Climate Injustice Research

Climate provides the environmental context for our existence,and its change affects how we produce,live,and keep healthy.Before humans entered the modern fossil fuel-based society,the Earth had regulated its entire ecosystem with little disturbance from physical conditions.However,human activities have altered the natural processes of the atmosphere and the habitat of global species,and the fate of human beings has been dragged into an inescapable network at an accelerated pace.Human beings’ modern interpretation of “climate change” began with scientific exploration.Climate change has evolved from a natural phenomenon to an unnatural one,extending to various fields of society.Climate change is both a scientific and a social issue,and the consequences of climate change and the resulting crisis are both ecological and humanistic.This crisis is not bound by space and time but is related to human civilization and existence.As an intellectual being that contemplates the state of human existence,philosophy considers the challenges and risks brought by climate change as the result of relating to and interfering with the reality.Taken globally,climate change as a significant issue has affected the existence of human and non-human species.The spatial and temporal non-homogeneity and global nature of climate change have led to a collective involvement of nations around the globe The terms we use to refer to climate change such as “common crisis” and“common challenge” do not conceal the fact that there is true inequality among different peoples,species,regions and countries around the world.The tricky problem of climate change is that those who contribute the least to global emissions are precisely the ones that are at the forefront of the climate crisis,who,compared with those who emit the most,are placed in a context of absolute asymmetry of rights and obligations.This completely disproportionate global climate responsibility quandary has raised the question of injustice as to how we make moral and political choices.It is worth noting,however,that current philosophical thinking on climate change in the academy is centered mainly on the idea of climate justice.Climate justice asks humanity how we can more fairly and justly distribute the responsibility and burden of greenhouse gas emissions in an increasingly warming world to correct and reduce injustice.Around climate justice a standard set of discourses on climate justice has been developed in domestic and international scholarship.The formula for this standard is that climate justice consists of a set of principles,and a subset of principles that conform to this set is considered to be consistent with the principles of justice.While climate ethicists have explored climate justice,they have rarely addressed climate specifically.Climate has primarily been viewed as merely the opposite of climate justice,a framework for thinking about distribution as the main focus.It seems that once climate justice is achieved,climate injustice disappears.But climate injustice cannot be completely eliminated;it is ever-present.By incorporating the perspective of climate injustice,we can see a perspective that is easily overlooked in the standard discourse of climate justice—the perspective of victims.Arguably,listening to the voices of victims of climate injustice,taking seriously the sense of injustice of victims of climate injustice,and giving priority to those at the forefront of the climate crisis will help us reflect on the injustices and inequalities that arise from climate change and help us cultivate a sense of justice.This paper argues that climate injustice involves policies and actions that threaten the climate environment on which people depend,and refers to the denial,violation,and disregard of basic rights in politics,economics,and culture by those subjects who have more influence or power in the climate field for those who are at the forefront or disadvantage of the climate crisis.Obviously,from the perspective of cooccurrence,those who are economically disadvantaged and in poor health,namely,the elderly,women,and children tend to suffer more from the climate crisis.In the face of this situation,whether human beings choose to redeem themselves by timely transforming their energy consumption structure and putting the brakes on their highemission production and lifestyle,or whether they choose to exile themselves and continue business as usual which tests the courage of human beings to face injustice.This paper places climate injustice at the heart of climate change thinking and seeks to examine the challenges that climate change poses to marginalized groups,victims,and vulnerable populations from the perspective of injustice.The goal is to explain the main problematic representations and mechanisms of climate injustice from a theoretical perspective and to seek a theoretical reconstruction of climate injustice.Therefore,this paper addresses three dimensions.First,climate injustice is an underdog perspective.This paper theoretically explains how climate injustice differs from conventionalized theories of justice in that it is in no way meaningfully antithetical to climate justice,a pure dichotomy.By focusing on climate change vulnerable populations and vulnerable countries and regions,climate injustice gives theoretical priority to the vulnerable,capturing vectors that are easily overlooked by mainstream theories of justice.The article exemplifies situations that do not violate climate justice principles but actually lead to injustice,aiming to show the differences between climate injustice as a critical discourse and climate justice.The article then analyzes the intergenerational,institutional,and cognitive dimensions of the problem of intergenerational oppression of the weak,institutional inertia in climate governance,and bias in climate change perceptions.Second,theoretically,uncovering the causes of climate injustice is a necessary precondition for seeking climate justice.This paper critically examines the generation mechanisms of climate injustice from economic,cultural,and political perspectives.Specifically,the utility principle pursued by capital,the logic of proliferation,and the coupling of capital and power constitute the economic causes of climate injustice.Anthropocentric culture,consumerist culture,and developmentalism are the cultural motives for climate injustice.The political motivation for climate injustice is the game between developed countries in terms of responsibility for emission reduction,technical solutions and dominance.These three mechanisms of climate injustice have contributed to the delay in collective global action to address climate change.Third,climate injustice requires us to reconfigure the theory of climate justice.This paper proposes to reconstruct the principles of climate governance,climate communication,and energy consumption structure in order to make it possible for climate injustice to transform into climate justice.Faced with mutual interests and existential crises,developing countries,as subjects of climate injustice,must further make an alliance with developed nations to build a community of shared future.As a member of developing countries,China practices the idea of the community of a shared future for mankind with a sense of responsibility,national communication,and institutional innovation of great power,and deepens South-South and North-South cooperation in addressing climate change through multilateralism process in international cooperation to seek a voice for developing countries.In summary,climate injustice as a critical discourse is a useful complement to the mainstream climate justice theory.This dissertation,from the perspective of vulnerable groups,marginalized groups,and victims,discovers what is easily ignored by the mainstream justice framework and reveals the inequality and injustice brought about by climate change.It also provides a new path to view climate change and global climate governance,strives to promote universal and fair climate justice,and helps us to build a community of shared future for mankind.