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[[File:Climate action m.jpg]]
[[File:Climate action m.jpg]]
''Each of us can make a positive difference by stepping up & doing our best''




<big>'''''Climate Action: An Ethical Responsibility'''''</big>
<big>'''''Climate Action: An Ethical Responsibility'''''</big>


:'''''Beyond Preparing for Crisis Management'''''
''Nations of the World Face a Moral Choice, Prepare and Survive, or Not?''
 
''Humanity's Climate Science, Discussions/Debates, Conferences, Contentious Politics & National Actions in Response ''
 
''GreenPolicy360 Tells the Tale... and What a Tale It Is''
 
 
<big><big>[[Green Stories of the Day]] ~ [[Climate News]]</big></big>
<small></small>     
<big><big>[[Earth and Space, Politics]]</big></big>
             
 
<big><big>'''Connecting & sharing world changing stories'''</big></big>
 
: GreenPolicy360 journeys across 50+ years of the modern environmental movement
 
:: From "Earthrise" and 'Planetary Awareness" to Today, a Long (in Human-terms) Journey, and a Generation Green's Question of Ethics
 


[[File:Earth in Human Hands.jpg]]


>Via the Ethics Institute at Penn State College of the Liberal Arts


[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Earth_in_Human_Hands.jpg <big><big>'''Earth in Human Hands'''</big></big>]


''In 1977, Robert M. White, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wrote a report for the National Research Council a branch of the National Academy of Sciences that concluded that CO2 released during the burning of fossil fuel could have consequences for climate that pose a considerable threat to future society. (White, 1978)''
'''Featured @GreenPolicy'''


''A government report prepared a few years later in 1981 declared that "[t]he responsibility of the carbon-dioxide problem is ours - we should accept it and act in a way that recognizes our role as trustees for future generations." (Charney et al., 1979) This report also estimated that the amount of warming that would be experienced from a doubling of the pre-industrial levels of CO2 would be 3 degrees C, very close to the amount that the [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/IPCC_Report_Nov_2014 "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change"] would predict almost 30 years later." (Charney et al., 1979)''
"[[Earthrise]]"
"[[Earth Day]]"
[[Planet Earth Perspective]]
[http://www.thinbluelayer.com '''ThinBlueLayer.com''']
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Research_from_Space '''Earth Observations, Earth Science''']
[[PlanetCitizen]]
'''[[Planet Citizens]]'''
[[Planet Citizens, Planet Scientists]]
[[Going Green|#GoingGreen]]
[[Planet Citizen Action]]
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:GreenPolicy360_-_Resilience.png '''Resilience''']
[[:Category:Strategic Demands|Strategic Demands]]


''For over thirty-five years, the US Academy of Sciences has warned the US about the enormous threats of climate change with each successive report making stronger claims that human caused climate change is a serious threat to civilization. If the United States can be accused of failing to live up to its ethical responsibilities to the rest of the world on climate change, one cannot blame the US Academy of Sciences for failing to ring alarm bells. US citizens cannot claim that their most prestigious scientific institutions have failed to take a position on the seriousness of climate change.''


''The failure of the United States to respond to climate change can be attributed in largest part to a well-financed, well-organized climate change disinformation campaign. As ClimateEthics has previously cited, see [https://ethicsandclimate.org/2010/10/24/a_new_kind_of_vicious_crime_against_humanity_the_fossil_fuel_industrys_disinformation_campaign_on_cl/ "A New Kind of Crime Against Humanity?]: The Fossil Fuel Industry's Disinformation Campaign On Climate Change". (Donald Brown, 2010a)''
'''Climate Action Plans 360'''
 
[https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Environmental_Laws_and_Modern_Environmental_Movement '''Environmental Laws & Environmental Movement''']
[[:Category:Climate Change|'''Climate Change''']]
[[:Category:Climate Policy|'''Climate Policy''']]
[https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Change_-_Global_Warming_Keyword-Terms '''Climate Change Terms''']
[[Too Hot|Too Hot]]
[[Apocalyptic Thinking|Hotter 'n Hotter]]
[[Climate Problems, Climate Solutions]]
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:You_can_manage_only_what_you_can_measure_Dr_David_Crisp,_OCO-2,_June_2014_m.jpg '''Measure to Manage''']
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:INDC '''INDC Pledges & Promises''']
[[National Climate Plans]]
 
 
From back when Earth Imaging technologies were created and led to a Whole Earth Vision and an Environmental Movement and [https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Planet_Citizen_Vision_of_Living_Earth '''Living Earth'''] awareness was born...
 
