Abstract
The planet has entered the Anthropocene, a period in which humanity is the main driver of Earth systems changes. The effects of these fast and profound changes have been devastating for several fellow species – extinct or threatened to be extinct – and endanger a great part of the human population. In order to rebalance human interests and the equilibrium of the planet, Earth Stewardship, paradigm in which humanity recognizes itself as a co-inhabitant and steward of the planet, should be implemented. However, deep-rooted cultural traits can be stumbling blocks to the development of this new planetary ethics, and this is the case for South America. This chapter discusses the foundations of a new planetary ethics in South America and the challenges for its implementations, exemplified by one of the most contemporary complex issues, climate change.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The concentration of GHG in the atmosphere was 401.85 ppm in 12 Jun 2014 according to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center. Data available at http://cdiac.ornl.gov, accessed 19 Jun 2014.
- 2.
It is important to clarify that, whenever the article does not specify the population, it is referring to the contemporary global society that encompasses most Western and many non-Western societies such as China, India, South Africa, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. However, societies that are very poor, such as many sub-Saharan African countries, so far have not impacted the global equilibrium, neither did small subnational social systems in all societies that are guided by values that consider the ecological equilibrium, local and planetary.
- 3.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed and ratified 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 ratification 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 defined, are consumerism and excessive aesthetic concerns, national interests defined narrowly (as seen before) and short-term thinking.
- 5.
Republican values are in force when there is: (i) a clear distinction between the public and private interests, (ii) equality of opportunities for all, through quality public education, (iii) legal equality of all, (iv) due process of law, (v) state intervention in the economy to balance private and public interests, and (vi) a welfare state with relatively low social inequality.
- 6.
Bogota, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Curitiba, Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, and Sao Paulo are members of the C-40, a group of cities established during the Earth Summit in 2012, engaged in developing initiatives to tackle shared environmental problems. Website: http://www.c40.org/cities
- 7.
Annual averages. Data from the National Institute of Spatial Research (INPE), http://www.obt.inpe.br/prodes/index.php. In the first two years of Da Silva’s tenure (2003–04) there was a dramatic increase in deforestation.
- 8.
In 1996 the old Forest Code (enacted in 1965) was changed to make compulsory the preservation of 80 % of the vegetation in the Amazon region. In 2006 the Act on the Management of Public Forests created the Brazilian Forest Service in order to manage the forests.
- 9.
Increase energy efficiency; substitute charcoal coming from deforestation with charcoal coming from tree plantations; replace old fridges and HCFCs; invest in solar water heating and urban waste recycling; phasing out the use of fire for clearing sugar cane plantations; integrate agriculture and cattle raising systems maintain the share of renewable energy in the Brazilian electricity matrix, encourage the domestic and international use of biofuels, seek further reduction of deforestation, eliminate the net loss of forest coverage, strengthen inter-sector actions to reduce climate change vulnerability, and identify impacts of climate change in the environment and support scientific research about it. Plano Nacional sobre Mudança do Clima, available at http://www.mma.gov.br/estruturas/smcq_climaticas/_arquivos/plano_nacional_mudanca_clima.pdf, accessed 1 May 2014; executive summary in English available at http://www.mma.gov.br/estruturas/208/_arquivos/national_plan_208.pdf, accessed 1 May 2014.
- 10.
Among the most relevant sectorial plans are the plans to reduce deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado Savannah, the low carbon agriculture plan, and the plans to reduce emissions from steel industry and energy sectors. There are also several subnational policies, especially in the Southern and South-eastern states, with stricter environmental standards compared to federal ones. Lei Nacional sobre Mudança do Clima, Law nr. 12187/2009, available at http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2007-2010/2009/lei/l12187.htm, and Decree 7390/2010, available at http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2007-2010/2010/Decreto/D7390.htm, accessed 1 May 2014.
- 11.
In 2010, agriculture and cattle ranching’s share of Brazilian GHG emissions was 35 %; energy services’, 32 %; and LULUCF’s, 23 %.
- 12.
Due to fears that international financial resources that would be attracted to the Amazon region by CDM projects which would undermine the national sovereignty of the region.
- 13.
The geopolitical equilibrium was always on the brink of annihilation based on the doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD).
- 14.
A good standard of development could be defined as a combination of per capita income of at least USD 20,000, GINI index < 0,4, almost 0 % illiteracy, an average of at least 10 years of good quality education, fertility rate below replacement levels, and life expectancy above 80 years (Viola et al. 2013). For other definitions check World Development Indicators 2014, by the World Bank, and the Index of Human Development, by the UN.
