New Publication-Global Climate Crisis Seeking Environmental Justice and Climate Equality
Chapter Review
Edited by
Hoda Mahmoudi
Kate Seaman
Introduction
Seeking environmental justice and climate equality
Hoda Mahmoudi and Kate Seaman
Chapter one introduces the ways in which the global community is affected by climate change. Continental communities and small islands are threatened by coastal erosion, rising temperature, rising sea levels, and severe storms along with droughts, wildfires and floods that induce health concerns and have economic impacts on the local, national, and global level. This chapter delves into ways to reduce human impact on the environment and the environment's impact on humans.
The climate crisis calls for action from politicians, corporations and institutions that have the ability to engage in unified action to combat the climate crisis. Policies alone won't solve the problem, a practical, moral response is needed.The chapter goes on to elaborate on the ways to properly address the complicated spider web that is climate change, emphasizing that worldwide communities should not only create grand plans of action, but should also remain sensitive to its implementation and issues that touch on worldwide inequality and injustice. Problems such as who gets access to the planets diminishing resources will lead to conflict within and between regions if left unchecked. In regions of the world that experience dispute due to food and water shortages, drought and unpredictable rainfall may enhance the potential for conflict.
A recurring theme within this chapter is the relationship between climate justice and climate equality. “Environmental justice lies at the intersection of human stability, human accountability, human rights, and human dignity. As such the pursuit of environmental justice is one of the great human undertakings of our time” (p.7). Environmental justice can be understood across four dimensions:
Distributional justice: The disproportionate impact that climate change poses on different people, communities and nation-states
Recognitional Justice: Human dignity and respect for the voices, interests, knowledge, and views if traditionally marginalized populations
Procedural Justice: The processes that are participatory, accessible, fair and inclusive
Capabilities Approach: Places emphasis on the multifaceted features of well-being that are not solely based on the distribution of various goods but on how they link to an individual’s capacity to flourish.
The chapter concludes with the notion that the world is in need of new ideas and new institutions that will take on global problems. The challenge of climate change cannot be remedied by singular nations, but by all leaders of all nations and all members of all communities.
About the Author:
Nina-Abbie Omatsola is the Research Intern for The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace. She is a junior at The University of Maryland on the Pre-Law track pursuing a dual major in Psychology and Theatre.
