3. What climate justice means and why we should care by Elizabeth Cripps

Additional NOTES

What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care

By Elizabeth Cripps

Date

March 26, 2024

DISCUSSION LEADER

Barbara Leckie
Professor, Department of English and the Institute for the Comparative Study of Literature, Art, and Culture, Carleton University

DISCUSSION LEADER'S
SECTOR

Topic Category

Book Description

We owe it to our fellow humans – and other species – to save them from the catastrophic harm caused by climate change.

Philosopher Elizabeth Cripps approaches climate justice not just as an abstract idea but as something that should motivate us all. Using clear reasoning and poignant examples, starting from irrefutable science and uncontroversial moral rules, she explores our obligations to each other and to the non-human world, unravels the legacy of colonialism and entrenched racism, and makes the case for immediate action.

The second half of the book looks at solutions. Who should pay the bill for climate action? Who must have a say? How can we hold multinational companies, organisations – even nations – to account? Cripps argues powerfully that climate justice goes beyond political polarization. Climate activism is a moral duty, not a political choice.