Transcript climate_change_dialogue_of_cultures.xxx_

Climate Change
&
the Dialogue of Cultures
Joseph A. Camilleri
Centre for Dialogue, La Trobe University
The Science
of Climate Change
Magnitude
of the Challenge
is clear enough
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The Interconnected
Multidimensional
character of the challenge
is less well understood
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Evolutionary Milestones Relevant to Human Evolution
Years Ago
Event
100,000 – 40,000
200,000 – 30,000
130,000 – present
100,000 – 50,000
Middle Palaeolithic
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis exist
Homo sapiens sapiens exist
Probable appearance of human language
40,000 – 10,000
50,000 – 12,000
25,000 – 10,000
20,000
13,000
12,000 – present
12,000
12,000 – 10,000
10,000
10,000
5,200
2,500 – 1,500
Upper Palaeolithic [Late Stone Age]
Homo sapiens sapiens enter Australia from southeastern
Asia and North America from northeastern Asia
Most recent glaciation – an ice sheet covers much of the
northern United States
Homo sapiens sapiens paint the Altamira Cave
Emergence of Natufian culture in the Near East
Neolithic [Holocene age]
Homo sapiens sapiens domesticate dogs in Kirkuk, Iraq
Agriculture is established in the Near East
First permanent homo sapiens sapiens settlements
Homo sapiens sapiens learn to use fire to cast copper &
harden pottery
Writing (cuneiform) is developed in Sumeria
Birth of axial civilisations
GHG emissions have much to do with economy
But they have just as much to do with Culture
They involve:
Patterns of consumption
Work processes & practices
Transportation & communication systems
Market relations
Public-private nexus
Land cultivation practices
Urban structure & architecture
Human response to climate change will depend on
how we:
Explain the causes
Understand the consequences (& costs)
Balance the priorities
Distribute the (very high) costs of ecological recovery
Key Factors that will influence these assessments
Attitudes to risk-taking
Inter-generational responsibility
Conceptions of citizenship
Notions of equity
Sense of place in the cosmos
All of which are profoundly cultural
Why Dialogue of Cultures?
Because:
Though the challenge is cultural
Climate change is global
And, globally, there is not one but many cultures
Because
The world’s civilizational, ethical, religious traditions (e.g. Hinduism,
Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam – but also secular humanism
and Confucianism) have developed normative systems (values,
principles and insights) which largely provide frameworks that
inform:
 Conceptions of citizenship
 attitudes to risk-taking
 notions of equity
 Inter-generational responsibilities
 sense of place in the cosmos

factors that will help to shape the human response to the
ecological crisis
Dialogue will be diffuse and
multifaceted
But the most critical encounter
will be between the Occident and
the Orient
Geographic expansion / globalisation
Efficiency
Control
Instrumental rationality / scientific & technical advance
Economic growth
Orient can be considered in relation to the possible
contribution of FOUR traditions:
Hinduism
Buddhism
Islam
Confucianism
Cosmic view of the universe – interconnectedness of
all things
Integrity of humanity: past, present and future
Dutiful conduct across all separations of species, space
and time  DHARMIC ECOLOGY
Karmic doctrine (we all experience the consequences
of our actions) = REBIRTH
Sacredness of nature (forests, rivers, mountains . . . )
Drivers of moral degradation:
human greed (lobha)
human domination / aggression (dosa)
human ignorance (avidhya)
 cause human suffering
and pollute mind and environment
Education / trusteeship / responsibility to future generations
Qur’an and Hadiths posit important obligations towards the
environment
Islam = can be understood as a pathway that nurtures peace
and harmony (in family, community, world, nature) – one may
not do violence to it, damage it, or selfishly exploit it.
All creatures have their own communities:
There is nothing that moves on the earth,
No bird that flies on its wings,
But has a community of its own like yours (6:38)
Balance must be maintained and where necessary reestablished
Ethical framework for science and technology
Confucianism is critical to our understanding of the Sinic world, and
much of East Asia
Perhaps the most illuminating reading = offered by Tu Weiming:
For the continued existence of the planet, in principle and practice,
a fundamental reformation of our relationship to nature is critical.
This reformulation will require the selective retrieval and
discerning reappropriation of the spiritual resources of the world’s
traditions.
Tu Weiming, on the basis of his study of leading neo-Confucian
thinkers, restates the great triadic unity of ‘Heaven, Earth and
Humanity’. He sees this as as forming basis for the ‘ecological turn’ in
Confucianism.
Confucianism can help shift the Chinese world from an
unquestioning Modernist path, and make way for a richer dialogue
with the West.
On the basis of its Confucian heritage China can become a constructive partner in
the emerging environmental dialogue. The Chinese will be encouraged to do this
insofar as the West grasps the deeper moral insights of its own cultural
inheritance.
In a limited scale, such a dialogue that addresses ecology, human rights and
responsibilities, education, science and technology, and spiritual values is
gradually emerging between China on the one hand and Europe and the United
States on the other.
Critical to this dialogue is the role of the ‘public intellectual”. Public intellectuals
may never find “the unifying thread, the balancing mean, the underlying value or
the all-embracing conception that can serve as a standard of inspiration for all
concerned citizens”.
However, they are strategically positioned to generate new insights on the
ecological challenge understood as ‘macrocosm, overarching unity and ultimate
process’; as necessary reference for ‘the human enterprise in its fullest dimensions,
deepest reflections and most dynamic activity.”
Non-Western traditions (each in its own way)bring:
a more complex understanding of the relationship of
humanity to nature
greater attention to human need
a closer connection between rights and obligations and
between individuals and community
richer, more varied conceptions of community
less adversarial notions of law and politics
rejection of Western hegemony
A dialogue between Orient & Occident may in time
yield mutual recognition of important principles
(which may prove immensely helpful to climate change
governance):
Environment needs to be cherished and protected
Nature consists of more than just objects
A complex relationship exists between Humanity, the Earth
and Heaven (heaven understood as codeword for God, or
the Gods, or a cosmic life force)
Neglect of the Earth & neglect of human well-being are
interconnected
Key principles (continued):
Distribution of the Earth’s resources gives rise to complex
calculations of equity across:
- space – North/South
- time – Historical Obligations
Humanity has a duty of trusteeship and stewardship, not
an entitlement to conquest and dominion
Neglect or abuse of trusteeship is likely to result in
environmental and human harm (and in time armed
conflict)
Key principles (continued):
There is a strong obligation to respect the rights of future
generations who are entitled to inherit the Earth’s
blessings = obligations to the future
The relationship of Humanity to Earth necessarily
involves inter-generational obligations which are most
clearly expressed in:
The duty to avoid waste
Prudential decision-making
Respect for biodiversity (dialectically related to
cultural diversity).