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CLIMATE CHANGE ETHICS
 Franco Debono :. October 08 :. Times of Malta   
 



 Economic advancement and a better quality of life have led us to acknowledge better the importance of the environment. We understand that economic prosperity is meaningless if it means a degraded environment. In the worst case, a despoiled environment could have serious repercussions on our health and could lead to appalling outcomes.

The energy debate is unfortunately dominated by the economic aspect, which is important but not exclusive. We need to face ethical issues in the environment debate that should figure more prominently.

If one could summarise the history of man in the west in the arts and sciences it would be the progressive realisation that man does not live in a vacuum. The great scientific discoveries of the past centuries have raised our awareness that man is born and lives in the midst of an environment with which humankind interacts and vice-versa. Man is not the centre of the universe. 

We have no right to abuse in any way the natural resources and diverse species that inhabit this planet with us. Man enjoys no monopoly over the environment. And this shouldn't just day, on us because it is obvious at this point in time that natural resources are not unlimited and that species do really become extinct even in our times but for ethical reasons too.

The environment we have inherited from our predecessors puts us under the onerous duty to pass it on to the next generations in a better state and, at a minimum, definitely not degraded. We must keep in mind that the environment is the heritage of all generations of humanity. We have no absolute ownership of the environment - we are only keeping it in trust for future generations to enjoy after us.


This should be the basis of our discernment of the environment. Our duties towards past generations and solidarity with distant future generations should enlighten the environment debate.          

Environmental decisions should thus be primarily ethical decisions made after an evaluation of what is right and wrong and not just of what makes financial sense in the short term. This is not to ignore the economic interest that guarantees people's livelihood, particularly in poor countries, but to put the environment in its proper sphere of relevance to humanity.

We must understand pollution, the degradation of biodiversity, climate change and the use and abuse of very limited resources, such as land in our country. This we must do at a higher level, an ethical level. Respecting the environment is an inherent good in itself irrespective of other considerations. Then, obviously, other implications follow. The polluter pays principle, for example, and the search for and use of alternative clean energy sources are based on ethical considerations.

To infuse our environmental commitment with an ethical dose is to make it more compelling and make it an overall priority, not just an economic one. We must calibrate our judgments according to what is right environmentally from the ethical point of view and not just from what is viable financially.

We should move not just when it hits our pockets but also when it hurts our conscience. 




Franco Debono is a Nationalist member of Parliament and a member of the standing committee on development planning of the House of Representatives.