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Whole_Earth
 
 
[https://greenpolicy360.net/images/1969_beginnings_of_the_modern_environmental_movement.pdf <big>'''Beginnings of the Modern Environmental Movement'''</big>]
 
:<small>* https://greenpolicy360.net/images/1969_beginnings_of_the_modern_environmental_movement.pdf </small>
 
 
<big>'''A First National Climate Act Program'''</big>
 
Read about this historic action here -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:US_Public_Law_95-367.png
 
GreenPolicy360 founder-siterunner: Up close and personal .... "My Friend George", a Congressperson who drafted the first national climate legislation and was out-in-front for three decades with 'Big Science', George E. Brown -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr
 
 
Earthrise origins...
 
* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Earthrise
 
 
The initial 1970s decade started with "Earthrise" and [https://greenpolicy360.net/images/Earthrise_book_cover_%282008%29.jpg '''seeing the 'Big Picture' '''] and beginning to act with [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Eco-ethics ''' 'Eco-ethics' ''']... The 1980s continued the movement with more science/observations/measuring & monitoring of Earth systems, a shift of terms from 'global warming to climate change', then more warnings and nations acting in response with the start up of climate conferences... the ethics and climate change connection entered the international debate.
 
 
<big>'''"A Timeline of International Climate Conferences"'''</big>
 
: '''Accompanied by 'Trends in Atmospheric CO2 vs Global Temperature Change' '''
 
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Climate_change_conferences
 
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Climate_Conference
 
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Climate_Change_conference
 
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Framework_Convention_on_Climate_Change
 
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference
 
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Summit
 
* https://unfccc.int/cop3/fccc/climate/fact17.htm
 
* https://public.wmo.int/en/bulletin/history-climate-activities
 
 
 
🌎
 
 
 
'''''"A Considerable Threat" Become a #ClimateCrisis'''''
 
Links your [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/User:Siterunner GreenPolicy360 Siterunner] asks you to review --
 
Rep. George E. Brown -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr
 
George and Me -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Day_Memories_on_the_50th_Anniversary
 
Second, let's go back to beginnings of  historic climate/atmospheric science work:
 
''In 1977, the head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration delivered a report for the National Academy of Sciences that concluded that CO2 released during the burning of fossil fuel could have consequences for climate that pose a considerable threat to future society.''
 
[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Energy_and_Climate_Report%2C_1977%2C_National_Academy_of_Sciences.pdf ''Energy & Climate (1977) warning of the National Academy of Sciences'']
 
 
Rep. George Brown took the findings of the 1977 Energy and Climate Report from the Academy of Sciences and made the science actionable. In a historic moment, he proposed and drafted the legislation of the first U.S. National Climate Program and shepherded its passage in 1978.
 
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:US_Public_Law_95-367.png '''The National Climate Program Act, Public Law 95-367]
 
:[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/National_Climate_Program_Act_Public_Law_95-367_Sept_1978.pdf '''National Climate Program Act, 1978 / PDF''']
 
 
This first federal program established to study and assess scientifically the issues and risks of human-caused climate change became a foundation for comprehensive initiatives, with an array of new Earth Science missions led by NASA and NOAA, the EPA and USGS.  
 
 
:[[File:US Public Law 95-367.png]]
 
 
 
1979
 
In 1979 a follow-on [https://www.nap.edu/read/12181/chapter/1 National Science Academy report], commonly referenced as the "Charney Report", is released. The study was "in response to a request from the Director of the recently established [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:1977_from_the_Office_of_Science_and_Technology_Policy.jpg Office of Science and Technology Policy"] and it stated that "the President of the National Academy of Sciences (has) convened a study group under the auspices of the Climate Research Board of the National Research Council to assess the scientific basis for projection of possible future climatic changes resulting from man-made releases of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere." This study and report of national scientists is now seen as [https://phys.org/news/2019-07-charney-years-scientists-accurately-climate.html prescient and accurate in its global warming predictions.]  
 
