“Philosophers for Future” – Focusing Philosophical Work on Climate Change
There is now a call for philosophers to join with others who have been protesting the lack of action on climate change.
Called Philosophers for Future, it is inspired by the #FridaysForFuture movement and those who’ve joined it (such as Scientists For Future).
John Trice, “World 23”
Philosophers for Future is currently collecting signatures on a statement that discusses various ways philosophers may contribute to addressing climate change. It asks signatories to “make every effort to bring the climate crisis into our curricula, seminar rooms and lecture halls, and to support philosophical work on climate-related topics.”
The initiative was started by Martin Kusch (Vienna).
You can read and sign the statement here.
Related: New Group: Philosophers for Sustainability
I wrote up a little Environmental Manifesto here: https://www.facebook.com/benj.hellie/posts/10156656544643409.
Cutting to the ‘morals’, I conclude:
OK, here are my morals:
(1) you should really boost up your political activity on behalf of saving the planet (as a corollary, if you are involved in a vituperative war over something an awful lot smaller against folks who in the grand scheme of things agree with you 98% of the time, you should really re-assess your priorities!) — I’m not saying put on a hair shirt and do nothing else, but definitely get involved here
(2) you should stop beating yourself up over your own consumption habits: “eco” goods are expensive and probably do little or nothing of value, so maybe spend less money on them and divert it to more important things; if you feel tired because your vegan diet isn’t working for you, quit; if you are anxious because you aren’t up to the level of virtue you have set for yourself, give yourself a break
(3) what it is going to take to save the planet is state action to severely restrain individual consumption opportunities: don’t ask me (not right now, I haven’t thought through the details yet) what exactly this will involve, but presumably the real restrictions will not be “knock on your door”, but instead early in the production chain: on extraction of resources — particularly just a near-immediate global ban on fossil fuel extraction (“leave it in the ground”); and significant restrictions on transportation; and, yes, on agricultural production, with severe curtailing of livestock breeding
(4) what you should do to make this happen is take all that cash and emotional energy you have been wasting on personal virtue, and divert it to (a) revisioning what your life is going to be like when *everyone’s* consumption goes way down (b) talking the impact over with your friends (c) spreading this message to get people used to the fact that it’s “haircut now or guillotine soon” time (d) building a global political movement to demand that major industrial states and international bodies — the USA, Canada, EU, China, India, Japan, Korea, the UN, WTO, all them big shots — START PROTECTING HUMANITY AGAINST HUMAN BEINGS.
Go forth, and do not multiply.
Thank you for posting it here for those of us who would have a separate manifesto for why people should quit Facebook!