Diotima: The Marist Undergraduate Philosophy Journal
between 2030-2050 1 , at least $1.7 trillion in economic damages by 2050 2 and the extinction of one third of plant and animal species. 3 Dramatic GHG emission reductions are necessary to avert the most serious consequences of climate change. Despite the magnitude of this challenge, how individuals ought to regulate their personal GHG emissions is controversial within the philosophic community. This paper argues that it is most appropriate to conceive obligation and assess the morality of individual GHG emissions through a virtue ethics perspective. An individual who embodies the virtues of justice, compassion, and responsibility will have a strong preference to avoid GHG-emitting behaviors when accessible, and less emission-intensive alternatives exist. There is rich debate about how we ought to establish moral obligations to reduce individual GHG emissions. I will highlight dominant perspectives, inform the working assumptions for this paper, and identify gaps in the existing body of knowledge that this paper aims to fill. The conversation begins with controversy regarding the moral relevance of individual GHG emissions. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong argues that individual GHG emissions lack causal impact in isolation and therefore cannot be the subject of moral condemnation. 4 However, a strong body of philosophical and empirical evidence refutes Armstrong’s position. Marion Hourdequin proposes a Confucian, relational conception of people, contending that individual actions to reduce 1 “Climate Change,” World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/health-topics/climate-change/. 2 “Climate Change is Costing the World $16 Million per Hour,” World Economic Forum , 2023, https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/10/climate-loss-and-damage-cost-16-million-per-hour/. 3 "Global Warming and Endangered Species Initiative," Biologicaldiversity.org. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/global_warming_and_endangered_specie s/# (2024). 4 Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, “ It's Not My Fault: Global Warming and Individual Moral Obligations” in Perspectives on Climate Change , edited by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Richard B. Howarth. Elsevier. pp. 221–253.
Volume VIII (2025) 19
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