Ethics and Climate Change
Climate Action: An Ethical Responsibility
Nations of the World Face a Moral Choice, Prepare and Survive, or Not?
The Climate Conferences Add Up, One after Another
"A Timeline of International Climate Conferences"
- Accompanied by 'Trends in Atmospheric CO2 vs Global Temperature Change'
"A Considerable Threat" that has become a #ClimateCrisis
GreenPolicy360: Let us go back to the beginning when climate science was first 'coming onto the screen' and those of us who were there and part of the new environmental movement in the 1960s and 70s were bringing the science into the light...
First, here are two links your GreenPolicy360 Siterunner asks you to review --
Rep. George E. Brown - https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr
Second, let's go back to the science and pick up ten years after George Brown entered Congress and began historic climate/atmospheric science work:
In 1977, the head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration delivered a report for the National Academy of Sciences that concluded that CO2 released during the burning of fossil fuel could have consequences for climate that pose a considerable threat to future society.
Rep. George Brown took the findings of the 1977 Energy and Climate Report from the Academy of Sciences and made the science actionable. In a historic moment, he proposed and drafted the legislation of the first U.S. National Climate Program and shepherded its passage in 1978.
This first federal program established to study and assess scientifically the issues and risks of human-caused climate change became a foundation for comprehensive initiatives, with an array of new Earth Science missions led by NASA and NOAA, the EPA and USGS.
In 1979 a follow-on National Science Academy report, commonly referenced as the "Charney Report", is released. The study was "in response to a request from the Director of the recently established Office of Science and Technology Policy" and it stated that "the President of the National Academy of Sciences (has) convened a study group under the auspices of the Climate Research Board of the National Research Council to assess the scientific basis for projection of possible future climatic changes resulting from man-made releases of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere." This study and report of national scientists is now seen as prescient and accurate in its global warming predictions.
Note the featuring of J. Hansen, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NASA and S. Manabe, R.T. Wetherald, and K.Bryan, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA. The Chairman of the Study Group on Carbon Dioxide and Climate is Jule G. Charney (who years later would write of the report's accuracy in its predictions)
"[T]he responsibility of the carbon-dioxide problem is ours - we should accept it and act in a way that recognizes our role as trustees for future generations." (Charney et al., 1979) This report also estimated that the amount of warming that would be experienced from a doubling of the pre-industrial levels of CO2 would be 3 degrees C, very close to the amount that the "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" would predict almost 30 years later."
In Geneva, Switzerland, a 'World Climate Conference' convened in 1979 under the aegis of the World Meteorological Organization, a weather and science agency of the United Nations.
The DECLARATION OF THE WORLD CLIMATE CONFERENCE
The World Climate Conference, a conference of experts on climate and mankind, held in Geneva, from 12 to 23 February 1979, was sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization in collaboration with other international bodies.
The specialists from many disciplines assembled for the Conference expressed their views concerning climatic variability and change and the implications for the world community. On the basis of their deliberations, they adopted the following: "An Appeal to Nations"
More on Climate and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
"Climate change is a civilization challenging ethical and moral problem and this understanding has enormous practical significance for policy." -- Donald Brown
The Ethics and Climate site contains over 185 articles (as of 2017) including 13 videos on ethical issues raised by climate change. The site seeks to help policy makers and interested citizens understand the ethical dimensions of climate change issues in contention in policy debates.
Ethics and Climate seeks to increase and deepen public reflection on the ethical implications of human-induced climate change among policymakers, the public, non-government organizations, and journalists.
The site analyzes issues that arise in public discussions of climate change policy making and identifies the ethical, equity, and justice issues entailed by these issues.
The site is written and edited by Donald A. Brown, Scholar in Residence and Professor, Widener University School of Law. Professor Brown has worked in government at the state, federal, and international level on climate change and taught the ethics, law, science, and politics of climate change for over 25 years. The site also regularly includes articles from scholars in environmental ethics, science, and law on climate ethical issues facing climate policy makers.
For over thirty-five years, the US Academy of Sciences has warned the US about the enormous threats of climate change with each successive report making stronger claims that human caused climate change is a serious threat to civilization. If the United States can be accused of failing to live up to its ethical responsibilities to the rest of the world on climate change, one cannot blame the US Academy of Sciences for failing to ring alarm bells. US citizens cannot claim that their most prestigious scientific institutions have failed to take a position on the seriousness of climate change.
The failure of the United States to respond to climate change can be attributed in largest part to a well-financed, well-organized climate change disinformation campaign. As Climate Ethics has previously cited, see "A New Kind of Crime Against Humanity?: The Fossil Fuel Industry's Disinformation Campaign On Climate Change". (Donald Brown, 2010a)
Climate Ethics has also repeatedly argued that the failure of the United States to respond to its ethical duties for climate change may also be attributed to the almost complete failure in the United States of the media and even climate change policy advocates to acknowledge that climate change raises not only national interests but also duties, responsibilities, and obligations to others.
