The moral disengagement of the carbon footprint

Background/Question/Methods We live challenging times, but one can ask, when has humankind not faced challenges? However, the challenges that we face today are daunting and of a magnitude that seems insurmountable, despite the claim that science and technology will rescue us from the Faustian bargain we have made with “progress”. The dire consequences of human behaviour are reflected in the increasing rates of social inequity and climate change today. Others and we argue that this generation of scientists has the responsibility to engage in behaviours that make the scientific argument of the environmental crisis morally compelling for others and us. Liberal democracy and market economy, in a parallel Faustian paradox, are inefficient and don’t correct inequalities in environmental wellbeing that make climate change even more poignant

Results/Conclusions

Estimates of personal carbon footprint and other seemingly proactive measures to fight climate change, are, I suggest, used as psychological, albeit frequently unintended, mechanisms that inadvertently could accelerate  social inequities, climate change and environmental damage[s]. The moral challenge is planning for seven generations.