Industry | 2009.09.15
We broke it. So we own it | James Garvey
If you think signing up for 10:10 won\'t make a material difference, consider the moral case
Why go green when it makes no difference what you do? It\'s hard to see how a single green choice, even a whole green life, could make the slightest difference to our warming world. In our more modest moments, you and I know we are just specks. Our teeny effect on this vast world cannot matter a jot. The sea level will be where it will be in 2050 whether this wine bottle is recycled or not. So why bother? It\'s a worry that can bog you down when thinking about taking action yourself on climate change, and if you are against committing to the 10:10 campaign because of it, I want to help you past your hesitation.
Together, of course, human beings are changing the planet, and there are plenty of convincing arguments for large-scale action on climate change. Perhaps the most straightforward is rooted in the history of industrialisation. The hypothetical imperative enshrined in antique shops, "If you broke it, you bought it", is all you need to draw a straight line from a sooty past to a moral reason for action: the conclusion that developed countries have an obligation to cut emissions is easily reached. No doubt other thoughts should be brought to bear on countries only now going through industrialisation, but let\'s just think about ourselves for now.
Part of what makes this conclusion apparent is the obvious causal connection between large-scale industrial activity and the troubles we face now and in the future. What is much harder to spot, though, is the same conclusion in our daily lives. There\'s no obvious link between a flight to Paris for the weekend and glacial retreat. Why should I forgo the pleasures of a weekend break when it makes no difference what I do? The plane was going there anyway.
You can make the problem worse by noticing that going green isn\'t easy . It involves hard choices. There\'s an opportunity cost to you, a cost not born by others who will revel in that trip to Paris. Before you worry too much about this, remind yourself that the right thing to do is the right thing to do, whether other people do it or not. You don\'t get out of your moral obligations just because other people ignore theirs.
There\'s a little disaster in the thought that it makes no difference what you do, and there\'s no easy way around it. But you can make a start by noticing that consequences are only a part of our moral lives: all sorts of other things figure into our thinking about the right thing to do – principles, fears, love, consistency, family, even blind hope. Sometimes we do the right thing not because of the effects we intend, but because of the people we are or hope to be. It sounds wishy-washy, but it might nevertheless be true.
Probably there will be a general election in 2010. Do you plan to vote? Think for a moment about your reasons for doing so. Unless it\'s the tie-breaker, your vote can have no serious consequences – it almost certainly makes no difference whether you vote or not. But do you think, nevertheless, that it is the right thing to do? Why? You can think that you ought to vote, even though you know your vote makes no difference at all.
However you think of it, you probably think of voting as much more than marking a ballot paper. Voting is something people do because of the people they are, the lives they live, the hopes they have – and maybe their fears, too. Maybe they want to have a small hand in a push towards a better world. All sorts of reasons are possible here, and reasonable people can have different ones. The point is that consequences are not our only reasons for thinking that we ought to do something.
Think again about making green choices. If you want to bring the moral reasons for living a green life into view, focus less on individual acts like recycling your wine bottle and more on the sort of person you want to be, the life you want to live, the hopes you have. Maybe you want to have a small hand in a push with others for a greener world, whether or not your individual effects achieve much on their own. Perhaps that\'s the kind of person you want to be.
Your reasons for reducing your carbon footprint can have nothing at all to do with the modest effects of doing so. You can have good reasons for your green choices, and you can know that you are doing the right thing, even though you also know that you can\'t make a difference on your own. If you want your effects to matter, line them up with the others , and sign up to 10:10.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/[...]09/sep/07/climate-change-10-10