"Tyranny of the contemporary"
Tyranny as a collective action problem in which earlier generations exploit the future by taking modest benefits for themselves now while passing on potentially catastrophic costs later.
The critical question as we seek to meet such a tyranny and address climate change will be which moral framework is in play when we make decisions. In many settings, we do not even notice when this question arises, because we assume that the relevant values are so widely shared and similarly interpreted that the answer should be obvious to everyone. Nevertheless, the values question is not trivial, since our answer will shape our whole approach.
If we think something should be done about climate change, it is only because we use our moral frameworks to evaluate climate change events, our role in bringing them about, and the alternatives to our action. This evaluation gives us both an account of the problem and constraints on what would count as relevant solutions.
Utamaduni na Mabadiliko ya Hali ya Hewa: Hatua ya Hali ya Hewa: Wajibu wa Kimaadili Mataifa ya Ulimwengu yanakabiliwa na chaguo la maadili, Jitayarishe na Kuokoka, au La? "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya kwanza ya Greenpeace, ""Mtazamo wa Utamaduni wa Kimataifa"" ni ""Mtazamo wa Kimataifa wa Kimataifa wa Kimataifa wa Kimataifa wa Kimataifa wa Kimataifa wa Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa ya Kimataifa.""" "Mjumbe wa Bunge George Brown alitoa ripoti ya mwaka 1977 ya ""Nishati na Hali ya Hewa"" kutoka kwa Chuo cha Sayansi na kuifanya kuwa ""saikolojia inayoweza kutekelezwa.""" Katika kipindi cha kwanza cha historia, alitoa pendekezo la kuanzisha mpango wa kwanza wa hali ya hewa wa kitaifa na kuongoza kupitishwa kwake mnamo 1978. Programu hii ya kwanza ya shirikisho ilianzishwa ili kujifunza na kutathmini kisayansi masuala na hatari za mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa yanayosababishwa na binadamu, ikawa msingi wa mipango ya kina, na safu ya misheni mpya ya Sayansi ya Dunia iliyoongozwa na NASA na NOAA, EPA na USGS. "Mwaka 1979 ripoti ya Chuo Kikuu cha Sayansi cha Marekani (National Science Academy) ilitolewa, na baadaye ikaitwa ""Charney Report.""" "Utafiti huo ulifanywa ""kwa kujibu ombi la Mkurugenzi wa Ofisi ya Sera ya Sayansi na Teknolojia iliyoanzishwa hivi karibuni"" na ilisema kwamba ""Rais wa Chuo Kikuu cha Sayansi cha Kitaifa (am) amefanya mkutano wa kikundi cha utafiti chini ya udhamini wa Bodi ya Utafiti wa Hali ya Hewa ya Baraza la Utafiti wa Kitaifa ili kutathmini msingi wa kisayansi wa utabiri wa mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa ya baadaye yanayotokana na kutolewa kwa kaboni dioksidi katika anga.""" Utafiti huu na ripoti ya wanasayansi wa kitaifa sasa inaonekana kuwa ya kimbele na sahihi katika utabiri wake wa ongezeko la joto duniani. J. Hansen, Mkurugenzi wa Taasisi ya Goddard ya Mafunzo ya Anga, NASA, na S. Manabe, R. T. Wetherald, na K. Bryan, Mhandisi wa Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, NOAA. "Mkurugenzi wa Kikundi cha Utafiti juu ya Kaboni Dioksidi na Hali ya Hewa ni J. G. Charney, ambaye miaka kadhaa baadaye aliandika juu ya usahihi wa ripoti hiyo katika utabiri wake: ""Wajibu wa tatizo la kaboni dioksidi ni wetu - tunapaswa kukubali na kutenda kwa njia inayotambua jukumu letu kama wadhamini wa vizazi vijavyo.""" "Charney et al. (1979), pia inakadiria kwamba kiasi cha joto ambayo ingekuwa uzoefu kutoka maradufu ya viwango vya kabla ya viwanda ya CO2 itakuwa 3 ° C, karibu sana na kiasi kwamba ""Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change"" ingekuwa utabiri karibu miaka 30 baadaye." Mkutano wa Dunia wa Hali ya Hewa uliofanyika Geneva, Uswisi, mwaka 1979 ulifanyika chini ya usimamizi wa Shirika la Dunia la Hali ya Hewa (WMO), shirika la hali ya hewa na sayansi la Umoja wa Mataifa. Mkutano wa Dunia wa Hali ya Hewa, uliofanyika Geneva, Ufaransa, tarehe 12-23 Februari 1979, uliandaliwa na Shirika la Kimataifa la Hali ya Hewa (WMO) na mashirika mengine ya kimataifa. Wataalamu kutoka taaluma nyingi walikusanyika kwa ajili ya Mkutano huo na kuelezea maoni yao kuhusu mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa na mabadiliko na athari kwa jamii ya dunia. "Kutokana na mazungumzo yao, walipiga kura ya ""Appeal to Nations"" kuhusu hali ya hewa na Shirika la Kimataifa la Hali ya Hewa (WMO) na kusema: ""Mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa ni tatizo la kimaadili na maadili linalohatarisha ustaarabu na uelewa huu una umuhimu mkubwa wa vitendo kwa sera." "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, tovuti