Global Environmental Justice

Summary

Philosophers, like generals, tend to fight the last war. While activists and policy-makers are in the trenches fighting the problems of today, intellectuals are typically studying the problems of yesterday.

There are some good reasons for this. It is more difficult to assess and interpret present events than those which are behind us. Time is needed for reflection and to gather reliable information about what has occurred. The desire to understand leads to a style of life that is primarily contemplative and retrospective.

But there are also bad reasons for the relative neglect of contemporary problems. Philosophers typically write about what other philosophers write about, and if no-one has written about a problem it is difficult to get anyone to write about it. Philosophy is also a deeply historical subject and for the most part the tradition either has been silent about environmental problems or what it has said is itself part of the problem. Moreover, philosophers have a toolbox of theories, methods and concepts and like most people they want to work on problems that their tools can help to solve. And as I shall try to show, the results of applying philosophical theories of justice to problems of the global environment are disappointing.