Note the featuring of J. Hansen, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NASA and S. Manabe, R.T. Wetherald, and K.Bryan, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA. The Chairman of the Study Group on Carbon Dioxide and Climate is Jule G. Charney (who years later would write of the report's accuracy in its predictions)
 
''"[T]he responsibility of the carbon-dioxide problem is ours - we should accept it and act in a way that recognizes our role as trustees for future generations." (Charney et al., 1979) This report also estimated that the amount of warming that would be experienced from a doubling of the pre-industrial levels of CO2 would be 3 degrees C, very close to the amount that the [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/IPCC_Report_Nov_2014 "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change"] would predict almost 30 years later." ''
 
* https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/12181/chapter/1


''ClimateEthics has also repeatedly argued that the failure of the United States to respond to its ethical duties for climate change may also be attributed to the almost complete failure in the United States of the media and even climate change policy advocates to acknowledge that climate change raises not only national interests but also duties, responsibilities, and obligations to others.''
* https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12181/carbon-dioxide-and-climate-a-scientific-assessment


''See, for example, "Are Ethical Arguments for Climate Change Action Weaker Than Self-Interest Based Arguments? Why Taking Ethical Arguments Off the Table Is Like A Soccer Team Unilaterally Taking The Goalie Out of the Net. (Brown, 2010b)''
* https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12024/energy-and-climate-studies-in-geophysics


* https://phys.org/news/2019-07-charney-years-scientists-accurately-climate.html


:'''''https://ethicsandclimate.org/'''''


::''The Ethics and Climate site contains over 185 articles (as of 2017) including 13 videos on ethical issues raised by climate change. The site seeks to help policy makers and interested citizens understand the ethical dimensions of climate change issues in contention in policy debates.''  
'''In Geneva, Switzerland, a 'World Climate Conference' convened in 1979 under the aegis of the World Meteorological Organization, a weather and science agency of the United Nations.'''  


* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Climate_Conference


:<big><font color=green>○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○</font></big>
* https://public.wmo.int/en/bulletin/history-climate-activities


* https://public.wmo.int/en


'''''Ethics and The National Academy of Sciences'''''
* https://public.wmo.int/en/about-us/members


''If climate change must be understood as a civilization challenging ethical issue, can the US Academy reports on climate change be criticized on ethical grounds?''


''The US Academy reports acknowledge that climate change has serious adverse world-wide impacts, that is impacts outside the United States. For instance, in its most recent report, the US Academy concluded that climate change would cause the following world-wide impacts:''
'''"Climate Declaration"'''


• ''Water availability will decrease in many areas that are already drought-prone and in areas where rivers are fed by glaciers or snowpack;''
The DECLARATION OF THE WORLD CLIMATE CONFERENCE


• ''A higher fraction of rainfall will fall in the form of heavy precipitation, increasing the risk of flooding and, in some regions, the spread of water-borne illness;''
The World Climate Conference, a conference of experts on climate and mankind, held in Geneva, from 12 to 23 February 1979, was sponsored by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Meteorological_Organization World Meteorological Organization] in collaboration with other international bodies.


''People and ecosystems in coastal zones will be exposed to higher storm surges, intrusion of salt water into freshwater aquifers, and other risks as sea levels rise;''
The specialists from many disciplines assembled for the Conference expressed their views concerning climatic variability and change and the implications for the world community. On the basis of their deliberations, they adopted the following: '''"An Appeal to Nations"'''  


• ''Coral reefs will experience widespread bleaching as a result of increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification.''
* https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3467449-First-World-Climate-Conference-Declaration.html




: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/01/09/why-climate-change-is-an-ethical-problem/
'''More on Climate and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)'''


* https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=97#.WOOzUnew1Bw


<big><font color=green>○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○</font></big>
* https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=3030#.WOO0n3ew1Bx


* https://public.wmo.int/en/about-us/who-we-are/history-of-wmo


[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Environmental_movement <big>'''''The modern environmental era'''''</big>]


:''Read more re: initial climate change study and science'''''


[[File:Climate Conferences 1979-2020.jpg]]


:<big>'''In the UK'''</big>


::https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-amateur-scientist-who-discovered-climate-change/ -- About Guy Callendar


