Earth Stewardship, Climate Change, and Low Carbon Consciousness: Refl ections from Brazil and South America - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 359

This represents a revolution in current ways of living: changes are required in
construction, transportation, appliances, patterns of production and consumption,
and waste management, among others. At bottom, it requires cultural changes that
redefi ne success and wellbeing (Socolow and English 2011 ). Two major obstacles
for such shifts to take place are: (i) cultural changes take decades or even centuries to
be completed, while climate change is an urgent issue - given that its effects have
started to be felt through the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather
events that produce massive human suffering and material losses (Grimm and Jacobs
2013 ; US Global Change Research Program 2014 ); and (ii) climate change requires
thinking about the planet in a holistic manner, acknowledging its fi nite resources and
the rights of all beings to share them, which means not only thinking about the con-
sequences of one's decision for all humanity, but also for the other species. Despite
ideas developed by Buddhists, Stoics, Kant, and environmental philosophers of the
last century, these concerns have only been marginally incorporated into climate
change policy-making. 3 Acknowledging this problematic trend and incorporating
this critical understanding into the contemporary mindset requires changes in values,
replacing deep-rooted values and epistemologies 4 with new ways of thinking.
First, change from materialism towards post-materialism must occur. Currently,
success and well-being are coupled with consumerism; one Earth is not suffi cient to
supply goods for all human beings to consume at the level of consumption of most
industrialized societies. Success and well-being must be decoupled from luxury and
disposable consumption, and more frugal lifestyles should be valued (Socolow and
English 2011 ). It is not the case of going back to live in caves or to give up important
achievements that made human life longer and more comfortable, but to understand
that enabling all humans to have access to these comforts without pressing the planet
even more requires excesses to be cut off. Less - and multifunctional - items, lasting
longer and capable of being repaired, and production methods that reduce harmful
impacts on natural resources and other species, should be central concerns.
Second, dramatic change is needed in reproductive ethics and welfare
systems (Viola et al. 2013 ). There are 7.2 billion people in the world, too many;
human population must downsize - stabilizing at 9-10 billion is not an option for
Earth's equilibrium. A fast transition to fertility rates below the level of replacement
(2.1 children per woman) is key. For fertility to decrease, women must have strongly
protected reproductive rights, and higher levels of education and personal indepen-
dence. Very few societies have reached responsible fertility rates - Italy, Spain,
3 The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed and rati-
fi ed by all countries; the agreement states that humanity should reduce carbon emissions and enter
upon a decarbonization path; however, the Kyoto Protocol is the only implementation tool of
UNFCCC objectives, and almost a decade after entering in force, it has not achieved its goals - in
fact, carbon emissions have increased since the ratifi cation of the Protocol. International rhetoric
in climate change is decoupled from effective implementation tools.
4 Some of the values that predominate in contemporary global society, against which the necessary
chances are defi ned, are consumerism and excessive aesthetic concerns, national interests defi ned
narrowly (as seen before) and short-term thinking.