Abstract
The power created by technoscience during the 20th century has turned human beings into global ecological agents. In the face of this challenge, unique in the history of humankind, there are three answers that have been proposed: to accelerate the process of human control over nature (technocratic paradigm); to revert the present situation to a previous stage in which nature recovers its independence from human beings (decrecentism); and to maintain the current system with some measures to solve the side effects (ecocapitalism). The technocratic paradigm does not recognize the value and limits of nature. Decrecentism ignores the duty of using technology to provide more dignified, decent life conditions for humanity. And ecocapitalism is the contemporary version of an economic system which produces growth as well as inequality and environmental degradation, and that it is constantly reinventing itself to remain legitimate and keep its hegemony. Beyond the specific limitations of each of the models above, they all share a problem in their foundation: human beings are only marginally considered. In this chapter, I will offer an alternative to these models based on the UDHR. This Declaration recognizes the dignity of all human beings, the need to create the conditions for all people to exercise their rights, and the existence of duties to the community as a condition to full human development. The Declaration of Stockholm (1972) and of Rio (1992) materialize these synchronic and diachronic ecological justice demands.
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.
Philosophers and social activists were the first to denounce, since the 19th century, this new form of relationship with nature that turned against human beings (Morris 2016).
- 2.
The global economic system is the main change agent in the Earth system (Steffen et al. 2015).
- 3.
- 4.
“It is also true that this civilization (the technological civilization) makes it possible, more than any other human civilization before, the following: a life without violence and with ample equality of opportunities” (Patocka 2016).
- 5.
This principle is also contained in the Framework Convention on Climate Change: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, art. 3: Principles.
- 6.
This text is an extract of the Four Freedom Speech, the State of the Union address given by American President Franklin D. Roosevelt before the United States Congress on January 6th, 1943 (Glendon 2011).
References
Anders G (2010) La obsolescencia del hombre (vol II). Sobre la destrucción de la vida en la época de la tercera revolución industrial. Pretextos, Valencia
Arias Maldonado M (2018) Antropoceno. La política en la era humana. Tecnos, Madrid
Arnau J (2017) La fuga de Dios. Las ciencias y otras narraciones. Atalanta, Girona
Ballesteros J (1989) Postmodernidad: resistencia o decadencia. Tecnos, Madrid
Ballesteros J (1995) Ecologismo personalista. Tecnos, Madrid
Ballesteros J (2010) Globalization: from chrematistic rest to humanist wakefulness. In: Ballesteros J, Fernández Ruiz-Gálvez E, Talavera P (eds) Globalization and human rights challenges and answers from a European perspective. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 3–26
Ballesteros J (2012) La insostenibilidad de la globalización existente: de la financiarización a la ecologización de la economía y la sociedad. Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas de Elche I(8):15–36
Baskin J (2015) Paradigm dressed as epoch: the ideology of the Anthropocene. Environ Values 24(1):9–29
Bauman Z (2003) Wasted lives: modernity and its outcasts. Polity, Cambridge
Bellver V (1994) Ecología: de las razones a los derechos. Granada, Comares
Bellver V (1996) El movimiento por la justicia ambiental: entre el ecologismo y los derechos humanos. Anuario de Filosofía del Derecho 13:327–347
Brand U (2012) Green economy—the next oxymoron? No lessons learned from failures of implementing sustainable development. GAIA 21(1):28–32
Contreras F (2014) El sentido de la libertad. Historia y vigencia de la idea de ley natural. Stella Maris, Barcelona
Fuller S, Lipinska V (2014) The proactionary imperative. A foundation for transhumanism. Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Glendon MA (2011) Un mundo nuevo: Eleanor Roosevelt y la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos. FCE, Ciudad de México
Gray J (2004) Heresies: against progress and other illusions. Granta, London
Innerarity D (2009) El futuro y sus enemigos. Paidós, Barcelona
Innerarity D (2012) Justicia climática. Dilemata 9:171–195
Marcos A, Pérez Marcos M (2018) Meditación de la naturaleza humana. BAC, Madrid
Morris W (2016) La Era del Sucedáneo y otros textos contra la civilización moderna. Pepitas de Calabaza, Logroño
Patocka J (2016) Ensayos heréticos de filosofía de la historia. Encuentro, Madrid
Sábato E (1973) Hombres y engranajes. Heterodoxia. Alianza, Madrid
Simon J (1981) The ultimate resource. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Spaargaren G, Mol Arthur (1992) Sociology, environment, and modernity: ecological modernization as a theory of social change. Soc Nat Resour 5:323–344
Steffen W, Broadgate W, Deutsch L, Gaffney O, Ludwig C (2015) The trajectory of the Anthropocene: the great acceleration. The Anthropocene Rev 2(1):81–98
Taibo C (2011) En defensa del decrecimiento: capitalismo, crisis, barbarie. La Catarata, Madrid
Waters CN, Zalasiewicz J, Summerhayes C, Barnosky AD, Poirier C, Gałuszka A et al (2016) The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene. Science 351(6269). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad2622
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bellver, V. (2020). Ecological Justice in the Anthropocene: A Proposal. In: Valera, L., Castilla, J. (eds) Global Changes. Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment, vol 46. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29443-4_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29443-4_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29442-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29443-4
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)