<big><big>'''EthicsandClimate.org'''</big></big>


:<big>'''In the US'''</big>
* '''''https://ethicsandclimate.org/'''''


::http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:US_Public_Law_95-367.png -- At the beginning...
"Climate change is a civilization challenging ethical and moral problem and this understanding has enormous practical significance for policy." -- Donald Brown


::http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Can_our_environment_be_saved_George_Brown-Omnibus_Environmental_Bill_1969.pdf 


::http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Env_policy_laws_US_'the_beginning'_of_env_era.jpg
''The Ethics and Climate site contains over 185 articles (as of 2017) including 13 videos on ethical issues raised by climate change. The site seeks to help policy makers and interested citizens understand the ethical dimensions of climate change issues in contention in policy debates.''  




::[[File:Env policy laws US 'the beginning' of env era.jpg]]




Ethics and Climate seeks to increase and deepen public reflection on the ethical implications of human-induced climate change among policymakers, the public, non-government organizations, and journalists.


<big>'''Congressman Brown / Science Committee in Front of Climate Action'''</big>
The site analyzes issues that arise in public discussions of climate change policy making and identifies the ethical, equity, and justice issues entailed by these issues.


:http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Congressman_george.e.brown.gif
The site is written and edited by Donald A. Brown, Scholar in Residence and Professor, Widener University School of Law. Professor Brown has worked in government at the state, federal, and international level on climate change and taught the ethics, law, science, and politics of climate change for over 25 years. The site also regularly includes articles from scholars in environmental ethics, science, and law  on climate ethical issues facing climate policy makers.


[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/National_Climate_Program_Act_Public_Law_95-367_Sept_1978.pdf '''National Climate Program Act, 1978 / PDF''']
: The first federal program established to study and assess scientifically the issues and risks of human-caused climate change




[[File:US Public Law 95-367.png]]


''For over thirty-five years, the US Academy of Sciences has warned the US about the enormous threats of climate change with each successive report making stronger claims that human caused climate change is a serious threat to civilization. If the United States can be accused of failing to live up to its ethical responsibilities to the rest of the world on climate change, one cannot blame the US Academy of Sciences for failing to ring alarm bells. US citizens cannot claim that their most prestigious scientific institutions have failed to take a position on the seriousness of climate change.''


<big><font color=green>○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○</font></big>
''The failure of the United States to respond to climate change can be attributed in largest part to a well-financed, well-organized climate change disinformation campaign. As Climate Ethics has previously cited, see [https://ethicsandclimate.org/2010/10/24/a_new_kind_of_vicious_crime_against_humanity_the_fossil_fuel_industrys_disinformation_campaign_on_cl/ "A New Kind of Crime Against Humanity?]: The Fossil Fuel Industry's Disinformation Campaign On Climate Change". (Donald Brown, 2010a)''


''Climate Ethics has also repeatedly argued that the failure of the United States to respond to its ethical duties for climate change may also be attributed to the almost complete failure in the United States of the media and even climate change policy advocates to acknowledge that climate change raises not only national interests but also duties, responsibilities, and obligations to others.''


'''''An Initial Climate Study/Report: Historic'''''




[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Energy_and_Climate_Report%2C_1977%2C_National_Academy_of_Sciences.pdf '''Energy and Climate Report, 1977, National Academy of Sciences / 175 pp. / PDF via GreenPolicy360''']


'''"Tyranny of the contemporary"'''


<big><font color=green>○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○</font></big>
Tyranny as a collective action problem in which earlier generations exploit the future by taking modest benefits for themselves now while passing on potentially catastrophic costs later.


The critical question as we seek to meet such a tyranny and address climate change will be which moral framework is in play when we make decisions. In many settings, we do not even notice when this question arises, because we assume that the relevant values are so widely shared and similarly interpreted that the answer should be obvious to everyone. Nevertheless, the values question is not trivial, since our answer will shape our whole approach.


