Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection

366 Pages·2014·1.71 MB·English

by  Henry Shue

CLIMATE JUSTICE

Climate Justice
Vulnerability and Protection
HENRY SHUE
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3
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For the women who made my life:
Catherine Harper Shue
who could not stay
1911–40
Violet East Harper
who did all of it all over again
1891–1971
Sallie Morris Shue
who cheerfully guided eight ‘boys’
1876–1967
Vivienne Bland Shue
who, once found, has been there always
Preface
At the conclusion of the events portrayed in “Grand Hotel”, one elegant
denizen of the hotel lobby offers the marvellously unperceptive and obtuse
summation,“Peoplecome,peoplego,nothingeverhappens”!Onehopesthat
something occasionallyhappens,especiallyregardingourheadlong rushinto
humanly unprecedented climate change. But it is definitely true that people
come,peoplego.Twoofthepeopleinadvertentlymostcausallyresponsiblefor
whatfollowshere,thoughconsiderablyyoungerthanI,havesadlygone.First,
Cornell agricultural economist Duane Chapman kept insisting, at around
1990, that since I claimed to know something about ethics, I must be able to
provide some clues about what we ought to do about climate change. After
vainlytryingrepeatedlytoinsistthatwhateverImightknowaboutethics,Idid
notactuallyknowanythingaboutclimatechange,Duane’slovablecantanker-
ousness, combined with patient explanations by his Ph.D. students and the
moregentleurgingsofageconomistTimMount,finallypersuadedmetotry,
with their help, to figure out what was happening. Secondly, meanwhile in
EnglandthefaryoungerstillJohnVincent,whotragicallywastornawayeven
before the day of my lecture, urged Andy Hurrell to invite me to Oxford to
givewhatturnedouttobemyfirstlectureonnormativeissuesaboutclimate
and became the first paper here, “The Unavoidability of Justice”. For me
climate had become the unavoidable issue, as it ought to be, but still is not,
forthewholeworldtoday.DecadeslaterAndywasinstrumentalinmymove
toOxfordandcontinuestobesupportiveandappreciative.
AsIscatteredpapersonquestionsaboutclimatechangearoundtheworld,
including some somewhat out of the way places, in my efforts to encourage
manydifferentkindsofpeopletofocusontheproblem,bothChuckBeitzand
BobGoodinurgedmetobringthepaperstogetherinsomeplaceinwhichthey
would all be accessible to all sorts. But in the early years of this century, as
Washington continued to refuse to pick up the ball on climate, I turned my
attentionbacktotortureandwar,topicsonwhichIhadworkedpriortotaking
on climate change and which Washington seemed distinctly interested in.1
AfterIarrivedatMertonCollege,Oxford,in2002Ifoundmyselfexplainingto
peoplethatIsometimesworkedontortureandwarandsometimesworkedon
climatechange.WhenevertheWardenofMerton,DameJessicaRawson,heard
me say this, she would respond, “how can you work on anything other than
1 MypapersonthosesubjectswillfollowinasecondvolumefromOxfordUniversityPress.
Preface vii
climate?!” Gradually, as the global situation became increasingly urgent and
Washington continued to obsess over terrorism and engage in denial over
climate, I concluded that there really was no alternative to trying harder on
climate.Meanwhile,IhadbeenjoinedatOxfordbySimonCaneywhoseown
outstanding work on climate change became a focus of fresh activity and
whose strong encouragement further inspired my efforts. Simon added his
own question: “since you have written on human rights and written on
climate, why haven’t you written on human rights and climate together?”,
a suggestion to which I have recently been trying to respond. David Frame,
while at Oxford, first introduced me to the trillionth ton and cumulative
carbon budgets.
SomeofmyearliestworkonclimatechangeatCornellwassupportedbythe
Rockefeller Foundation’s Arts and Sciences Division, directed by Alberta
Arthurs. And my research was then assisted by the passionate activist Gay
Nicholson, who went on to lead the Finger Lakes Land Trust and found
Sustainable Tompkins. SteveGardiner has repeatedlyinvited me to speak on
these issues at the University of Washington in Seattle and long been a
valuable interlocutor. Dale Jamieson and Darrel Moellendorf too have long
beencomrades in whatused to be theratherlonely endeavour ofconvincing
people that climate change raises deep ethical issues. Dominic Byatt at the
Presshasbeensupportive,patient,andtolerant.
Mostrecently,MaryRobinsonhasdonemethehonourofincludingmein
the High Level Advisory Committee for the Climate Justice Dialogue, an
initiative of the Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice and the World
Resources Institute. That wonderfully diverse international committee’s
“DeclarationonClimateJustice”isincludedhereasanappendix.
Vivienne Shue has listened to more harangues about climate change than
anyonepersoncouldbeexpectedtoendure,butneverwaveredinhersupport.
Both the first person who wanted me to develop a view of climate change
andthefirstpersonwhothoughtanyviewIhadmightbeworthhearinghave
passedon.Sotoo,asIhaveindicatedinthededication,havemostofthemost
importantpeoplewhoshapedme,asdistinguishedfrommylaterphilosoph-
ical positions. Meanwhilethe government of my country has allowed oppor-
tunity after opportunity to take decisive action on climate change to pass by
unseized. As one thinks about the climate, one cannot help but develop a
longer-range sense of time and causation. The effects of some of our choices
lastfarbeyondourownlives.Allthepositiveactionsregardingtheclimatenot
taken by Washington twentyyears ago have made action bothmore difficult
and more urgent now for everyone. Some of the carbon dioxide we emit
tomorrow will still be affecting sea-levels long after 2100. The energy regime
we leave in power will dominate the lives and economies of generations
to come because such entrenched institutions cannot be changed quickly.
viii Preface
Whatwechoosetodoandnottodonowregardingtheclimatethatmakesit
possibleforustoliveandtheenergyregimethatisunderminingthatclimateis
wellworththinkingabout,foritseffectswillplayoutacrosstheglobeandover
the centuries. I hope these essays promote hard thought and then decisive
action,takenwithalongview.
HenryShue,MertonCollege
Table of Contents
Citations x
ShorthandNamesofChapters xii
Introduction 1
1. Theunavoidabilityofjustice 27
2. Subsistenceemissionsandluxuryemissions 47
3. Afteryou:mayactionbytherichbecontingentupon
actionbythepoor? 68
4. Avoidablenecessity:globalwarming,internationalfairness,
andalternativeenergy 89
5. Equityinaninternationalagreementonclimatechange 109
6. Environmentalchangeandthevarietiesofjustice 123
7. Erodingsovereignty:theadvanceofprinciple 142
8. Bequeathinghazards:securityrightsandpropertyrights
offuturehumans 162
9. Globalenvironmentandinternationalinequality 180
10. Climate 195
11. Alegacyofdanger:theKyotoProtocolandfuturegenerations 208
12. Responsibilitytofuturegenerationsandthetechnological
transition 225
13. Makingexceptions 244
14. Deadlydelays,savingopportunities:creatingamore
dangerousworld? 263
15. Facereality?Afteryou!Acallforleadershiponclimatechange 287
16. Humanrights,climatechange,andthetrillionthton 297
17. Climatehope:implementingtheexitstrategy 319
Appendix:Declarationonclimatejustice 340
Index 343