The Ethics of the Climate Crisis, by Robin Attfield

Author: Robin Attfield. Review by Alan York

All Quakers, I think, have a concern about climate change, and here is the book you have been waiting for. It is a very readable account of the science involved, together with estimates of climatic effects on all living things, including humans, and an examination of the ethical and moral questions that confront us as the world heats up.

Robin Attfield, a Quaker and a university philosopher, gives a concise but detailed account of the mostly-human causes of the phenomenon, from fossil fuel-burning to our insatiable desire to lead more comfortable lives – to travel in our own cars, and to fly around the world holidaymaking. Changing our energy and fuel sources, and changing our lifestyles, are urgent imperatives.

Of course, not everyone consumes so much. Most of the poorer people on earth have little ability to over-consume fossil fuels – or, indeed, to eat as much meat as the richer third of humanity. Cattle ranching takes up so much space – and cattle produce so much methane – that meat eating is a big part of our problem.

Climate change produces droughts and floods, rendering large stretches of land difficult for farming, even uninhabitable. In turn, climate refugees are a growing phenomenon. By 2050, it is estimated that 1.5 billion people will have been displaced. The people affected are, largely, not the people who caused the problem, which gives rise to questions of climate justice. What ought to be done? What should we do? Should the polluters (largely in the developed world) pay the bills for the climate problems of poorer countries, and accept climate refugees when they come?

Climate change affects not only humans, of course. We are just one of a myriad of species that make up the biodiversity of our planet, where all species contribute to the ecosystems that support us. We must work to maintain biodiversity in the interest of all life.

Robin Attfield looks at all these questions and more, including pollution. He speaks of the urgency of action, for the sake of all life on earth. ‘What is at stake is not just human life, but the future of life on our planet.’

The intricacies of these challenges, and the questions posed, are the stuff of this book. It is revelatory. It is certainly a joy to read, making clear the shape of what we face, and ending with questions about what governments, international bodies, companies, local groups, and we as individuals, can do on the path to a sustainable future. The partial success of some of the COP conferences of recent years gives us some hope, but we must continue to campaign in the cause of climate action.

This book is a major contribution to that campaign, clearing people’s minds about the tasks ahead, for now and for the coming decades.

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