Off Campus: Seggau School of Thought / Determining the Extent and Dimensions of Individual Climate Responsibility: Beyond Reducing one’s Personal Carbon Footprint

Abstract

This essay examines the scope and dimensions of individual moral responsibility in addressing climate change: What do I as an individual ought to do in respect to global warming? The first part analyses the philosophical debate between Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and John Broome, establishing that individuals have moral obligations to reduce their personal greenhouse gas emissions. In the second part of the essay, the cruise ship industry serves as a case study of regulatory failure, raising the question of whether individual climate obligations should extend beyond the duty of reducing one´s personal carbon footprint. Using both philosophical analysis and the data from the case study on cruise ships, this contribution demonstrates the limitations of focusing solely on personal emission reductions when speaking about individual climate responsibility. The essay concludes that individual climate responsibility should be understood as encompassing two dimensions: In addition to the obligation to reduce one's personal carbon footprint, there is the equally important duty to engage in collective political action for systemic regulatory reform