Climate Change, Human Rights and the Problem of Motivation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3384/de-ethica.2001-8819.141137Keywords:
Climate change, Human rights, Realism, Motivation, IncentivesAbstract
In this paper, I discuss some of the human rights that are threatened by the impact of global warming and the problem of motivation to comply with the duties of climate justice. I explain in what sense human rights can be violated by climate change and try to show that there are not only moral reasons to address this problem, but also more prudential motives, which I refer to as quasi-moral and non-moral reasons. I also assess some implications of potentially catastrophic impacts driven by this ecological issue. My aim is to locate, by outlining a normative perspective based on sound empirical findings, urgent climate injustices, and explain why well-off citizens in developed countries have strong reasons to avert the potentially massive violation of the rights of present and future victims of climate change.References
Archer, David. The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.
Ashford, Elizabeth. ‘Severe Poverty as a Systematic Human Rights Violation’, in Cosmopolitanism Versus Non-Cosmopolitanism: Critiques, Defenses, Reconceptualizations, edited by Gillian Brock. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 129-155. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199678426.003.0007
Beckman, Ludvig. ‘Democracy, national responsibility and climate change justice’, Democratization 19:5 (2012), pp. 843-864. doi: 10.1080/13510347.2012.709685
Bell, Derek. ‘Does anthropogenic climate change violate human rights?’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 14:2 (2011), pp. 99–124. doi: 10.1080/13698230.2011.529703
Birnbacher, Dieter. ‘What Motivates Us to Care for the (Distant) Future?’, in Intergenerational Justice, edited by Axel Gosseries and Lukas H. Meyer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 273-300. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199282951.003.0011
Broome, John. Climate Matters: Ethics in a Warming World. New York/London: W. W. Norton, 2012.
Byravan, Sujatha and Sudhir C. Rajan. ‘The Ethical Implications of Sea-Level Rise Due to Climate Change’, Ethics & Public Affairs 24:3 (2010), pp. 239-260. doi: 10.1111/j.1747-7093.2010.00266.x
Caney, Simon. ‘Cosmopolitan Justice, Rights and Global Climate Change’, Canadian Journal of Law and jurisprudence 19:2 (2006), pp. 255-278.
Caney, Simon. ‘Human Rights, Responsibilities and Climate Change’, in Global Basic Rights, edited by Charles Beitz and Robert Goodin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 227-247.
Caney, Simon. ‘Climate Change, Human Rights, and Moral Thresholds’, in Human Rights and Climate Change, edited by Stephen Humphreys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 69-90.
Crawford, Neta C. ‘The False Promise of Preventive War: The “New Security Consensus” and a More Insecure World’, in Preemption: Military Action and Moral Justification, edited by Henry Shue and David Rodin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 89-125. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199233137.003.0005
Cripps, Elizabeth. Climate Change and the Moral Agent: Individual Duties in an Interdependent World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199665655.001.0001
Freeman, Jody and Andrew Guzman. ‘Climate change and U.S. Interests’, Environmental Law Reporter 41:8 (2011), pp. 10695-10711.
Gardiner, Stephen M., Simon Caney, Dale Jamieson, and Henry Shue (eds.). Climate Ethics: Essential Readings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Gardiner, Stephen M. ‘Climate Justice’, in The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society, edited by John S. Dryzek, Richard B. Norgaard, and David Schlosberg. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 309-322.
Gardiner, Stephen M. ‘Human Rights in a Hostile Climate’, in Human Rights: The hard Questions, edited by Cindy Holder and David Reidy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 211-230. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511758553.016
Guzman, Andrew. Overheated: The Human Cost of Climate Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Hanna, Elizabeth G. ‘Health hazards’, in The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society, edited by John S. Dryzek, Richard B. Norgaard, and David Schlosberg. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 217-231.
Hansen, James E. Storms of my Grandchildren: The Truth about the Coming Climate Catastrophe and our Last Chance to Save Humanity. London: Bloomsbury, 2009.
Harris, Paul G. What’s Wrong with Climate Politics and how to Fix It. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013.
Hayward, Tim. Constitutional Environmental Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Humphreys, Stephen. ‘Introduction: Human Rights and Climate Change’, in Human Rights and Climate Change, edited by Stephen Humphreys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 1-33.
Humphreys, Stephen. ‘Conceiving Justice: Articulating Common Causes in Distinct Regimes’, in Human Rights and Climate Change, edited by Stephen Humphreys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 299-319.
IPCC 2007. ‘Summary for Policymakers’, in Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by M. L. Parry, O. F. Canziani, J. P. Palutikof, P. J. van der Linden and C. E. Hanson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 7-22.
IPCC 2012. ‘Summary for Policymakers’, in Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by C. B. Field, V. Barros, T. F. Stocker, D. Qin, D. J. Dokken, K. L. Ebi, M. D. Mastrandrea, K. J. Mach, G. K. Plattner, S. K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P. M. Midgley. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. 3-22.
Jamieson, Dale. ‘The Nature of the Problem’, in The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society, edited by John S. Dryzek, Richard B. Norgaard, and David Schlosberg. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 38-54.
Jamieson, Dale. ‘Climate Change, Consequentialism, and the Road Ahead’, Chicago Journal of International Law 13:2 (2013), pp. 439-468.
Jamieson, Dale. Reason in a Dark Time: Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed – and What It Means for Our Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
Lichtenberg, Judith. Distant Strangers: Ethics, Psychology, and Global Poverty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Miller, David. National Responsibility and Global Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199235056.001.0001
Pogge, Thomas. World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms, second edition. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008.
Risse, Mathias. On Global Justice. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012.
Schwenkenbecher, Anne. ‘Is there an obligation to reduce one’s individual carbon footprint?’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 17: 2 (2014), pp.168-188. doi: 10.1080/13698230.2012.692984
Shue, Henry. ‘Deadly Delays, Saving Opportunities: Creating a More Dangerous World?’, in Climate Ethics: Essential Readings, edited by Stephen M. Gardiner, Simon Caney, Dale Jamieson, and Henry Shue. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 163-177.
Thompson, Janna. ‘Identity and Obligation in a Transgenerational Polity’, in Intergenerational Justice, edited by Axel Gosseries and Lukas H. Meyer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 25-49. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199282951.003.0002
UNDP. Human Development Report 2007/2008: Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World. New York: United Nations Development Programme Publications, online at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr_20072008_summary_english.pdf (accessed 2013-07-19).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2014 Michel Bourban
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
