Climate Change and Future Justice: Precaution, Compensation and Triage

184 Pages·2012·1.152 MB·English

by  Catriona McKinnon

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5 CLIMATE CHANGE AND FUTURE
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JUSTICE
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Climatechangecreatesunprecedentedproblemsofintergenerationaljustice.What
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do members of the current generation owe to future generations in virtue of the
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contribution they are making to climate change?
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Providing important new insights within the theoretical framework of political
22 liberalism, Climate Change and Future Justice presents arguments in three key areas:
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24 Mitigation: the current generation ought to adopt a strong precautionary
25 ! principleinformulatingclimatechangepolicyinordertominimisetherisksof
26 serious harm from climate change imposed on future generations
27 Adaptation: thecurrentgeneration oughtto create afund towhich members
28 ! offuturegenerationsmayapplyforcompensationiftherisksofclimatechange
29 harm imposed on them by the current generation ripen into harms
30 Triage: future generations ought to keep alive hope for a return to the
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31 framework of justice for the social cooperation of future people less burdened
32 by climate change harms.
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34 This work presents agenda-setting applications of important principles of demo-
35 cratic equality to the most serious set of political challenges ever faced by human
36 society. It should be required reading for political theorists and environmental
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39 Catriona McKinnon is Professor of Political Theory at the University of
40 Reading. She has published widely on many topics in contemporary political
41 theory, including toleration, political liberalism, equality, and cosmopolitanism.
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Routledge Issues in Contemporary Political Theory
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18 This series engages with the most significant issues in contemporary political
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theory. Each text is written by a leading scholar and provides a short, accessible
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and stimulating overview of the issue for advanced undergraduates and graduate
21 students of political theory. As well as providing a survey of the field, the books
22 also contain original and groundbreaking thinking which will drive forward
23 debates on these key issues.
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25 1. Sovereignty and Political Theory
26 Indigeneity and the limits of the political
27 Karena Shaw
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29 2. Fascism and Political Theory
30 Critical perspectives on Fascist ideology
31 Daniel Woodley
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33 3. Climate Change and Future Justice
34 Precaution, compensation and triage
35 Catriona McKinnon
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CLIMATE CHANGE AND
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7 FUTURE JUSTICE
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11 Precaution, compensation,
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and triage
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Catriona McKinnon
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Firstpublished2012
3 byRoutledge
4 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN
5 SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
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710ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
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RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
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©2011CatrionaMcKinnon
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TherightofCatrionaMcKinnontobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhas
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beenassertedbyherinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatent
11 Act1988.
12 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
13 utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin
14 anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting
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16 Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintent
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toinfringe.
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
19 AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
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LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
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ISBN13:978-0-415-46124-5(hbk)
23 ISBN13:978-0-415-46125-2(pbk)
24 ISBN13:978-0-203-80220-5(ebk)
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5 For my children, Caelan and Bria
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5 CONTENTS
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18 Acknowledgements viii
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21 1 Introduction 1
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23 2 A Rawlsian approach to climate change justice 13
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25 3 Precautions 47
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27 4 Intergenerational corrective justice 72
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29 5 The end of the world as we know it: catastrophes and triage 107
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31 6 Conclusion: getting motivated in the last-chance saloon 127
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Notes 137
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35 Bibliography 162
36 Index 175
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5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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18 In a number of ways, this has been a difficultbook to write. The subject matter is
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relentlesslydepressing. At present, there isvery little ground for hope that we, the
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current generation, will rise to the political challenges created by climate change,
21 and the time available to us to mitigate in any significant way is fast running out.
22 Reflecting and writing on Rawls’ Just Savings principle, or the differences
23 between strict and fault liability, or the nature of principles of triage, etc., has
24 much of the time felt like fiddling while Rome burns. However, to have been
25 reflecting and writing on anything else would have felt even less appropriate. The
26 book was also difficult to write for (far nicer) personal reasons. The process was
27 punctuated by the conception and arrival of my two beautiful children, Caelan
28 andBria,andbyextendedperiodsofmaternityleavedevotedexclusivelytothem.
29 Asanyonewithyoungchildrenknows,aslife-enhancingandjoyfulasitistohave
30 them around, they do not conduce to the concentration needed to write a book
31 in political theory. It is only because of the heroic efforts of my husband, Matt
32 Pittori, by sacrificing his rest, to ensure that I got sufficient sleep to work that this
33 book exists at all. He often ‘did the nights’ with Caelan and Bria when they were
34 restless babies, and then ‘did the days’ too, finding the energy to run, sing and
35 build sandcastles with them while I sat with books and a keyboard. My children
36 could not have a better father. I am hugely proud of him, and love him more
37 than ever.
38 Bits of this book have done the rounds over the last few years, and I have had
39 much helpful and encouraging feedback from various audiences. Comments from
40 the following people in particular prompted some major developments and revi-
41 sions to early drafts: Harry Brighouse, Gideon Calder, John Horton, Cecile
42 Laborde, Ed Page, Nigel Pleasants, Andrew Williams, Victor Tadros, and
43 Jo Wolff. I would also like to thank Routledge’s anonymous reader of the penul-
44 timate draft, whose comments forced me to not to stray too far from thetheme.
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Acknowledgements ix
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Forthedurationofthebook’sgestationIhavebeenveryluckytobeemployed
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in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University
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of Reading. As my colleague Alan Cromartie puts it, there’s no politics in the
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Politics Department, making it a civilised and healthy place to work. Thanks are
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dueto Alan, and myother colleagues, for their supportivenessand sanity. Iwould
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also like to thank my Head of School, Philip Giddings, for his calm and
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thoughtful handling of my periods of maternity leave, ensuring that these times
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were spent as they should be.
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I have enjoyed two periods of extended funded research leave to work on the
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topics explored in this book. In 2006 I took up a Research Fellowship funded
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by the Leverhulme Trust (grant no.: RF/2006/0303), and in 2007 I took up a
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Senior Research Fellowship funded by the British Academy and the Leverhulme
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Trust (grant no.: SRF/2006/12). I am grateful to both bodies for enabling these
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sustainedperiodsofthinkingandwriting.InconnectionwiththeSeniorResearch
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Fellowship, Iwould particularly liketo thank Ken Emond atthe British Academy
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for cheerfully managing the bureaucracy of two requests to interrupt the Fellow-
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ship for maternity leave.
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Thanks are also due to my editor, Craig Fowlie, at Routledge for his advice
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and guidance, and for his sympathetic responses to my (repeated) requests
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for extensions to the deadlines. Nicola Parkin at Routledge has also been very
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helpful.
22 Over the last few years I have found that my friendships have diminished in
23 number but increased in depth. I know that however long it is since I have seen
24 them, the following people are always there, and that we remain as we were the
25 last time we met: Havi Carel, Karen Chung, Cecile Laborde, and Nigel Pleasants.
26 There are far fewer late nights and there is much less booze now than there used
27 to be, and far more children, but just as much love.
28 Finally,thisbookisdedicatedtomyson,Caelan,andmydaughter,Bria.When
29 I started thinking about climate change and future generations I was not a parent,
30 and my concerns were abstract. Having children has made doing the research into
31 the likely severity and future impacts of climate change on the planet sometimes
32 acutely painful, but returning to their funny faces and tiny worlds at the end of
33 aworkingdayhas beenadelight.ItisbecauseIcannotstand thethoughtofwhat
34 they might have to watch their own children face as a result of my generation’s
35 greed and cowardice that this book was completed.
36 Bournemouth
37 April 2011
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