English Pronunciation: Does Intergeneratinal Justice require that we abandon consumerism?

Background & Motivation

The impact of consummatory behaviors on future generations

Objectives

Does Intergenerational Justice require that we abandon consumerism?

• To talk about over consumption of resources as a main negative factor in the world degradation unjust to the future generations.

• To encourage the ethical behavior of human beings towards the sustainable development of the future.

• In 2011 more than 1 billion people went hungry (aprox. 50.000 deaths per day are due to poverty-related causes.)
• In contrast to the large segment of humankind that is living in extreme poverty, there is a large segment living in great affluence.
• According to Thomas Pogge it would cost only “around one percent of the disposable incomes of the most affluent tenth of humankind” to eradicate severe poverty and hunger.

• The impacts of human actions are now creating problems like global warming and the extinction of multitudes of species, problems which raise ethical issues about how we should live our lives and organize our societies

Lavinia - Ioana Udrea

Philosophy PhD Candidate

Consumerism & future people(2)

Consumerism & future people(1)

The responsibility of humans for “future children”

How should we pay to protect future generations from the effects of global injustice?

• Next generations may come to exist depending on our present actions, which can affect future persons in the same way that they affect present persons.

• The concept of intergenerational justice can be defined in a very simple way:

"to meet the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

• Humans` first step should begin with the concerning about a not-yet-existent “thing”, therefore, our responsibility for a future ecological planet.

Robin Attfield explains that:

“environmental responsibilities cannot entirely be based on human interests, even when future interests are fully taken into account (because environmental injustices in the present affect our responsibilities with regard to the future), but in the same time, on future interests that should be represented in present decision-making.”

Duties to the Future

In need of global justice(2)

In need of global justice(1)

Does Global Justice Require that We Abandon Consumerism?

• We have to accept that it will be a future mankind and then to realize that we are responsible for their condition, for the quality of their life.

• We need to think about the transactions and relations between successive generations.

• Relations between the generations affect relations between people living at different times.

• The global community should be aware of worldwide loyalties and responsibilities.

• The global justice should be considered the common heritage of humankind.

• In this context, global justice becomes a normative ethic of the kind in which obligations do not stop at national boundaries and are not grounded in any particular interest.

• Yes.

• Hans Jonas considers that to preserve the integrity of human beings essence which implies his natural environment and moreover, to save this world from the dangers of this times is not an utopian goal, but a task of responsibility for the future of man on earth.

My future work in environmental ethics

Global Justice connected to people

No education for Moral Responsibility

Global justice & moral education

In conclusion, what are our next steps:

• Needs to be connected to people's daily lives, to be grounded, relevant and able to stimulate practical positive human action.

Some people manifest no interest for next generations.

• To understand how consumerism affects the well-being of human beings ;
• To reflect on central problems such as severe poverty, environmental pollution etc.;
• To train human beings to develop skills for translating global justice knowledge into specific actions and rise their moral consciousness.

• Discovering the long-term motivation and teach people how to act morally.
• In my future work I will discuss those solutions that can provide a balance between collective interests and the specific problems of the environment.

• Moral education is necessary to prepare people for reducing the harm they produce to the world they live in.

• Human beings don`t have any trained skill for translating environmental knowledge into specific actions and don`t develop their global consciousness.

Thank you for your attention !