PHILOSOPHY | CLIMATE CHANGE
Do We Have Moral Obligations To Future Generations?
A philosophical look into preserving the environment for those to come
It was 1988 when climate change became an urgent ethical and political concern for the United Nations.
In recent years, no doubt climate change has only grown as an international concern.
At the heart of every environmental debate stands the critical question: do we have moral obligations to future generations? After all, future generations don’t legally have any rights. And we can’t exactly ask them if we should stop using plastic straws.
It is therefore up to us to make the right choices for them. Whether it is our moral obligation to make these choices for them is a point to be debated.
According to Thomas Pick, a “moral obligation” can be defined as:
“A voluntary action, distinct from the law, that one ought to perform and considered blameworthy if not performed.”
In this article, a moral obligation is any environmental action (e.g. driving green, recycling, etc) that takes into account the interests of future generations.
