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Guest Opinion | Gabriel Wallen: Our Moral Obligation to the World

Published on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 | 4:42 pm
 

“Cooperate or Perish.” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ words at the COP27 climate change conference are threatening, laced with the dire need for action from everyone around the world. But they are also fighting words. Many Americans will recognize a similarity between Guterres’ message and Benjamin Franklin’s own three-word call to arms— “Join or Die”—that helped inspire the 13 Colonies to unite for the common good.

Although Guterres may be calling us to battle a different enemy, Americans—and Californians, in particular—should feel just as motivated to unite against our common adversary as the early colonists did in the 18th Century—if not more so.

It’s a fact that as humans on Earth, we all consume its resources, and our actions have a direct effect on the planet. This relationship with the Earth is part of what makes us, to use President Obama’s words, “citizens of the world.” We are, therefore, responsible for its protection. Furthermore, if we are to adhere to values like compassion and good neighborliness that are central to countless religious traditions (particularly Christianity) and to being “good Americans,” we must care for those suffering in our communities and around the world. This is particularly true for those who suffer due to our own behaviors and decisions.

It’s clear that we bear responsibility for the Earth and for others, but what does this mean in terms of action? What can we do to make good on our obligations? When faced with an emergency situation where someone else is in danger, we cannot simply stand and watch—we must do whatever is reasonably within our capacity to act. In terms of climate change, if your ability to make change is limited to using paper straws or reusable water bottles, then so be it. But I charge us all to refuse to sell ourselves short, to challenge ourselves to do what we are most capable of and to put our money where our mouths are. It’s all well and good to suggest we divest from fossil fuels, but words are meaningless without a willingness to act behind them. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not come about by words alone, it came with action, and a refusal to allow racism to determine that dignity and opportunities can be reserved for some but not for others. Similarly, we ought to refuse to allow the old ways of pollution and environmental degradation to dictate the prospects for ourselves and our children.

Ultimately, Guterres’ words at COP27 are just that: words. But they are words that define the desperate situation we find ourselves in. That desperation alone should compel us. How can the drought and oncoming famine in Somalia that is placing millions of children’s lives in jeopardy not motivate us to do more? Some may say that Somalia is too far away for ordinary people to make a difference—what can we really do from somewhere like Pasadena? It’s true that the most detrimental consequences of climate change are currently afflicting geographically distant regions in Africa and South Asia, but in reality, the danger of climate change is all around us, even in our own backyards. The wildfires we monitor on KCAL9 News is evidence of that. While the annual “wildfire season” has been a fact of Californian life for generations, it certainly isn’t getting any less destructive.

If wildfires and droughts somehow don’t motivate you to change your habits, then perhaps traffic on the I-110 will. Choosing to invest in public transportation, for example, will reduce the number of cars on the road which will have the double effect of lessening both LA’s carbon emissions and the interminable traffic we all know and hate. Extensive public transportation also has the benefits of creating more jobs, reducing smog, and making the roads safer. Even something as simple as choosing to ride a bicycle more would be fulfilling our responsibility (it’s a great way to exercise more too). Clearly, there is no lack of incentives to make these changes.

We are each “citizens of the world” by right of existing and consuming the planet’s resources. Further, as world citizens, if we are ever to establish the dignity deserved to all, we each have a responsibility to do whatever is within our ability to right the injustices wrought upon communities around the world. Which is why I say that there are too few solar-paneled roofs atop the beautiful houses along streets like Linda Vista Avenue, or that we should be voting for city politicians who are willing to build a more bicycle-friendly, pedestrian-safe, and climate conscious Pasadena.

Gabriel Wallen grew up in Pasadena and is a student at Boston University.

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