Review: Climate Change: Justice and Future Generations
By Edward A. Page
Reviewed by A.M. Mannion
University of Reading, UK
Page, Edward A. Climate Change, Justice and Future
Generations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2006. 209pp. ISBN: 978-1-84376-184-6.
$US 95 Hardcover.
The presentation of a new report on climate change by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a renowned international
group of climate scientists, in January 2007, has once again drawn attention to
the challenge facing humankind in relation to energy consumption and the
reduction in carbon emissions. The panel reports with 90 percent certainty that
global climatic change is due to human activity and that immediate measures are
essential to mitigate the problem. Focusing on what has been a major
environmental issue for scientists and is now a pressing international
political issue, Page's book is timely. It highlights the ethical dimensions of
the problem with emphasis on two themes: that there should be "a nuanced
understanding of ethics" in the formulation of policies to manage climate
change, and that the notion of distributive justice, i.e. how benefits and
burdens should be fairly distributed spatially and temporally, should be
integral.
Opening with a discussion on weather, climate, recent
extreme events and the remit of the IPCC, attention is drawn to the injustice
of human-induced climate change in relation to future generations. This is
reminiscent of sustainable development theory of which climate change is an
inevitable part and is also a component of the wider issue of the domestication
of carbon (Mannion, 2006). There follows a survey of
the historical development of the science of climate change and a synopsis of
IPCC findings of relevance to intergenerational relationships, e.g. the
uncertainties which surround the certainty of climate change, as well as the
problems of estimating future socio-economic and cultural impacts. Issues such
as the scope, dimension and currency of justice and the notion of sufficiency
are examined in relation to future generations, e.g. the identification of
benefits and burdens. There is no defining formula, an unsurprising outcome in
view of the complex factors involved.
The question of intergenerational justice is also
examined. Until recently, it could be argued that future generations largely
benefited from the activities of their ancestors, especially through
technology. Most technology is, however, reliant on carbon-based energy.
Consequently, a threshold has been reached in the development continuum which
acknowledges that advancement comes at an environmental price, a price which is
likely to compromise future generations. Any mitigation policies will require
sacrifice to benefit posterity. Thus each generation benefits from innovations
and sacrifices of past generations, but no generation benefits from its
successors. So why bother? This is what Page describes as the
"non-reciprocity problem" and discusses various models wherein
concern for posterity is fundamental. Another general issue relates to the
non-identity problem. This focuses on measures taken by one generation which
may harm the next, but which allow the next generation to come into existence
and survive. Page effectively marries the issues raised by climate change
science with analytical philosophy to provide a perspective on why or why not
measures should be taken to reduce climate change and the risks/harm it poses
for future generations.
This is not an "easy read"; it is probably
an easier read for philosophers than for scientists but it should be a
valuable, if expensive, book for politicians and policy makers who seek to
change the world and manage its climate.
Mannion, Antoinette M. Carbon and Its Domestication. Dordrecht:
Springer, 2006.
A. M. Mannion
<a.m.mannion@reading.ac.uk>,
Ph.D., Department of Geography, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 227 Reading, RG6 6AB UK TEL:
+44(0)118 9318733, FAX: +44(0)118 9755865.
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Electronic Green Journal, Issue 25, 2007
ISSN: 1076-7975