[http://grist.org/article/a-climate-hero-the-early-years/ '''James Hansen's Warning to Congress in 1988:''']
If we think something should be done about climate change, it is only because we use our moral frameworks to evaluate climate change events, our role in bringing them about, and the alternatives to our action. This evaluation gives us both an account of the problem and constraints on what would count as relevant solutions.
: Ten years after the [https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-92/pdf/STATUTE-92-Pg601.pdf National Climate Program Act] was drafted by Representative Brown and the legislation's passage led by the Congressman began the federal government's study of climate change, impacts and risks.
: http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Hansen-testimony-1988.jpg


[[File:Hansen testimony WaPo front page.jpg]]
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/01/09/why-climate-change-is-an-ethical-problem/




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[[Category:Green Networking]]
[[Category:Green Politics]]
[[Category:Green Politics]]
[[Category:INDC]]
[[Category:NASA]]
[[Category:NASA]]
[[Category:NOAA]]
[[Category:NOAA]]

Latest revision as of 14:56, 28 September 2024


Climate action m.jpg

Each of us can make a positive difference by stepping up & doing our best


Climate Action: An Ethical Responsibility

Nations of the World Face a Moral Choice, Prepare and Survive, or Not?

Humanity's Climate Science, Discussions/Debates, Conferences, Contentious Politics & National Actions in Response

GreenPolicy360 Tells the Tale... and What a Tale It Is


Green Stories of the Day ~ Climate News Earth and Space, Politics


Connecting & sharing world changing stories

GreenPolicy360 journeys across 50+ years of the modern environmental movement
From "Earthrise" and 'Planetary Awareness" to Today, a Long (in Human-terms) Journey, and a Generation Green's Question of Ethics


Earth in Human Hands.jpg


Earth in Human Hands

Featured @GreenPolicy

"Earthrise" "Earth Day" Planet Earth Perspective ThinBlueLayer.com Earth Observations, Earth Science PlanetCitizen Planet Citizens Planet Citizens, Planet Scientists #GoingGreen Planet Citizen Action Resilience Strategic Demands


Climate Action Plans 360

Environmental Laws & Environmental Movement Climate Change Climate Policy Climate Change Terms Too Hot Hotter 'n Hotter Climate Problems, Climate Solutions Measure to Manage INDC Pledges & Promises National Climate Plans


From back when Earth Imaging technologies were created and led to a Whole Earth Vision and an Environmental Movement and Living Earth awareness was born...


Beginnings of the Modern Environmental Movement

* https://greenpolicy360.net/images/1969_beginnings_of_the_modern_environmental_movement.pdf


A First National Climate Act Program

Read about this historic action here -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:US_Public_Law_95-367.png

GreenPolicy360 founder-siterunner: Up close and personal .... "My Friend George", a Congressperson who drafted the first national climate legislation and was out-in-front for three decades with 'Big Science', George E. Brown -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr


Earthrise origins...


The initial 1970s decade started with "Earthrise" and seeing the 'Big Picture' and beginning to act with 'Eco-ethics' ... The 1980s continued the movement with more science/observations/measuring & monitoring of Earth systems, a shift of terms from 'global warming to climate change', then more warnings and nations acting in response with the start up of climate conferences... the ethics and climate change connection entered the international debate.


"A Timeline of International Climate Conferences"

Accompanied by 'Trends in Atmospheric CO2 vs Global Temperature Change'


🌎


"A Considerable Threat" Become a #ClimateCrisis

Links your GreenPolicy360 Siterunner asks you to review --

Rep. George E. Brown -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr

George and Me -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Day_Memories_on_the_50th_Anniversary


Second, let's go back to beginnings of historic climate/atmospheric science work:

In 1977, the head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration delivered a report for the National Academy of Sciences that concluded that CO2 released during the burning of fossil fuel could have consequences for climate that pose a considerable threat to future society.

Energy & Climate (1977) warning of the National Academy of Sciences


Rep. George Brown took the findings of the 1977 Energy and Climate Report from the Academy of Sciences and made the science actionable. In a historic moment, he proposed and drafted the legislation of the first U.S. National Climate Program and shepherded its passage in 1978.


The National Climate Program Act, Public Law 95-367

National Climate Program Act, 1978 / PDF


This first federal program established to study and assess scientifically the issues and risks of human-caused climate change became a foundation for comprehensive initiatives, with an array of new Earth Science missions led by NASA and NOAA, the EPA and USGS.


