2: Humans, Nature, and the Quest for Climate Justice
- Page ID
- 41674
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)FONNA FORMAN UC San Diego and DAVID PELLOW UC Santa Barbara
This chapter will teach you how to do the following:
- Recognize the disproportionate impact of climate change on the world’s most vulnerable people.
- Understand the difference between climate mitigation and climate adaptation and why vulnerable populations are less capable of both.
- Understand the difference between the intergenerational and intragenerational impacts of climate change.
- Be familiar with a variety of perspectives about the relationship between humans and nature, as well as with the negative environmental and human consequences of asserting human dominion over the natural world.
- Appreciate the urgency of climate justice.
- Understand global and local trends associated with climate injustice.
- Discuss major climate policy frameworks.
- Be familiar with core climate justice movement ideas, actions, and visions of change.
Overview
This chapter will address the impact of climate change on human populations and the ecologies that sustain human life. “Climate justice” is a set of global responsibilities toward those who are least responsible for causing climate change but most negatively affected by it. This chapter will emphasize the urgency of climate justice in our world today, and it will hopefully stimulate thinking about what you, as a climate champion, can do to address it.
Section 2.1 defines climate justice and climate injustice, focusing on how climate change affects the bottom 3 billion—that is, the poorest people in the world. Here, we will explore the environmental and human harms of climate change, emphasizing the disproportionate impacts of climate change on the world’s most vulnerable populations. Climate change and poverty are inextricably linked. In this section, we will also consider the difference between the intergenerational and intragenerational harms of climate change—harms both to those now living, and to those yet to be born.
Section 2.2 will reflect on the historical relationship between humans and the natural world. We will encounter a variety of religious and secular views, past and present, about the relationship between humans and nature, ranging from justifications for human dominion to perspectives that advocate a more harmonious relationship. This section is mindful of the devastating real-world consequences of human dominion over nature both for the environment and for people, especially the most vulnerable. We will stress the need for a more harmonious perspective.
In Section 2.3, we will explore the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable people around the world and the resulting ethical imperatives for us as a global community. This section will introduce the difference between adaptation and mitigation; we will explore why poorer communities are less capable of both adapting to a warming climate and participating in global mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We will examine cases of climate injustice and the effects of climate change on women, Indigenous peoples, and African Americans, among others.
Section 2.4 outlines key global climate policy frameworks, from the 1990s to today. It also surveys climate justice advocates’ criticism of such policy frameworks and explores some of their unintended consequences. We aim to illustrate what both climate justice and climate injustice are by examining real cases where people and ecosystems are affected by climate change. Such cases will help us to think about solutions to these problems from a global policy perspective as well as how we might implement solutions on the ground.
Finally, Section 2.5 explores alternative principle and policy approaches proposed by community-based social movements and climate justice activists. We ask, What might climate justice look like?