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Parallels in reactionary argumentation in the US congressional debates on the abolition of slavery and the Kyoto Protocol

Climatic Change volume 86, pages 67–82 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Today, the United States is as dependent on fossil fuels for its patterns of consumption and production as its South was on slavery in the mid-nineteenth century. That US congressmen tend to rationalise fossil fuel use despite climate risks to future generations just as Southern congressmen rationalised slavery despite ideals of equality is perhaps unsurprising, then. This article explores similarities between the rationalisation of slavery in the abolition debates and the rationalisation of ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases in the US congressional debates on the Kyoto Protocol.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 15, 1012 CP, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Marc D. Davidson

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  1. Marc D. Davidson
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Correspondence to Marc D. Davidson.

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Davidson, M.D. Parallels in reactionary argumentation in the US congressional debates on the abolition of slavery and the Kyoto Protocol. Climatic Change 86, 67–82 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-007-9250-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-007-9250-7

Keywords

  • Climate Policy
  • Kyoto Protocol
  • Energy Information Administration
  • House Floor
  • Congressional Record