ya ""Ethics and Climate"" ina makala zaidi ya 185 (kwa 2017), ikiwa ni pamoja na video 13 juu ya masuala ya maadili yaliyoibuliwa na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa." Tovuti hiyo inatafuta kusaidia watunga sera na wananchi wanaopendezwa kuelewa vipimo vya maadili vya masuala ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa katika mjadala katika mjadala wa sera. Ethics and Climate inatafuta kuongeza na kuimarisha tafakari ya umma juu ya athari za maadili za mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa yanayotokana na binadamu kati ya watunga sera, umma, mashirika yasiyo ya serikali, na waandishi wa habari. Tovuti hiyo inachambua masuala yanayotokea katika majadiliano ya umma ya utengenezaji wa sera za mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa na kutambua masuala ya maadili, usawa, na haki yanayohusishwa na masuala haya. Tovuti hiyo imeandikwa na kuhaririwa na Donald A. Brown, Scholar katika Makazi na Profesa, Widener Chuo Kikuu cha Shule ya Sheria. Brown amefanya kazi katika serikali ya serikali, serikali ya shirikisho, na kimataifa juu ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa na kufundisha maadili, sheria, sayansi na siasa za mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa kwa zaidi ya miaka 25. Tovuti pia mara kwa mara inajumuisha makala kutoka kwa wasomi katika maadili ya mazingira, sayansi, na sheria juu ya masuala ya maadili ya hali ya hewa yanayokabiliwa na watunga sera za hali ya hewa. Kwa zaidi ya miaka thelathini na tano, Chuo cha Sayansi cha Marekani kimekuwa kikionya Marekani kuhusu vitisho vikubwa vya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa, na kila ripoti inayofuata inatoa madai ya nguvu zaidi kwamba mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa yanayosababishwa na binadamu ni tishio kubwa kwa ustaarabu. """Ikiwa Marekani inaweza kushtakiwa kwa kushindwa kuishi hadi wajibu wake wa maadili kwa ulimwengu wote juu ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa, mtu hawezi kumlaumu Chuo cha Sayansi cha Marekani kwa kushindwa kupiga kengele za kengele." Wananchi wa Marekani hawawezi kudai kwamba taasisi zao za kisayansi zenye sifa kubwa zaidi zimeshindwa kuchukua msimamo juu ya uzito wa mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa. Kushindwa kwa Marekani kukabiliana na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa kunaweza kuhusishwa kwa sehemu kubwa na kampeni ya habari bandia ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa iliyofadhiliwa vizuri na kupangwa vizuri. Kama Maadili ya Hali ya Hewa imetaja hapo awali, angalia "A New Kind of Crime Against Humanity? : Kampeni ya Ufisadi ya Viwanda vya Mafuta ya Fossil juu ya Mabadiliko ya Hali ya Hewa". "Mwanahabari wa Climate Ethics Donald Brown alisema: ""Kushindwa kwa Marekani kukabiliana na majukumu yake ya kimaadili kwa mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa inaweza pia kuhusishwa na kushindwa kabisa kwa vyombo vya habari nchini Marekani na hata wanaharakati wa sera ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa kutambua kwamba mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa hayazidi maslahi ya kitaifa tu, lakini pia majukumu, majukumu na wajibu kwa wengine.""" "Tyranny of the contemporary: ""Tyranny as a collective action problem in which earlier generations exploit the future by taking modest benefits for themselves now while passing on potentially catastrophic costs later"" (Tyranny of the contemporary: ""Tyranny as a collective action problem in which earlier generations exploit the future by taking modest benefits for themselves now while passing on potentially catastrophic costs later"")." Swali muhimu tunapojaribu kukabiliana na udhalimu kama huo na kushughulikia mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa itakuwa ni mfumo gani wa maadili unacheza wakati tunapofanya maamuzi. Katika mazingira mengi, hata hatuoni wakati swali hili linapoibuka, kwa sababu tunadhani kuwa maadili yanayohusiana yanashirikiwa sana na kutafsiriwa kwa njia sawa kwamba jibu linapaswa kuwa wazi kwa kila mtu. Hata hivyo, swali la maadili si dogo, kwa kuwa jibu letu litakuwa na uvutano juu ya njia yetu yote. Kama tunafikiri kitu lazima kufanyika kuhusu mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa, ni kwa sababu tu sisi kutumia mifumo yetu ya kimaadili kutathmini matukio ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa, jukumu letu katika kuleta yao juu, na mbadala kwa hatua zetu. Tathmini hii inatupa wote akaunti ya tatizo na vikwazo juu ya nini ingekuwa kuhesabiwa kama ufumbuzi muhimu.