When you talk about "climate debt" in a moral sense, I assume that you
are using it as a euphemism for "theft". The oil we have burnt will
not be returned. We have "stolen" it not just from the developing
countries but also our children and our grandchildren. We have flown
around the world holidaying in exotic places, but in thirty years
there will be no cheap oil left making flying expensive and only
possible for the very rich as it was in the 1930's.
Moreover, with the Amazon and South East Asian forests gone, there
will be no land left to develope to provide the food for the booming
world population. There is a finite amount of cheap oil and a finite
surface to the earth. Without an end to population growth we are
doomed.
Morality is a subjective idea, just as is guilt. You have explained
beautifully why you believe that you deserve to keep the wealth you
have acquired, arguing that the technical progress is due to you. What
technical achievements have you personally contributed to society?
None that benefit poor rice farmers in Bangladesh I bet. Yet your
justification for a much higher standard of living is based on what a
few people whom you have not even met have done in the past. That
seems like an invidious use of reflected glory.
OTOH, look at it from the Chinese farmer's POV. He has toiled seven
days a week in his paddy field, working far harder and longer than you
ever did. Surely he is entitled to the same rewards as you, if not
more? Certainly, he would see it that you have had your share of the
world's oil. If you decided to blow it on SUVs, Water Skiing, driving
to the hypermarket, and central heating of rooms you hardly enter,
then that was your mistake.
How do we reconcile those two viewpoints? Well just look at what is
happening in Copenhagen to see how difficult it is.
Cheers, Alastair.
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