6. Systemic Ethics for Social and Environmental Justice

http://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Salt_​March Accessed original footage of the Salt March attached to this site on 28/03/2013.

Shiva has challenged the patenting of seed and the patenting of life through the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) that extend commodification from industrial patents (based on the creativity of human beings) to life per se. Shiva writes that reframing needs to occur from outside the system through Satygraha (resistance based on passive mass action). The shift from producing local goods to controlling profit through anthropocentric trade is her central concern. She stresses that the space for change needs to be created at the local level in small, powerful ways that prefigure other wide-ranging changes. According to Shiva, the issue of food security can be understood better when we examine some of the absurd categories we have created by naming some of the most nutritious foodstuffs: ‘chick peas’ or chicken food.

http://​www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​UOfM7QD7-kk. http://​www.​navdanya.​org/​news/​229-awesome. http://​www.​vandanashiva.​org/​.

Global citizenship and social movements: creating transcultural webs of meaning for the new millennium. McIntyre-Mills (2000), Cosmopolitanism, Expanded pragmatism and systemic ethics in ‘Identity, democracy and sustainability’(McIntyre-Mills 2009 a, b,c; McIntyre-Mills and de Vries 2011), Anthropocentricism and wellbeing (McIntyre-Mills 2012) ‘Wellbeing, mindfulness and the global commons’ (McIntyre-Mills 2010a) and in ‘Representation, Accountability and Sustainability’(McIntyre-Mills 2010b), Critical Systemic Praxis: participatory governance for social and environmental justice: Participatory Policy Design and Governance for a Global Age (McIntyre-Mills 2003), ‘Systemic Governance and Accountability’ (see McIntyre-Mills 2006b, 2008a, b, c).

This approach extends the arguments made by Eblinger, K, in his paper Environmental Pragmatism, 2010.

http://​www.​brookings.​edu/​opinions/​2010/​0422_​environmental_​pragmatism_​ebinger.​aspx?​p=​1.

Research in Alice Springs and environs on quality of life of Indigenous Australian citizens in 1998–2001 (McIntyre-Mills 2003), Australian Research Council (ARC)- and Collaborative Research centre in Australian History (CRCAH)-funded research on complex needs from 2002 to 2007(McIntyre-Mills 2008) and Local Government Association research from 2011 to 2012 (McIntyre-Mills and De Vries 2011, 2012).

http://​www.​globaleducation.​edna.​edu.​au/​globaled/​go/​pid/​3740.

This is cited by Wilkinson and Pickett and is a secondary reference.

This is cited by Wilkinson and Pickett and is a secondary reference.

http://​www.​co2science.​org/​data/​plant_​growth/​dry/​dry_​subject.​php.

Creative entrepreneurism, the green economy and technology, growth reduction, redistribution, convergence versus divergence of living standards, moral change to our view of property and consumption of resources, the role of human interventions in climate change, evidence-based scientific policy and cultural change that is based on renewable energy.

They cite International Labour Organisation 2003. Street Traders and their organization. Geneva.

40-year Trends Analysis Shows Poor Countries Making Faster Development Gains. UNDP4 November 2010

http://​hdr.​undp.​org/​en/​reports/​global/​hdr2010/​news/​title,21577,en.​html Accessed 2 February, 2011.

The challenges facing the most marginalised in the community are challenges that could be suffered more widely as the impact of convergent social, economic and environmental challenges leads to accelerated changes to the liveability of cities and regions on which they depend (Odum 1996; Lovelock 2006, 2009). Climate change will affect the standard of living that is taken for granted by the privileged (Flannery Stanley, Hawke Oration lecture 17 November 2008). The first nation stewardship philosophy needs to be reapplied (Bruntland Report 1987; Ottawa Health Charter 1986). The social contract protects citizens within the nation state, but those who do not vote (young people and the disabled) rely on the care of others. Those who fall outside the mantle of the nation state remain without protection.

