John Broome makes the very applicable point that it is not so much what can we do to help avoid climate change, but a question of ethics in decided what should we do to prevent it. As a whole, the human population does an infinite number of activities a day that emit gases that harm our planet. The privileged few in our society tend to cause more harm then the impoverished, yet are they to blame? Should a person be forced to change their lifestyle for the good of all man kind? These are the questions Broome poses to his readers, and these are the questions everyone needs to think about if we ever want to start making positive changes for our ecosystem.
The cost of changing our ways of life to begin the process of healing our ozone in the future will be astronomical. Although cost is a huge portion of the decision making process as to what has to happen, sacrifices will need to be made in our day to day lives for the greater good. Major changes will result in new human functions and habits here on earth to work around greenhouse gas emissions. Money means nothing if there is no life to be lived here on earth, then its just paper.
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Even if we think what we are doing is ethically wrong, do we think that people will actually change their behavior? I personally think the answer to that is no. As we discussed in class, convenience plays a major role. Is someone going to walk over an hour to get to work to save the environment instead of driving for 20 minutes? Probably not. I mean, I know I certainty wouldn't.
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