Company, 09 Jan. 2016. Web.

- Appell, David. "Is Global Warming a Moral Issue? » Yale Climate Connections." Yale Climate Connections. N.p., 24 Apr. 2015. Web.

- Gardiner, Stephen. "Ethics and Global Climate Change." Nature News. Nature Publishing Group, n.d. Web.

- Welby, Bartholomew And Justin. "Opinion | Climate Change and Moral Responsibility." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 June 2015. Web.

- Carrington, Damian. "Al Gore: Battle against Climate Change Is like Fight against Slavery."The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 21 June 2017. Web.

- "An Inconvenient Truth Then and Now: What's Changed for Our Climate Since 2006?"Climate Reality. N.p., n.d. Web.

- Geiling, Natasha. "What Happens Now That Trump Pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement?" ThinkProgress. ThinkProgress, 01 June 2017. Web.

- Popovich, Nadja, John Schwartz, and Tatiana Schlossberg. "How Americans Think About Climate Change, in Six Maps." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Mar. 2017. Web.

- Dr. Guy McPherson

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