Environmental migrants, structural injustice, and moral responsibility

Climate change and environmental problems will force or induce millions of people to migrate. In this article, I describe environmental migration and articulate some of the ethical issues. To begin, I give an account of these migrants that overcomes misleading dichotomies. Then, I focus attention on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioethics
Main Author: Dwyer, James B. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2020]
In: Bioethics
IxTheo Classification:NCC Social ethics
NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics
Further subjects:B conceptions of responsibility
B environmental migrants
B structural justice
B Environmental refugees
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Climate change and environmental problems will force or induce millions of people to migrate. In this article, I describe environmental migration and articulate some of the ethical issues. To begin, I give an account of these migrants that overcomes misleading dichotomies. Then, I focus attention on two important ethical issues: justice and responsibility. Although we are all at risk of becoming environmental migrants, we are not equally at risk. Our risk depends on our temporal position, geographical location, social position, and the kind of society in which we live. We all contribute to environmental problems, but we do not contribute equally. About 11% of the world population is responsible for 50% of carbon emissions. These inequalities raise issues of justice because many of the people who are at high risk have contributed little to the problems. Since the issues of justice are relatively clear and compelling, I focus more attention on issues of responsibility. I use Iris Marion Young’s account of responsibility for structural injustice to address four key questions about moral responsibility and environmental migration.
ISSN:1467-8519
Contains:Enthalten in: Bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12738