The moral imperative derives

An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore declares that there is a moral imperative to act to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. He suggests that the moral imperative derives from a duty we have to leave to future generations a planet as habitable as the one we inherited from our ancestors. What is the exact nature of this duty?  How do cultural differences and differing understandings of morality play into how we respond to global climate change?

Readings

Oliver-Smith and Hoffman write, “Disasters do not just happen.  In the vast majority of cases, they are not ‘bolts from the blue” but take place through the conjuncture of two factors:  a human population and a potentially destructive agent that is part of a total ecological system, including all-natural, modified, and constructed features.”  In your own words, what does this mean to you and do you agree or disagree with it?