The vast majority of climate researchers contend that failing to take immediate steps to control emissions could ruin the world as we know it. They urge today’s generations to sacrifice, sharing the cost burden with future generations. But preventive steps taken today won’t take effect for 30 years or more. Politicians whose power depends on comforting citizens deny that change is underway or that human activities are responsible. Doing unto others as we would want them do onto us is a historically resilient benchmark for decent conduct, explains Hakan Altinay, a Brookings Institution senior fellow. He envisions a system that relies on organizing principles offered by philospher John Rawls: Nations can take appropriate steps that benefit the entire globe without revealing petty, changing details on which nations stand to gain or lose. Altinay credits German Chancellor Angela Merkel alone among leaders of developed nations for endorsing such principles. Those who deny climate change will be history’s pariahs.
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