Social contract theories typically stipulate that justice makes sense only when people are so placed that it pays for them to exit from the state of nature and make a compact for mutual advantage. The various specific conditions outlined by Rawls…and the classical theorists-moderate scarcity, rough equality, and so on—all emerge from that general idea. By contrast, the capabilities approach takes its start from the Aristotelian/Marxian conception of the human being as a social and political being, who finds fulfillment in relations with others. Whereas contractarians typically think of the family as ‘natural’, and the political as in some significant sense artificial, the capabilities approach makes no such distinction…the Aristotelian account insists that the good of a human being is both social and political. This idea is present in Rawl’s doctrine of reciprocity, although, on account of the social contract framework, he does not extend it to the difficult cases that are my focus… (Nussbaum 2006, pp. 85–86)

Berlin and Hardy (1979) and Crowder’s (2003, 2004) works on pluralism and diversity are relevant to the argument that freedom and diversity needs to be fostered to the extent that it does not undermine the rights of others or the next generation of life. As stressed elsewhere (McIntyre-Mills 2000, 2010a, b, c) governance and democracy and ethics have to deal with three options pertaining to truth: (a) One truth (monist) responses defended by grand narratives, (b) no truth (postmodernist) approach defended by relativism or conflict and (c) mediated (co-created) responses based on stewardship and testing out ideas with professional experts, people with lived experience of many kinds of knowledge, including an appreciation of animal knowing (which could be vital for enhancing our resilience), and from nature to ensure that the environment is placed at the forefront of all decisions and that we are her stewards. This is where humanism and systemic ethics part company. A cultural shift towards placing the environment first is evident in the following policy initiatives. The work of Crowder on pluralism and diversity is relevant to the argument that freedom and diversity needs to be fostered to the extent that it does not undermine the rights of others or the next generation of life.

According to Crossen and Niessen ‘[It]… does not create a substantive right to a healthy environment. Rather the Convention creates procedural rights to assert the “right to live in and environment adequate to his or her health and wellbeing (they cite the preamble Para 7). To have meaning…a substantive right must be accompanied by the ability to seek enforcement of that right.’ It provides the right to citizens of the EU to have a say irrespective of where they are working. This could and should be scaled up regionally in federalist structures supported by the legal system.

In ‘Systemic governance and accountability’ (McIntyre-Mills 2006), I argue that policy and practice needs to consider social, economic and environmental implications for all life. The approach is important as it strives to enable a resilient approach to the challenges we face.

I agree with Korsgaard (2006) that as thinking primates we have the greatest responsibility to care for others, but disagree with her at the point at which she and De Waal argue that caring (without the buttressing support of rights) is the route we should follow. Singer (2006) argues for rights to be upheld in law. This praxis is already in existence (albeit at an early stage) in the legislation of the European Union. By examining emotions and thinking about them, we are able to make better decisions. We need to be aware of how emotion triggers an initial response to an issue and then to think through the implications in terms of scenarios.

Midgley’s work (2000) is relevant in this respect as he builds on the work of Mary Douglas when he discusses the notion that praxis that falls within the boundaries of our definitions is acceptable and sacred, whereas praxis that falls outside these boundaries is considered profane. Werner Ulrich, Christakis and Bausch are also relevant to the arguments on open, participatory design to enhance engagement and attachment to ideas. Alan Rayner is relevant too in terms of seeing our co-determination as form of an ‘energetic interface’.

This section explores alternative forms of government and governance that can protect those who fall outside the mantle of citizenship rights. It develops an argument for a new form of democracy and governance that is based on recognition of our role as caretakers.

The Australian 29–30 Jan 2011 Lyons, J. ‘Crisis in Arab world as protests hit streets’, pg. 20.

http://​www.​abc.​net.​au/​news/​stories/​2011/​01/​11/​3110882.​htm accessed 2 February 2011.

“Emotions shape the landscape of our mental and social lives. Like geological upheavals in the landscape, they mark our lives as uneven, uncertain, and prone to reversal. Are they simply, as some have claimed, animal energies or impulses with no connection to our thoughts? Or are they suffused with intelligence and discernment, and thus a source of deep awareness and understanding? If the latter then emotions cannot be sidelined in accounts of ethical judgment as they often have been…”. (Nussbaum 2001, prologue).

“Indeed the great advantage of a cognitive/evaluative view of emotion is that it shows us where societies and individual have the freedom to make improvements. If we recognize the element of evaluation the emotions, we also see that they can themselves be evaluated—and in some ways altered, if they fail to survive criticism. Social constructions of emotion are transmitted through parental cues, actions and instructions long before the larger society shapes the child…”. (Nussbaum 2001, p. 173).

http://​eselinger.​org/​blog/​?​p=​178.

