Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice

This article discusses the ethical challenges of climate change and the need for serious action to combat it. It explores sustainability, climate ethics, and the impact of climate change on the environment and human activities. The article also discusses the responsibility of developed countries to address climate change and the measures taken by Ireland to address this issue.

Running head: Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice
Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Climate change is a pertinent issue that needs to be addressed for the welfare of the planet
and humanity. Climate change threatens the basic values of humanity and the various actions
taken to address this problem are an act of moral responsibility and fairness. Climate change has
been defined as a “perfect moral storm” (Urry 2015) as it brings together three main challenges.
Firstly, it has been observed that many vulnerable countries like Ethiopia, Malawi, Poland and
France are those who have emitted toxic gases the least historically, countries whose levels of
emission continue to be low. Therefore, it seems rather unfair that such countries have to
withstand the worst of climate change. This is ethically and morally not right and unfair. The
second challenge is that toxic emission of greenhouse gases has an intergenerational effect.
Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide tend to endure in the atmosphere for a very long time,
which leads to climatic impacts that are negative in nature for centuries (Urry 2015). This is very
unfair especially to future generations if negative impacts are cumulative and severe. One does
not have any right to endanger the lives of children, who are the future of society. One also does
not have any right to pollute the earth and cause environmental pollution, degradation, and
climate change, which in the end will affect the future generations in a negative manner. The
third challenge is also ethical in nature because human beings have a moral duty and
responsibility to protect animals, places and nature as a whole. Human beings have a
responsibility towards the planet and it is the duty and responsibility of every human being to
preserve and nurture the environment and the planet that one lives in. The present generation has
a responsibility not to impose climate damages on the future generations. Climate changes have a
negative effect on animals and nature. One needs to protect animals as well as coral reefs in
order to conserve biodiversity, and to protect the beings living in those coral reefs.

2ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Globalized countries are more responsible for the emission of toxic gases that are leading
to change in climate than developing countries since time immemorial (Zehr 2016). Some people
argue that countries should not be held responsible for toxic emissions that took place before
1990 because of the lack of knowledge that was prevalent in regards to climate change in the
1990s about the harmful effects of these toxic emissions on the environment. Others feel that it is
extremely unfair to hold the present day inhabitants of developed countries responsible because
the damage that was made to the climate was made not by them but by their ancestors. While
still others argue that since the current lot of people in developed countries benefitted a lot from
the emissions of the previous generations, in terms of infrastructure etc, they should also be held
responsible for climate change and historic emissions (Zehr 2016). Colonization, economic
exploitation and slavery all led to climate change. Thus, the general consensus is that developed
countries should shoulder the maximum responsibility for addressing the problem of climate
change.
Climate change will unfortunately affect Ireland as it will lead to a rise in sea levels. It
will also lead to heavy storms and rainfall. It will further lead to river and coastal flooding, in the
east it will lead to water shortage in summer and it will have a detrimental effect on the quality
of water. Climate change will lead to changes in distribution of plant and animal species and it
will have a negative impact on fisheries that are sensitive to the environment.
The Irish Climate Policies include Ireland and Kyoto protocol wherein Ireland was
allowed to increase its emission but at a much lower rate of only 13% (Aldy & W.A. 2015). By
the year 2012, Ireland ensured that it stuck to its promise and commitment made under the Kyoto
Protocol. It was a direct result of the economic recession and economic outlook for the future.

3ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
However in future, Ireland cannot depend on a recession to take preventive measures to curtail
climate change. Instead it needs to develop as a low carbon economy to address climate change.
In Ireland, agriculture, energy and transport accounted for 73% of Ireland’s greenhouse
gas emissions in 2012. This led to the Climate Change Bill 2015, which was an essential first
step. The Climate Change Bill required a Statutory Requirement to produce a National
Mitigation Plan and to report annually on the measures that were taken. It was also stated that an
independent climate advisory council would be set up which will recognize the principle of
climate justice. The National Mitigation Plan followed this in 2017 wherein it was decided to
plant 8000 hectares of forest each year. Investment was made in energy efficiency upgrades for
homes; there were tighter building regulations on new buildings and efficiency of industrial
energy. The key measures that were taken under the National Mitigation Plan also included zero
emissions from cars from 2030, use of more bio fuels, support farm knowledge management
groups, beef data and genomics programme to improve carbon efficiency of cattle and carbon
footprint Audits of farms. Ireland also has Agri-Food Policies in place that focus on carbon
neutrality, i.e. sequestering carbon via land use change. Efforts have also been made to reduce
emissions per cattle.
The Paris Agreement recognizes that the impact of climate change will be felt by all
countries but the impacts would be uneven. As a party to the Paris Agreement, Ireland also
realizes the importance of responsibility of countries to address climate change. Ireland also
realizes the significance of countries pursuing low carbon, development that is climate resilient
in nature and also to support the developing countries to achieve these objectives.

4ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Humanity as a whole needs to come forward to tackle climate change. Instead of blaming
one another, it is the responsibility of every individual to come forward and together protect and
safeguard our planet. It has been recommended that one should engage in geoengineering of the
climate in order to minimize the pitfalls of climatic change. For example, temperature rises may
be controlled by injecting sulphur into the stratosphere so that the incoming radiation is sent back
into space. This however has ethical issues, which needs to be sorted before one can intentionally
manipulate the climate (Aldy & W.A. 2015). Individuals should also take the responsibility of
addressing climate change. This can be done if one adopts a set of ‘green virtues’ (Urry 2015)
and be accountable for one’s actions.
Human beings is an evolved species of animals among a plethora of other animals who
have no claim or are entitled to special privileges and hence one must respect and protect other
animals, birds, nature and places. The rising human demand on land, sea and water has made the
conservation of forests and wild animals a topmost priority. One should protect the various
species of wild animals. Human manipulation of the environment can also have a detrimental
effect on human beings. Excessive grazing leads to soil erosion and also lead to desertification
which can result in the shortage of food production; introduced organisms that are used can turn
into crop pests or carry a plethora of diseases that may affect human beings, the extinction of
various species can lead to a lack of medicines (Aldy & W.A. 2015). Hence, one should try to
conserve the environment and not damage it.
One should adopt sustainable science, which lays emphasis on the relationship between
society and nature. One should ensure that needs of human beings are met in a just manner
without damaging the health of ecosystems. One should take as less as possible from the
environment to lead a healthy life.

5ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Sustainability primarily refers to the relationship between society and the environment.
This relationship has a physical aspect and a moral and an ethical attitude (Merilä & Hendry
2014). This relationship between the environment and society is affected by technological
advancements, understanding the environment, understanding how excessive consumption that
arises from exploitation of natural resources have an adverse effect on the environment, an
understanding of our ethical attitudes and nature (Merilä & Hendry 2014). Sustainability thus
involves five dimensions. They include development of technology that is efficient in nature for
meeting the needs of human beings, understanding the nature of ecosystems, developing an
understanding on how exploitation has a detrimental effect on ecosystems and understanding
how exploitation affects human cultures. Ethical attitudes are an important part of any
relationship that involves humans. Thus, ethics should determine on how human beings use
technologies. Commitment to sustainability is commitment to a specific vision of how human
beings should live in this world, how human beings should interact with one another and with the
natural world (Merilä & Hendry 2014).
Sustainability is primarily an ethical concept. Human beings should use the resources of
the earth in a sustainable manner. By using incessant amounts of fossil fuels that leads to the
emission of toxic greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide etc to the atmosphere, human beings are
damaging the planet which is detrimental to the future generations. Thus, one should not indulge
in excessive consumerism as excessive consumerism is one of the factors that damage the
environment and lead to climatic changes. One should learn to moderate their lifestyle and one
can do this by inculcating a sense of contentment.
Climate change is a serious ethical challenge. The “perfect moral storm” results from the
fact that the current generation of human beings exploits nature thereby exploiting the future, for

6ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
their own benefit without thinking about the catastrophe they are causing to future generations
(Capstick et al. 2015). Climate challenge is truly ethical and rights, virtue, welfare, justice,
community, political legitimacy, the relationship of human beings with nature should be central
to the decisions of policy that are made. The climate problem is not solved if one tends to mete
out catastrophe on the future generations or assist genocide against nations, which are poor or
accelerate the speed of mass extinction.
Climate change will have a profound effect on the environment and the activities of
humans in various ways. There will be an increase in food insecurity and shortage of water as
the patterns of rainfall shift and glaciers disappear. The rich countries might be able to afford
better agricultural methods by using change crop varieties and new technology, but the
developing countries will suffer from shortage of food production. Climate change will have the
greatest impact on the poor people especially people living in Africa. Fishes in oceans will be
affected. Natural and social disasters will become severe and more prevalent. Ecological species
will be affected and it will lead to a loss of biodiversity. Climate change will lead to global
warming which would lead to a meltdown of glaciers and ice caps, which consequently would
lead to a rise in sea levels. Rise in sea levels will flood low-lying areas of the world resulting in a
lot of people being displaced from their homes. Climate change is the result of self-centred
materialism in human beings. Governments of various countries have started promoting
sustainable development wherein it ensures that the needs of the present generation are met
without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their daily needs. Global
warming poses a challenge to human beings and human beings collectively ought to come
together and combat this problem of climate change (Capstick et al. 2015).

7ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Climate change encompasses ethical issues, especially in its intergenerational, ecological
and global dimensions. There is a need for serious action to combat this problem of climate
change and the issue of fairness and responsibility towards the future generations comes to the
fore and needs to be taken into account. Climate ethics is a promising and a rising field and a lot
of work remains to be done in this field.

8ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
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