Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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late-night thoughts about democracy S 73<br />
and mostly well unders<strong>to</strong>od. We cannot plead ignorance about <strong>the</strong><br />
facts <strong>of</strong> <strong>climate</strong> change or argue that time will heal <strong>the</strong> damages<br />
we cause. And, given <strong>the</strong> large and well-documented evidence <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> potential for energy effi ciency and renewable energy, nei<strong>the</strong>r<br />
can we make a plausible case that we had no o<strong>the</strong>r choices. We will<br />
stand before whoever is able and willing <strong>to</strong> judge, or perhaps <strong>the</strong><br />
silence <strong>of</strong> extinction, as a generation that willfully and unnecessarily<br />
imposed egregious wrongs on all future generations, depriving<br />
<strong>the</strong>m <strong>of</strong> liberty, property, and life. We are culpable, but <strong>the</strong> law as<br />
presently constituted conveniently lets us <strong>of</strong>f <strong>the</strong> hook because it<br />
says nothing about <strong>the</strong> rights <strong>of</strong> posterity.<br />
Harms perpetrated across generations or actions that could lead<br />
<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> extinction <strong>of</strong> humankind are perhaps <strong>the</strong> most baffl ing, as well<br />
as most important, issues <strong>of</strong> ethics and policy. In <strong>the</strong> latter case, for<br />
instance, <strong>the</strong> unborn are harmed only in <strong>the</strong> sense that <strong>the</strong>y were not<br />
brought in<strong>to</strong> existence, which raises many perplexities. Pondering<br />
self-infl icted extinction, Jonathan Schell, for example, writes:<br />
How are we <strong>to</strong> comprehend <strong>the</strong> life or death <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> infi nite number<br />
<strong>of</strong> possible people who do not yet exist at all? How are we,<br />
who are a part <strong>of</strong> human life, <strong>to</strong> step back from life and see it<br />
whole, in order <strong>to</strong> assess <strong>the</strong> meaning <strong>of</strong> its disappearance? To kill<br />
a human being is murder. . . . but what crime is it <strong>to</strong> cancel <strong>the</strong><br />
numberless multitude <strong>of</strong> unconceived people? In what court is<br />
such a crime <strong>to</strong> be judged? Against whom is it committed? And<br />
what law does it violate? (Schell, 2000, p. 116)<br />
Regarding <strong>the</strong> rights <strong>of</strong> future generations, Schell asks, “What<br />
standing should <strong>the</strong>y have among us?” They exist nowhere except<br />
in prospect, and <strong>the</strong> law presently affords no protection or consideration<br />
<strong>to</strong> humans “unconceived.” Schell was writing about <strong>the</strong><br />
case <strong>of</strong> extinction by nuclear weapons, but extinction by <strong>climate</strong><br />
change poses virtually <strong>the</strong> same diffi cult issues, albeit less quickly.<br />
At a slightly less vexatious level, <strong>the</strong> case against abortion is<br />
perhaps instructive. Whatever one’s opinion about <strong>the</strong> rights <strong>of</strong> a<br />
fetus, might <strong>the</strong> same kind <strong>of</strong> arguments apply <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> right <strong>to</strong> life