US Public Law 95-367.png


1979

In 1979 a follow-on National Science Academy report, commonly referenced as the "Charney Report", is released. The study was "in response to a request from the Director of the recently established Office of Science and Technology Policy" and it stated that "the President of the National Academy of Sciences (has) convened a study group under the auspices of the Climate Research Board of the National Research Council to assess the scientific basis for projection of possible future climatic changes resulting from man-made releases of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere." This study and report of national scientists is now seen as prescient and accurate in its global warming predictions.

Note the featuring of J. Hansen, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NASA and S. Manabe, R.T. Wetherald, and K.Bryan, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA. The Chairman of the Study Group on Carbon Dioxide and Climate is Jule G. Charney (who years later would write of the report's accuracy in its predictions)

"[T]he responsibility of the carbon-dioxide problem is ours - we should accept it and act in a way that recognizes our role as trustees for future generations." (Charney et al., 1979) This report also estimated that the amount of warming that would be experienced from a doubling of the pre-industrial levels of CO2 would be 3 degrees C, very close to the amount that the "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" would predict almost 30 years later."


In Geneva, Switzerland, a 'World Climate Conference' convened in 1979 under the aegis of the World Meteorological Organization, a weather and science agency of the United Nations.


"Climate Declaration"

The DECLARATION OF THE WORLD CLIMATE CONFERENCE

The World Climate Conference, a conference of experts on climate and mankind, held in Geneva, from 12 to 23 February 1979, was sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization in collaboration with other international bodies.

The specialists from many disciplines assembled for the Conference expressed their views concerning climatic variability and change and the implications for the world community. On the basis of their deliberations, they adopted the following: "An Appeal to Nations"


More on Climate and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)


Climate Conferences 1979-2020.jpg


EthicsandClimate.org

"Climate change is a civilization challenging ethical and moral problem and this understanding has enormous practical significance for policy." -- Donald Brown


The Ethics and Climate site contains over 185 articles (as of 2017) including 13 videos on ethical issues raised by climate change. The site seeks to help policy makers and interested citizens understand the ethical dimensions of climate change issues in contention in policy debates.



Ethics and Climate seeks to increase and deepen public reflection on the ethical implications of human-induced climate change among policymakers, the public, non-government organizations, and journalists.

The site analyzes issues that arise in public discussions of climate change policy making and identifies the ethical, equity, and justice issues entailed by these issues.

The site is written and edited by Donald A. Brown, Scholar in Residence and Professor, Widener University School of Law. Professor Brown has worked in government at the state, federal, and international level on climate change and taught the ethics, law, science, and politics of climate change for over 25 years. The site also regularly includes articles from scholars in environmental ethics, science, and law on climate ethical issues facing climate policy makers.



For over thirty-five years, the US Academy of Sciences has warned the US about the enormous threats of climate change with each successive report making stronger claims that human caused climate change is a serious threat to civilization. If the United States can be accused of failing to live up to its ethical responsibilities to the rest of the world on climate change, one cannot blame the US Academy of Sciences for failing to ring alarm bells. US citizens cannot claim that their most prestigious scientific institutions have failed to take a position on the seriousness of climate change.

The failure of the United States to respond to climate change can be attributed in largest part to a well-financed, well-organized climate change disinformation campaign. As Climate Ethics has previously cited, see "A New Kind of Crime Against Humanity?: The Fossil Fuel Industry's Disinformation Campaign On Climate Change". (Donald Brown, 2010a)

Climate Ethics has also repeatedly argued that the failure of the United States to respond to its ethical duties for climate change may also be attributed to the almost complete failure in the United States of the media and even climate change policy advocates to acknowledge that climate change raises not only national interests but also duties, responsibilities, and obligations to others.



"Tyranny of the contemporary"

Tyranny as a collective action problem in which earlier generations exploit the future by taking modest benefits for themselves now while passing on potentially catastrophic costs later.

The critical question as we seek to meet such a tyranny and address climate change will be which moral framework is in play when we make decisions. In many settings, we do not even notice when this question arises, because we assume that the relevant values are so widely shared and similarly interpreted that the answer should be obvious to everyone. Nevertheless, the values question is not trivial, since our answer will shape our whole approach.

If we think something should be done about climate change, it is only because we use our moral frameworks to evaluate climate change events, our role in bringing them about, and the alternatives to our action. This evaluation gives us both an account of the problem and constraints on what would count as relevant solutions.