Introduction

Abstract

This chapter introduces the key issue addressed in this book, namely the fact that, even though climate change constitutes a severe threat to humankind, response to it is characterized by inaction at all levels. Hence, the severity of climate change and its consequences does not appear to sufficiently motivate people to tackle it. There are two complementary explanations for this motivational gap: first, our moral judgement system might be unable to identify the complex problem of climate change as an important moral problem; and second, people can employ psychological mechanisms of moral disengagement, which allow them to evade individual responsibility for the consequences of their materialistic pursuits. The main aim of this book is to expand upon the second explanation.