Global Justice and Climate Change as our Generational Challenge

By Christopher Ryan Maboloc, PhD

A new born child should not be seen as a mouth to feed, but one who is a source of joy or basically, a blessing from God. This child, regardless of the emotions of his or her parents and the rationalizations of other peoplr, is a product of love. Our job as responsible citizens is to help create a happy society for this child, ensuring that this human being will be able to live the good life. Part of this task is economic, part of it rests in our ethical responsibilities.

We do not live in an ideal world but we must face reality. Environmental degradation cannot be blamed on poor countries. The global rich treat poor countries as a source of raw materials, including cheap labor. Cobalt mining in the Congo kill people there and put thousands in abject misery, yet the Big Tech companies that use the mineral amass billions if not trillions of dollars in revenues annually, yet the advantage has been one-sided. The idea of sustainable progress or development should be inclusive.

Historic pollution is to be blamed for the problem of climate change. But the solutions have been hooked into utilitarian principles, seeing the climate emergency as a matter of a quota system that is still favorable to industrialized countries and powerful corporate interests. The motive is still profit, although broadly speaking, Jeff Sachs says a balance needs to be achieved between profit and social responsibility. There is enough money to end global poverty.

What do you think? Being poor is not a reason to die. You die from a disease, a car accident, or from drowning, but not from poverty. When an individual dies because one has no access to the medicines that save lives, the reason is the reality of inequality and uneven systems that preclude people in realizing the good life. Globalization has brought comfort and wealth, but neoliberal policies disadvantage the global poor.

A market economy can function well, says Sachs, but this must have moral constraints. Income sharing must be seen from an ethical perspective and so human wellbeing must be connected to the equal and just distribution of wealth. People at the bottom imagine their lives as miserable while those at the top see theirs as comfortable. But happiness, of course, cannot be the 😀 type but one that is more lasting and permanent. Part of the question is about the choice of a leader, says Plato in The Republic.

There is corruption, not only in government, but also in the private sector, both in rich and poor societies. The idea of accountability has something to do with systems. The design of our basic institutions dates back some 200-250 years old at a time when no digital public space was present. Given this, direct democracy has become the challenge of the time, since those who possess money and power can easily manipulate the system by controlling the content and level of discussion.

We still live in a hegemonic world, but that does not mean we cannot confront the injustices around us. Ethics has practical implications and while we are a divided country in a vastly unjust world, we have to use the instruments of reason to continue improving policies and make our diverse human society inclusive, fair, and tolerant. To a certain extent, the issue is perhaps ideological. But the greater challenge is to conduct ourselves with a level of decency that will allow us to continue respecting each other as human beings.

Human progress beyond economism which is what a just world is about, and climate change are our generational challenges. The world needs to work out a paradigm that counters the domination of a neoliberal order that eschews human dignity in favor of capitalistic interests. Climate change is recognized as an existential tjreat but beyond setting a quota system, the developed world has not provided bigger funding to mitigate its impact in poor countries nor paid for historic pollution.