113
To begin to understand, we must go deeper than data; we must look into humanity and how we—or those in power—structure ourselves. Ultimately, we must ask
ourselves, is the current structure of our state and global governance sustainable? Is
it protecting and nurturing humanity and human civilization?
To adequately address our global environmental crises, we must address our
global governance crises, and to do that, we must look at the power-holders in global
governance: the nation-state (state). States have the power to create, implement, and
enforce laws that guide the behavior of their citizens, industries, and relationships
with other nations, and it is this power that creates their coinciding responsibility to
not knowingly create or allow harm with those laws and relationships. Yet in our
current governance system, it appears that states have the power, or even the right,
to harm. In a world of growing hyper-nationalism and the dominant statist role of
the state, grave harm is being done to all humanity in defense of some humanity. We
need to redefine how states relate to one another.
As a way forward, the chapter proposes extending the ethical and legal concept
of ubuntu from human relationships to state relationships. Ubuntu is an ethic—or a
set of values—of care and interdependence. It roughly translates into, “I am because
we are” and places our identity, our humanity, within our relationships to others
(Tutu 1999). This is not at the expense of the diversity of local people, places, and
cultures, but through that diversity. The principles and values behind ubuntu should
be extended to the state; after all, a state is only a state because of other states. The
true, relational aspect of state sovereignty must be brought to the forefront instead
of the harmful hyper-individualism fostered by hyper-nationalism.
2 A Methodology for Ethical Engagement
Ethics is the foundation for law and governance, and all decisions have ethical
underpinnings. Ethical engagement looks to the underlying values of our decisions.
What do we value, or not value—and why? What are our priorities as citizens and
as a society—and why? And how does corruption—of people and institutions—
manipulate ethical action? Ethical engagement is more than creating a list of shared
principles that guide life in a community of life, although that is not unhelpful, but
rather it is a questioning of the values that lead to decisions that guide every aspect
of our lives.
Ethical engagement can be as diverse as humanity, and so it naturally fosters openness and creativity in methodology, discourse, and decision-making. For example, in
human rights discourse, human rights are considered “strong ethical pronouncements
as to what should be done” (Sen 2009). They are not already established legal rights,
but rather an “invitation to initiate some fresh legislation” that asserts the “critical
importance of certain freedoms” and the corresponding need to “accept some social
obligations to promote or safeguard these freedoms” (Sen 2009).
The U.S. Declaration of Independence was seen as the moral standard for which
the country should strive to attain. When Thomas Jefferson drafted the document in
State Global Responsibility for Environmental Crises: The Ethical and Legal…
To begin to understand, we must go deeper than data; we must look into humanity and how we—or those in power—structure ourselves. Ultimately, we must ask
ourselves, is the current structure of our state and global governance sustainable? Is
it protecting and nurturing humanity and human civilization?
To adequately address our global environmental crises, we must address our
global governance crises, and to do that, we must look at the power-holders in global
governance: the nation-state (state). States have the power to create, implement, and
enforce laws that guide the behavior of their citizens, industries, and relationships
with other nations, and it is this power that creates their coinciding responsibility to
not knowingly create or allow harm with those laws and relationships. Yet in our
current governance system, it appears that states have the power, or even the right,
to harm. In a world of growing hyper-nationalism and the dominant statist role of
the state, grave harm is being done to all humanity in defense of some humanity. We
need to redefine how states relate to one another.
As a way forward, the chapter proposes extending the ethical and legal concept
of ubuntu from human relationships to state relationships. Ubuntu is an ethic—or a
set of values—of care and interdependence. It roughly translates into, “I am because
we are” and places our identity, our humanity, within our relationships to others
(Tutu 1999). This is not at the expense of the diversity of local people, places, and
cultures, but through that diversity. The principles and values behind ubuntu should
be extended to the state; after all, a state is only a state because of other states. The
true, relational aspect of state sovereignty must be brought to the forefront instead
of the harmful hyper-individualism fostered by hyper-nationalism.
2 A Methodology for Ethical Engagement
Ethics is the foundation for law and governance, and all decisions have ethical
underpinnings. Ethical engagement looks to the underlying values of our decisions.
What do we value, or not value—and why? What are our priorities as citizens and
as a society—and why? And how does corruption—of people and institutions—
manipulate ethical action? Ethical engagement is more than creating a list of shared
principles that guide life in a community of life, although that is not unhelpful, but
rather it is a questioning of the values that lead to decisions that guide every aspect
of our lives.
Ethical engagement can be as diverse as humanity, and so it naturally fosters openness and creativity in methodology, discourse, and decision-making. For example, in
human rights discourse, human rights are considered “strong ethical pronouncements
as to what should be done” (Sen 2009). They are not already established legal rights,
but rather an “invitation to initiate some fresh legislation” that asserts the “critical
importance of certain freedoms” and the corresponding need to “accept some social
obligations to promote or safeguard these freedoms” (Sen 2009).
The U.S. Declaration of Independence was seen as the moral standard for which
the country should strive to attain. When Thomas Jefferson drafted the document in
State Global Responsibility for Environmental Crises: The Ethical and Legal…