Jessica Blythe, Assistant Professor in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre at Brock University; Jacqueline Lau, Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University; and Andrew Song, Lecturer and ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow at University of Technology Sydney, had a piece recently published in The Conversation that discussed the moral dimensions of climate decisions.

They write:

“There’s no shortage of evidence pointing to the need to act urgently on climate change. Most recently, a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirmed Earth has warmed 1.09℃ since pre-industrial times and many changes, such as sea-level rise and glacier melt, cannot be stopped.

Clearly, emissions reduction efforts to date have fallen abysmally short. But why, when the argument in favour of climate action is so compelling? 

Decisions about climate change require judging what’s important, and how the world should be now and in future. Therefore, climate change decisions are inherently moral. The rule applies whether the decision is being made by an individual deciding what food to eat, or national governments setting goals at international climate negotiations.

Our research reviewed the most recent literature across the social and behavioural sciences to better understand the moral dimensions of climate decisions. We found some moral values, such as fairness, motivate action. Others, such as economic liberty, stoke inaction.”

Continue reading the full article here.