The heavy carbon footprint has impacted on climate change which has resulted in more and more natural disasters linked with climate change. According to Ros Garnaut (ABC, news, 4 Feb,2011), this is symptomatic of the early stages of climate change and that droughts, extreme weather events such as floods, cyclones and lower temperatures in Europe are a foretaste of what is to come. In Australia, for example, cyclone Yari has led to rising food costs. The most marginal in cities and rural areas will suffer first and then the ripple effects of an unsustainable way of life will be increasingly difficult to limit to only the very poor. The results of greed will be felt by everyone.

http://​library.​thinkquest.​org/​C002291/​high/​present/​stats.​htm: ‘The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving- Since you’ve entered this site at least 200 people have died of starvation. Over 4 million will die this year…. One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5. United Nations Food and Agriculture…. The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world’s hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have approximately 40 %, and the remaining hungry people are found in Latin America and other parts of the world. Hunger in Global Economy…. Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion—a majority of humanity—live on less than $ 1 per day, while the world’s 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 % of the world’s people.’

This is the difference between: (a) Development for growth which is unsustainable (evidence needed), because it ‘forgets’ that the so-called economic ‘externalities’ of development (Beck 1992) which does not consider the way in which we manage our resources and thus destroys the fabric of life by which we survive and b) policy adaptation (Giddens 2009; Vickers 1983) that is based on responding to the environment by adapting and evolving designs that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable (see McIntyre-Mills 2009a, b, c for details). Ethical thinking based on EP (McIntyre-Mills 2008) could enhance representation and accountability by means of thinking about the consequences of decisions for people and the environment in this generation and the next (Singer 2002; West Churchman 1982). The environment shapes us by affecting agriculture and heath and people in turn shape the environment such as through pollution and reducing water availability in ongoing recursive cycles.

Despite the way in which the speech has been used as a form of ventriloquism for Indigenous nations, it remains a rallying cry for environmentalists. It also provides a lesson in the importance of participatory democracy where people speak for themselves.

Conservative economists argue that consumption can be modified by those with an income to build up wealth. The difference in this report is that consumption refers to stocks that are usually not included in economic measures. The most important point made is that by contributing to the public good, individual households could enhance their wellbeing. In Australia, households that were protected by levee banks weathered the recent floods in New South Wales. State governments that levy taxes to build resilient communities are providing for the common good. Reducing consumption in order to pay taxes to protect our homes and families makes sense as New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland continue to count the costs of flooding in Australia.

Leading economists and development theorists, such as Stiglitz et al. (2011, p. 5), stress: ‘We are also facing a looming social and environmental crisis especially associated with global warming. Market processes are distorted by the fact that there is no charge imposed on carbon emissions; and no account is made of the cost of these emissions in standard national income accounts. Clearly, measures of economic performance that reflected these environmental costs might look markedly different from standard measures.’

http://​www.​globalissues.​org/​article/​26/​poverty-facts-and-stats#fact2.

Drummond, M. 2012 ‘Technocrats face voter backlash’ Financial Review March 17–18, page 54.

The long view on climate change, Editorial Comment, Sydney Morning Herald Friday 16th March pg. 10.

Systemic Governance and Accountability (McIntyre-Mills 2006), User-centric design to address complex needs (McIntyre-Mills 2008) and ‘Identity, Democracy and Sustainability’ (McIntyre-Mills and De Vries 2011) stress that the emotional and rational aspects of listening and engaging with others in carefully facilitated conversations on complex concerns will become increasingly important. I make the case that the following are central to extending solidarity: (a) Ability to think about our emotions and (b) listening and rapport.

http://​hdr.​undp.​org/​en/​mediacentre/​summary/​inequality/​Adjusting the Human Development Index for inequality.

Lyons, J. 2011, ‘Crisis in Arab world as protests hit streets’, The Australian 29–30 Jan 2011 pg. 20.

It is possible for measures of average to disguise the fact that a high income does not enable exhausted workers to enjoy the same kind of leisure that a lower income family enjoys who has access to the safety net of capital, a home (rather than a mortgage) and the security that loss of income will not lead to a loss of their home or their social networks.