I’ve heard many times before from good-intentioned people that our planet is doomed. We have pushed climate change past its limit. I’ve thought this was the truth myself at one point. However, not everyone agrees with this sediment. Demar Degroot says that thinking this is wrong and dangerous. Greenhouse gas emissions have plateaued and should start declining soon. Still, he emphasizes the severity of the situation. If we do nothing the Earth will warm to dangerous levels. (Degroot).
I’m not here today to discuss the specifics of what we need to do. Those are debated. Instead, I will focus on a more pressing issue: motivation. It is fairly accepted that to change the course of climate change, significant sacrifices in material use need to occur. The alternative is a lucky scientific breakthrough just in time. I do not want to bet on that. I’d rather only drive one car per family or use paper straws, and nobody hates paper straws more than I do. However, it is also fairly accepted that people are unwilling to change at the individual level because they don’t want to sacrifice their pleasure while other people may make their efforts useless by over-consuming anyway. So, the big question is how do we motivate people to care enough about the environment to make significant negative lifestyle changes.
Well, it isn’t my fault. I’m motivated. I’m not harming the environment. I believe that most people would say these things about themselves. Everyone wants to look across the aisle to blame others. The truth is that it is everybody’s fault. However, some get blamed more than others. So, let’s explore the opinion of those who have been blamed for our climate crisis: conservatives
Conservatives have been blamed for climate change in large part due to their support for free enterprise. Additionally, as indicated in the name, conservatives are resistant to change. So, how could a group of people who are naturally resistant to change and support capitalism possibly have the solution to motivating people to take care of the environment? Well, Roger Scruton, a conservative, thinks that localism, a conservative idea, is the solution to our motivation problem. It is indeed hard to motivate people at the international level. Why would I sacrifice my pleasure if those living across the world won’t? Scruton says this is the wrong way to think about it. Instead, we should be focusing on our local communities. If we focus locally, we will develop oikophilia, a love of one’s home (Scruton). If we love our immediate surroundings, which is easy to do, we will be motivated to take care of the environment in our immediate surroundings because we will care about it. If this idea is scaled up, then everyone will be taking care of their section of the environment and making the necessary sacrifices. Then, we have a chance to fight climate change.
To be clear, I am not a conservative. I am not advocating for Scruton’s ideas. That is not the goal of this paper. The goal of this paper is to bridge the political divide. Liberals reading this post will likely be disgusted by my detailing of the conservative argument. They may not even have read this far. Also, it is likely that up until this point, conservatives reading this paper were nodding in agreement mindlessly because it fell under their label. What if I told you that Scruton is actually a liberal and that is his liberal idea? He’s not, but how did it feel for that split second you thought I tricked you? Did you try to justify his argument now that he’s on your side? Did you try to poke holes in it now that he’s against you? My point is that fighting climate change truly takes everyone. People think it is impossible to unite in a way where everyone contributes and everyone sacrifices. I do not. It was not that long ago since World War Two. America upended all of its industries, and every single American contributed to the war effort in some way or another. A common enemy, climate change, can motivate people to sacrifice pleasure. However, we cannot do it if we are not united. We can’t hate each other due to our political beliefs. We can’t blame each other for our collective actions. If we are going to win our war against climate change, everyone must contribute how they can.
Degroot, Demar. “Our Planet Is Not Doomed. That Means We Can, and Must, Act.” The Washington Post, 7 Oct. 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/07/our-planet-is-not-doomed-that-means-we-can-must-act/.
Scruton, Roger. How to Think Seriously about the Planet: The Case for an Environmental Conservatism. Oxford University Press, 2015.