Climate Ethics: A Bah Perspective

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Climate Ethics A Baháí Perspective
Based on the initial considerations of the Baháí
International Community paper entitled Seizing
the Opportunity Redefining the Challenge of
Climate Change
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• Authoritative assessments that global warming is
  
• unequivocal and directly linked to human
  activity (IPCC)
• constitutes the widest-ranging market failure
  ever seen (Stern Review) and
• represents the defining human development
  challenge of the 21st century (UNDP)?
• seized the attention of governments peoples
  alike

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Effects of Climate Change
Social disputes are caused by diminishing
natural resources and the destruction of water
supplies
Extreme flooding,deaths from disease, intense
storms damages homes and villages and causes
deaths and disease
Droughts have adverse impacts on agriculture

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Material civilization is like unto the lamp,
while spiritual civilization is the light in
that lamp. If the material and spiritual
civilization become united, then we will have
the light and the lamp together, and the outcome
will be perfect. For material civilization is
like unto a beautiful body, and spiritual
civilization is like unto the spirit of life. If
that wondrous spirit of life enters this
beautiful body, the body will become a channel
for the distribution and Development of the
Perfections of humanity. Abdul-Baha, the
Promulgation of Universal Peace.
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ETHICAL QUESTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
What level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
should the world community identify as a target?
Is it fair to prevent some countries from
developing the way others have in the past?
Who is responsible for the consequences of
climate change?
Should some countries be allowed to generate more
carbon dioxide per capita? If so, which ones?
Who should pay for the damages ?
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What is an ethic or ethics?
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• A set of principles of right conduct
• Rules or standards governing conduct
• The study of moral principles and appropriate
  conduct

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the field of philosophical inquiry that examines
concepts and their employment about what is right
and wrong, obligatory and non-obligatory, and
when responsibility should attach to human
actions that cause harm. White Paper on the
Ethical Implications of Climate Change, p. 7.
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Why is it important to address climate change
ethically?

• An ethical understanding highlights what is
  really at stake and goes right to the heart of
  the problem
• Consideration of ethical dimensions often helps
  leaders to see common ground and a way forward.
  Including ethical issues in discussion forces
  values out into the open so that they can be
  discussed and debated.
• Including ethical issues forces values into the
  open so they can be discussed and debated.
• An ethical way of looking at things lends
  importance to the voices of those who are
  vulnerable or negatively impacted because in an
  ethical context those voices are highly relevant

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There are spiritual principles, or what some
call human values, by which solutions can be
found for every social problem. Any
well-intentioned group can in a general sense
devise practical solutions to its problems, but
good intentions and practical knowledge are
usually not enough. The essential merit of
spiritual principle is that it not only presents
a perspective which harmonizes with that which is
immanent in human nature, it also induces an
attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which
facilitate the discovery and implementation of
practical measures. Leaders of governments and
all in authority would be well served in their
efforts to solve problems if they would first
seek to identify the principles involved and then
be guided by them. Universal House of Justice,
The Promise of World Peace
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Baháí Contribution

• Humanity is at the threshold of a tremendous
  opportunity,
• This is the opportunity to transition from a
  state-centered mode of interacting on the world
  stage to a mode rooted in the principle of the
  oneness of humanity,
• Adherence to the oneness of humanity has
  implications for the survival of all people,
• Nations must expand their understanding of who
  belongs to their community so that it includes
  people in other nations and future generations

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Current Efforts
Scotland passed a landmark law that requires a
42 cut in greenhouse gas emission by 2020,
rising to 80 by 2050
The Baháí International Community is closely
engaged with the subject of climate change at the
international level
The Baháí International Communitys initiated a
call to the leaders of the world to bring their
attention to the ethical and moral dimensions of
climate change
The Baháí International Community works closely
with the Global Gender and Climate Alliance.
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The inward life of man as well as his outward
environment have to be reshaped if human
salvation is to be secured. No movement in
the world directs its attention upon both these
aspects of human life and has full measures for
their improvement, save the teachings of
Bahaullah. And this is its distinctive
feature. If we therefore desire the good of the
world we should strive to spread those teachings
and also practice them in our own life. Shoghi
Effendi, Compilation of Compilations Vol. 1, p.48