Moral significance of Climate Change

“Scientists Identify ‘Tipping Points’ of Climate Change” is a descriptive essay written by Steve Connor for the Independent newspaper on February 5, 2008 in the United Kingdom. The article is written using formal and technical language with the intention to persuade the reader that climate change is a real and immediate threat worthy of our attention. Connor’s persuasion is enhanced by his use of repetition; especially that of scientific evidence. He repeatedly uses the term “nine ways”. The use of alliteration and personification strengthen Connor’s argument, “Society may be lulled into a false sense of security by smooth projections of global change.”

Connor addresses the issue of society’s false sense of security by using environmental facts to support his argument, “The nine elements range from the melting of polar ice sheets to the collapse of the Indian and West African monsoons. The effects of the changes could be equally varied, from a dramatic rise in sea levels that flood coastal regions to widespread crop failures and famine.” Connor is convinced that small increases in temperature, due to the emission of greenhouse gases “could trigger a disproportionately larger change in the future.”

The irony of climate change is that by and large those responsible for major emissions of greenhouse gases will not suffer to the same extent as those who emit less. If Connor’s evidence is accurate, the wealthy countries of the west are indeed exacerbating the standard of living of those in developing countries. Although it is true that Canada will suffer economically from the loss of our Boreal forest, this loss is minimal in comparison to the lengthening and intensifying of droughts in Western Africa.

Longer and more intense droughts in West Africa will not only cause increased crop shortages and famine, but an additional increase in armed conflict. The Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the present Genocide in Darfur, Sudan are linked closely with a struggle over fertile land. A major cause of the Darfur genocide is the spread of the Sahara desert southwards, desolating previously fertile lands. These African droughts will only cause more bloodshed in the war-torn continent. Therefore not only does climate change create an economic problem, it also generates a significant moral problem.

It is staggering to imagine that Canadian consumerism will have a deleterious affect on the lives of other people. Canadians and the west no longer have the right to expend energy for the sake of luxury and entertainment. But to take this message to heart means that our standard of living must radically change. This change is one that is easy to endorse intellectually, but economically we will find our actions will not line up with our ideals.

In order to reverse the effects of climate change we must be willing intellectually to accept a different way of life, and then initiate ever-increasing measures to reduce our emission of greenhouse gases. The theme of Steve Connor’s essay is that firstly there is a significant amount of evidence backing up climate change and secondly that it is our responsibility to “be prepared to adapt” to a new way of life.