Catastrophe Ethics: Doing Good in a World Gone Bad

Reconciling with Reality

In this episode of the GlobalWarmingIsReal podcast, we open by recounting a scene from the Netflix series Landman. A brash, whip-smart attorney transplanted from New York City is suddenly tasked with negotiating drilling leases in Midland, Texas, the heart of the Permian Basin, colloquially known as “the Patch.”

She’s a killer lawyer but out of place in a roughneck region where civilization’s “sausage is made.” It rankles her urban East Coast sensibilities and leaves a fine mist of sand on her thousand-dollar bespoke blazer. Her new oilman boss (Billie-Bob Thornton) has little patience for her reticence.

Standing in the hot sun next to a grinding pumpjack, he drives home a dose of reality:

“You can ride a horse and live in a tent, but you’ll be the only one, and it won’t make a bit of difference. This is what the world runs on. Until it runs on something else, when this stops, the world stops.” 

What’s a tree-hugger to do?

Considering Our Choices in a Challenging Time

It is no stretch to suggest that we live in a morally fraught time. Ethics succumbs to leverage and power, and empathy is pushed aside for mistrust, hostility, and fear.

And the pumpjacks grind on.

If we do nothing and care little for the future, we will bequeath to our close descendants a life of tree-hugging, whatever stunted trees are left. But, like our young New York attorney, we are enmeshed in a system of which we both benefit and disdain. Nonetheless, we feel it is our duty to do something about it!

I don’t seek to contribute to the climate catastrophe, but neither do I want to live in a tent. As I tappity-tap-tap on my keyboard, how do I calibrate my moral compass in a world of unseen consequences, paradox, and puzzling choices?

Indeed, it is what philosopher and bioethicist Travis Rieder calls “The Puzzle” of modern life: feeling both morally compelled to act and utterly powerless to make a difference.

I share my thoughts on his book Catastrophe Ethics: How to Choose Well in a World of Tough Choices.

Rieder tackles the paradox of our time. In an interconnected polycrisis world, global challenges like climate change render any individual action in response vanishingly insignificant. In this light, what obligation should we feel to do anything about it? That is the Puzzle that Rieder addresses in his fascinating, engaging, and timely thoughts on how we can choose well in a world of tough choices.Listen Now!

Image credit Colby Winfield on Unsplash