What is Intergenerational Justice?

Janna Thompson

“Suppose that nothing much is done to prevent global warming and that the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continues to increase. In 2070, according to the Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the average temperature in Australia will have increased as much as 6 degrees centigrade. Australia will be drier, although floods and cyclones will occur more frequently. Rising sea levels and storm surges will endanger coastal areas where 80% of Australians live, and the changing chemistry of the ocean will have ecological consequences that are not well understood but may be profound. Some environmental systems are likely to disappear. The Great Barrier Reef is in danger of being bleached out of existence, and low-lying wetlands will be inundated …”