Climate Change & the Dialogue of Cultures Joseph A. Camilleri

1. Climate Change & the Dialogue of Cultures Joseph A. Camilleri Centre for Dialogue, La Trobe University

2. The Science of Climate Change

7. Magnitude of the Challenge is clear enough ----------------------------------------

8. The Interconnected Multidimensional character of the challenge is less well understood ----------------------------------------------------------

11. Climate Change:An Integrated framework

12. Interpreting & Responding to Climate ChangeWe are facing a paradigmatic challenge to human evolutionClimate change and the response to itcall into question the very path of Cultural Evolution

13. Evolutionary Milestones Relevant to Human Evolution Years AgoEvent 100,000 – 40,000 Middle Palaeolithic 200,000 – 30,000 Homo sapiens neanderthalensisexist 130,000 – present Homo sapiens sapiensexist 100,000 – 50,000 Probable appearance of human language 40,000 – 10,000 Upper Palaeolithic [Late Stone Age] 50,000 – 12,000 Homo sapiens sapiensenter Australia from southeastern Asia and North America from northeastern Asia 25,000 – 10,000 Most recent glaciation – an ice sheet covers much of the northern United States 20,000 Homo sapiens sapienspaint the Altamira Cave 13,000 Emergence of Natufian culture in the Near East 12,000 – present Neolithic [Holocene age] 12,000 Homo sapiens sapiensdomesticate dogs in Kirkuk, Iraq 12,000 – 10,000 Agriculture is established in the Near East 10,000 First permanent homo sapiens sapienssettlements 10,000 Homo sapiens sapienslearn to use fire to cast copper & harden pottery 5,200 Writing (cuneiform) is developed in Sumeria 2,500 – 1,500 Birth of axial civilisations

14. Economy, Technology & Culture • GHG emissions have much to do with economy • But they have just as much to do with Culture • They involve: • Patterns of consumption • Work processes & practices • Transportation & communication systems • Market relations • Public-private nexus • Land cultivation practices • Urban structure & architecture

15. Culture and Climate Change • Human response to climate change will depend on how we: • Explain the causes • Understand the consequences (& costs) • Balance the priorities • Distribute the (very high) costs of ecological recovery • Key Factors that will influence these assessments • Attitudes to risk-taking • Inter-generational responsibility • Conceptions of citizenship • Notions of equity • Sense of place in the cosmos All of which are profoundly cultural

16. Climate & Dialogue of Cultures Why Dialogue of Cultures? Because: • Though the challenge is cultural • Climate change is global • And, globally, there is not one but many cultures

17. Why Dialogue of Cultures? Because The world’s civilizational, ethical, religious traditions (e.g. Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam – but also secular humanism and Confucianism) have developed normative systems (values, principles and insights) which largely provide frameworks that inform:  Conceptions of citizenship  attitudes to risk-taking  notions of equity  Inter-generational responsibilities  sense of place in the cosmos factors that will help to shape the human response to the ecological crisis

18. Occident and Orient • Dialogue will be diffuse and multifaceted • But the most critical encounter will be between the Occident and the Orient

19. Western “Enlightenment” Tradition • Geographic expansion / globalisation • Efficiency • Control • Instrumental rationality / scientific & technical advance • Economic growth

20. The Orient Orient can be considered in relation to the possible contribution of FOUR traditions: • Hinduism • Buddhism • Islam • Confucianism

21. Hindu Tradition • Cosmic view of the universe – interconnectedness of all things • Integrity of humanity: past, present and future • Dutiful conduct across all separations of species, space and time DHARMIC ECOLOGY • Karmic doctrine (we all experience the consequences of our actions) =REBIRTH • Sacredness of nature (forests, rivers, mountains . . . )

22. Buddhist Tradition • Drivers of moral degradation: • human greed (lobha) • human domination / aggression (dosa) • human ignorance (avidhya)  cause human suffering and pollute mind and environment • Education / trusteeship / responsibility to future generations

23. Islamic Tradition • Qur’an and Hadiths posit important obligations towards the environment • Islam = can be understood as a pathway that nurtures peace and harmony (in family, community, world, nature) – one may not do violence to it, damage it, or selfishly exploit it. • All creatures have their own communities: There is nothing that moves on the earth, No bird that flies on its wings, But has a community of its own like yours (6:38) • Balance must be maintained and where necessary re-established • Ethical framework for science and technology

24. Confucian Tradition • Confucianism is critical to our understanding of the Sinic world, and much of East Asia • Perhaps the most illuminating reading = offered by TuWeiming: For the continued existence of the planet, in principle and practice, a fundamental reformation of our relationship to nature is critical. This reformulation will require the selective retrieval and discerning reappropriation of the spiritual resources of the world’s traditions. • TuWeiming, on the basis of his study of leading neo-Confucian thinkers, restates the great triadic unity of ‘Heaven, Earth and Humanity’. He sees this as as forming basis for the ‘ecological turn’ in Confucianism. • Confucianism can help shift the Chinese world from an unquestioning Modernist path, and make way for a richer dialogue with the West.

25. Confucian Tradition • On the basis of its Confucian heritage China can become a constructive partner in the emerging environmental dialogue. The Chinese will be encouraged to do this insofar as the West grasps the deeper moral insights of its own cultural inheritance. • In a limited scale, such a dialogue that addresses ecology, human rights and responsibilities, education, science and technology, and spiritual values is gradually emerging between China on the one hand and Europe and the United States on the other. • Critical to this dialogue is the role of the ‘public intellectual”. Public intellectuals may never find “the unifying thread, the balancing mean, the underlying value or the all-embracing conception that can serve as a standard of inspiration for all concerned citizens”. • However, they are strategically positioned to generate new insights on the ecological challenge understood as ‘macrocosm, overarching unity and ultimate process’; as necessary reference for ‘the human enterprise in its fullest dimensions, deepest reflections and most dynamic activity.”

26. Contribution of the Orient Non-Western traditions (each in its own way)bring: • a more complex understanding of the relationship of humanity to nature • greater attention to human need • a closer connection between rights and obligations and between individuals and community • richer, more varied conceptions of community • less adversarial notions of law and politics • rejection of Western hegemony

27. “East-West” Dialogue A dialogue between Orient & Occident may in time yield mutual recognition of important principles (which may prove immensely helpful to climate change governance): • Environment needs to be cherished and protected • Nature consists of more than just objects • A complex relationship exists between Humanity, the Earth and Heaven (heaven understood as codeword for God, or the Gods, or a cosmic life force) • Neglect of the Earth & neglect of human well-being are interconnected

28. “East-West” Dialogue Key principles (continued): • Distribution of the Earth’s resources gives rise to complex calculations of equity across: - space – North/South - time –Historical Obligations • Humanity has a duty of trusteeship and stewardship, not an entitlement to conquest and dominion • Neglect or abuse of trusteeship is likely to result in environmental and human harm (and in time armed conflict)

29. “East-West” Dialogue Key principles (continued): • There is a strong obligation to respect the rights of future generations who are entitled to inherit the Earth’s blessings=obligations to the future • The relationship of Humanity to Earth necessarily involves inter-generational obligationswhich are most clearly expressed in: • The duty to avoid waste • Prudential decision-making • Respect for biodiversity (dialectically related to cultural diversity).