References
Brasil (2013) Estimativas anuais de emissões de gases de efeito estufa no Brasil. http://gvces.com.br/arquivos/177/EstimativasClima.pdf. Accessed 12 Jan 2014
Chapin FS III, Power ME, Pickett STA et al (2011) Earth Stewardship: science for action to sustain the human-earth system. Ecosphere 2(8) article 89:01–20
Crutzen PJ, Stoermer EF (2000) The ‘Anthropocene’. Glob Chang Newsl 41:17–18
Grimm NB, Jacob KL (2013) Evaluating climate impacts on people and ecosystems. Front Ecol Environ 11:455
Halperin Donghi T (1970) História contemporanea de America Latina. Alianza, Madrid
Holzmann R, Hinz R (2005) Old-age income support in the 21st century: an international perspective on pension systems and reform. World Bank, Washington, DC. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPENSIONS/Resources/Old_Age_Inc_Supp_Full_En.pdf. Accessed 19 June 2014
Jamieson D (2011) The nature of the problem. In: Dryzek JS, Norgaard RB, Schlosberg D (eds) The Oxford handbook of climate change and society. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 38–54
Mainwaring S, Viola E (1984) New social movements, political culture and democracy: Brazil and Argentina in the 1980s. Telos 1984(61):17–52
North RC (1990) War, peace, survival: global politics and conceptual synthesis. Westview Press, Boulder
O’Donnel G (1999) Poliarchies and the (un)rule of law in Latin America. In: Mendez J, O’Donnel G, Pinheiro PS (eds) The (un)rule of law and the underprivileged in Latin America. Notre Dame University, Notre Dame
Ostrom E, Cox M (2010) Moving beyond panaceas: a multi-tiered diagnostic approach for social ecological analysis. Environ Conserv 37(4):451–463
Padua JA (2004) Um sopro de destruição: pensamento político e crítica ambiental no Brasil escravista, 1786–1888. Editora Zahar, Rio de Janeiro
Power ME, Chapin FS III (2010) Planetary stewardship, with an introduction from the Editor-in-Chief. Bull Ecol Soc Am 91:143–175
Prins G, Galiana I, Green C et al (2010) The Hartwell paper – a new direction for climate policy after the crash of 2009, London School of Economics and University of Oxford. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27939/1/HartwellPaper_English_version.pdf. Accessed 2 May 2014
Ribeiro GL (2009) Non-hegemonic globalizations. Alternative transnational processes and agents. Anthropol Theory 9:1–33
Rockstrom J, Steffen W, Noone K et al (2009) A safe operating space for humanity. Nature 461(24):472–475. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7263/full/461472a.html. Accessed 1 May 2014
Rozzi R et al (2013) Biocultural ethics: from biocultural homogenization toward biocultural conservation. In: Rozzi R, Pickett STA, Palmer C (eds) Linking ecology and ethics for a changing world: values, philosophy, and action. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/New York/London, pp 9–32
Socolow RH, English MR (2011) Living ethically in a greenhouse. In: Arnold DG (ed) The ethics of global climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 170–191
Steffen W (2011) A truly complex and diabolical policy problem. In: Dryzek JS, Norgaard RB, Schlosberg D (eds) The Oxford handbook of climate change and society. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 21–37
Timonen V (2008) Ageing societies: a comparative introduction. Open University Press, Maidenhead
UNEP (2011) Towards a green economy: pathways to sustainable development and poverty eradication. http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/ger_final_dec_2011/Green%20EconomyReport_Final_Dec2011.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2014
United Nations Conference On Sustainable Development – UNCSD (2012) The future we want; United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/288. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/476/10/PDF/N1147610.pdf?OpenElement. Accessed 1 May 2014
US Global Change Research Program (2014) Climate change impacts in the United States. http://nca2014.globalchange.gov. Accessed 19 June 2014
Vergara W, Alatorre C, Alves L (2013) Rethinking our energy future a white paper on renewable energy for the 3GFLAC regional forum, Inter-American Development Bank, Climate Change and Sustainability Division Energy Division, Discussion paper no. IDB-DP-292, http://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/5744/3gflac%20White%20Paper%20English%20v21%20-%20with%20cover.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed 19 June 2014
Viola E (1987) O movimento ecológico no Brasil: do ambientalismo à ecopolítica. Rev Bras Ciências Sociais 1(3)
Viola E (1988) The ecologist movement in Brazil (1974–86): from environmentalism to ecopolitics. Int J Urban Reg Res 12(2):211–228
Viola E (1997) The environment movement in Brazil: institutionalization, sustainable development and crisis of governance since 1987. In: Macdonald GJ, Neilson D, Stern MA (eds) Latin American environmental policy in international perspective. Westview Press, Boulder
Viola E (2002) O regime internacional de mudança climática e o Brasil. Rev Bras Ciências Soc 17(50): 25–46. http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbcsoc/v17n50/a03v1750.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2014
Viola E (2013) Brazilian climate policy since 2005: continuity, change and prospective. Centre for European Policy Studies Working document no. 373. http://www.ceps.be/book/brazilian-climate-policy-2005-continuity-change-and-prospective. Accessed 1 May 2014
Viola E, Basso L (2014) Amazonian policy and politics, 2003–13: deforestation, hydropower and biofuels. In: NOREF – Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre Report. http://www.peacebuilding.no/Themes/Emerging-powers/Publications/Amazonian-policy-and-politics-2003-13-deforestation-hydropower-and-biofuels. Accessed 1 May 2014
Viola E, Franchini M (2012) Os limiares planetários, a Rio+20 e o papel do Brasil. Cadernos EBAPE 10(3):470–491
Viola E, Franchini M (2013) Brasil na governança global do clima, 2005–2012: a luta entre conservadores e reformistas. Contexto Internacional 35(1):43–76
Viola E, Leis H (2008) America del Sur en el mundo de las democracias de mercado. Cadal Homo Sapiens, Buenos Aires
Viola E, Franchini M, Ribeiro TL (2012) Climate Governance in an international system under conservative hegemony: the role of major powers. Rev Bras Política Int 55(special edition):9–29
Viola E, Franchini M, Ribeiro TL (2013) Sistema internacional de hegemonia conservadora – governança global e democracia na era da crise climática. Annablume, São Paulo
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Viola, E., Basso, L. (2015). Earth Stewardship, Climate Change, and Low Carbon Consciousness: Reflections from Brazil and South America. In: Rozzi, R., et al. Earth Stewardship. Ecology and Ethics, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12133-8_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12133-8_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-12132-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-12133-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)