Reconsidering the Paradigm Shift from Environmental Philosophy to Global Environmentalisms (original) (raw)

Humanity at the crossroads: The globalization of environmental crisis

Globalizations, 2005

The present-day global set of local sovereign states is not capable of saving the biosphere from man-made pollution or of conserving the biosphere's non-replaceable natural resources Will mankind murder Mother Earth or will he redeem her? This is the enigmatic question which now confronts (sic) Man. (Toynbee, 1976, pp. 593, 596) The facts are plain and uncontestable: the biosphere is finite, nongrowing, closed (except for the constant input of solar energy), and constrained by the laws of thermodynamics. Any subsystem, such as the economy, must at some point cease growing and adapt itself to a dynamic equilibrium, something like a steady state. (Daly, 2005, p. 80) As described in this special issue, the world is facing a series of environmental crises that reach into every corner of the globe. This is primarily due to the unprecedented growth of the human population and the world economy over the past 60 years. In the 50 years between 1950 and 2000 the world economy grew 2.5 times in terms of GDP. This was mostly driven by the exceptional population growth pushing humanity's number from 2.5 billion in 1950 to over 6 billion in 2000 (McNeill, 2000, pp. 6-8). The environmental, social and economic challenges that this poses are all interconnected and can not be treated separately. To help to understand the profound changes that are affecting the global environment, the authors in this special issue of Globalizations provide a rich palette of topics addressing the variety of environmental crises now facing humanity. Humanity at a crossroads Humanity, and with it all life on earth, stands at a crossroads. That was the message of a recent special issue of the Scientific American (2005) devoted to the global state of the environment and the future prospect of avoiding environmental catastrophe. These authors, discussing population pressure, poverty, species diversity and environmental economics, among other issues, warn that if we continue to ignore the signs of serious

CATALYST OR CATACLYSM: THE POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN WORLD AFFAIRS

It is the purpose of this paper to analyze the development of human society in terms of its relationship with the environment and to explore the proposition that environmental issues and crises have a unique capacity to generate political activity in a direction that cannot help but contribute to the alleviation and ultimate resolution of the destructive social, political, and economic tendencies which are imperiling the destiny of both mankind and the biosphere. At the time of writing in 1978, environmental issues were relatively new to the roster of international affairs, but as the paper demonstrates, since about 1960 had gained entrance to virtually every category of international concern. The paper offers early insight into how to an increasing extent, human social, political, and economic growth problems are compounded by environmentally imposed limitations, including the implications of climate change.

History and Environmental Crisis

2015

The earth has existed for 4.54 billion years; biologically modern humans have been around for only 200,000 years. 99.9% of the entire time earth has existed, it existed without modern humans. In the mere 200 years of industrialized capitalism our species has developed into a threat to the life-sustaining systems of our planet. Writing law and forming governing institutions adequate to confront this crisis is a daunting task that demands international legal regimes based in an emergent theory of human species-governance that acknowledges the rights of the living earth. This essay examines how existing environmental governance is plagued by weaknesses and coopted by neo-liberalism. A number of environmentally dedicated individuals have charted pathways forward, but we do not yet have a coherent edifice of policy and practices that will solve the environmental crisis. The promising emergent link between environmental law and human rights requires leverage from a richer conceptualization of the environment to deliver effective environmental governance. The difficult task ahead of us is to develop law that recognizes the rights of evolved life on earth and that vests humans with the responsibility to respect and protect the evolved world.

Climate Change: A Challenge for Ethics

English through Climate Change, 2012

Climate change – and its most dangerous consequence, the rapid overheating of the planet – is not the offspring of a natural procedure; instead, it is human-induced. It is only the aftermath of a specific pattern of economic development, one that focuses mainly on economic growth rather than on quality of life and sustainability. Since climate change is a major threat not only to millions of humans, but also to numerous non-human species and other forms of life, as well as to the equilibrium and the viability of the very planet, addressing it is of dire importance. In this chapter it will be argued that addressing the threat of climate change is primarily a task and a challenge for ethics, since the stabilization and gradual amelioration of the situation requires abandoning an up to now dominant model of life, longestablished customs and a so far cogent system of moral values. It will be further maintained that this for ethics might – or, even, should – become a new categorical imperative, since preserving the viability of the planet is a fundamental moral duty not only towards the existing members of the moral community, but also towards future generations. The chapter provides a glossary of the most important terms used in the text presented in the first part. It also provides different exercises aiming either to further consolidate student understanding of these terms or / and strengthen student grammatical and syntactical skills.

"Challenges for Environmental and Political Philosophy in the Anthropocene" (International Conference, 16th-17th January 2023 Bratislava Castle)

The international conference will focus on the overlaps between environmental and political philosophy in order to foster the understanding of and dealing with current global environmental crises. The theme of the conference is based on the assumption that the meaningfulness of political decisions in the Anthropocene era depends on the understanding and acceptance of the Earth as a universal methodological horizon. From this premise it follows that an adequate political or social philosophy should be, first of all, environmental. The aim of the conference is to create a space for critical discussion on the possibilities of creating an effective international research platform that could authentically contribute to the reflection of current policies that deepen social and environmental inequality.

Critical reading of Global Nature

world with environmental destruction and ecological degradation. The writers of this article extensively criticize the spread of capitalism and continually try to make it responsible for every mess and inconvenience that the globe is facing today. AUTHORS'ARGUMENTS The authors basically center their discourse on three issues of Global Political Ecology. The planetary character of the ecological crisis being the first has impacts across the globe. The second one is the fact that the debates of climate change affirm the centrality of expert knowledge in shaping the definitions of problems and solutions. The third issue of interest is the question of carbon emission roots global problems in the material world of basic provisioning systems, and in energetic foundations of modernity itself. The article links the political economy of Global Capitalism with the political ecology of a series of environmental disasters and failed attempts of environmental policies. It gracelessly criticizes the neoliberal capitalism in terms of commodification of the earth and its productions – vegetables, minerals, and animals – and legislating limits and rights to pollute, to trade toxins, to finance emissions, etc. They affirm the quantification of natural values of clean air, forests, wild lives, and landscapes are unjust and unethical. The authors believe that the capitalist economy gains its efficient advantage by using people and the technology to do work, while doing nothing to restore the social capital, environmental chaos needed to sustain positive interpersonal relationships within the society and that of the natural ecological system. According to the authors; for capitalism, there is no any economic motivation to invest into the future at the expense of their current profits as they are solely driven by maximizing their profit margin.