National Webinar on Climate Change, Environmental Ethics and Covid-19 Pandemic

It’s time to build back better for People and Planet! Climate Change, Environmental Ethics and Covid-19 Pandemic Environment and the climate are interdependent. Changes in the environment lead to climate change which is being experienced across the world. Also, the two environments and climate change are closely associated with the notion of sustainable development. It is a matter of great concern for not only the environmentalists but also for policy makers. Environmental ethics is a branch of applied philosophy that studies the conceptual foundations of environmental values as well as more concrete issues surrounding societal attitudes, actions, and policies to protect and sustain biodiversity and ecological systems.

While ethical issues concerning the environment have been debated for centuries, environmental ethics did not emerge as a philosophical discipline until the 1970s. Its emergence was the result of increased awareness of how the rapidly growing world population was impacting the environment as well as the environmental consequences that came with the growing use of pesticides, technology, and industry. Environmental ethics helps define man’s moral and ethical obligations toward the environment. But human values become a factor when looking at environmental ethics. Human values are the things that are important to individuals that they then use to evaluate actions or events. In other words, humans assign value to certain things and then use this assigned value to make decisions about whether something is right or wrong. Human values are unique to each individual because not everyone places the same importance on each element of life. For example, a person living in poverty in an undeveloped country may find it morally acceptable to cut down the forest to make room for a farm where he can grow food for his family. However, a person in a developed country may find this action morally unacceptable because the destruction of forests increases carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, which can negatively impact the environment.

The United Nation constituted the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987). The commission was chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway at the time, and the report is sometimes known as the Brundtland Report. The key question it raised is whether it is equitable to sacrifice options for future well-being in favor of supporting current lifestyles, especially the comfortable, and sometimes lavish, forms of life enjoyed in the rich countries. As Bryan Norton puts it, the world faces a global challenge to see whether different human groups, with widely varying perspectives, can perhaps “accept responsibility to maintain a non-declining set of opportunities based on possible uses of the environment”. The preservation of options for the future can be readily linked to notions of equity if it is agreed that “the future ought not to face, as a result of our actions today, a seriously reduced range of options and choices, as they try to adapt to the environment that they face” (Norton 2001). This report is a milestone in the widespread agenda of sustainable development. The report concluded that the industrial world has already used much of the planet’s ecological capital. This inequality is the planet’s main ‘environmental’ problem; it is also its main ‘development’ problem” (WCED 1987).

Environmental ethics is the philosophical discipline that considers the moral and ethical relationship of human beings to the environment. In other words: what, if any, moral obligation does man have to the preservation and care of the non-human world? World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated every year on 5 June. It is the ‘United Nations’ prime vehicle for encouraging awareness and action to protect our environment. World Environment Day has become a global platform for public outreach, with more than 143 countries participating annually. First organized in 1974, it has been a major campaign for environmental issues ranging from marine pollution, human overgrowth, and raising awareness about global warming, sustainable consumption, and wildlife crime.

COVID-19 pandemic has created the darkest moments in our life. In fact, the entire world has changed. There will be a remarkable difference between the pre-corona world and the post-corona world. Steps taken to prevent COVID-19 pandemic have greatly affected our lifestyle. The effect of COVID-19 may change environmental concerns. Each year, World Environment Day is a powerful platform to accelerate, amplify and engage people, communities and governments around the world to take action on critical environmental challenges facing the planet. In this context this webinar will serve the following purposes.

Objectives: The objectives of the present webinar are as follows1. To create awareness about the importance of Environmental ethics and Climate Change. 2. To discuss environmental ethics, climate change during COVID-19 pandemic. 3. To discuss issues and concerns related to environmental ethics and climate change. 4. To make participants aware of interrelationship between environmental ethics and climate change 5. Sensitize participants about environmental ethics.

Platform: The webinar will be hosted on Google Meet. General guidelines and the link of the webinar will be shared to participants upon their registration for the webinar. You may click the given link or scan the QR code also to join the meeting.

Who can attend: Research Scholars, Teachers, Teacher Educators of universities and colleges and Persons associated with NGOs having keen interest in environment related issues?

Participation: The seats are limited to 150 participants offered on a first come first serve basis for which a participant needs to register using the given link / QR code of google form. The form will be open till 3 PM of 4th June, 2020 or until it reaches up to 150 participants.

Certification: Digitally signed e-certificate will be provided to all participants who will attend all sessions of the webinar and submit the feedback form. Please note no certificate would be made available in hard copy.

Patrons: Prof. R.L. Godaraa Convener, Prof. P.K. Sharma Coordinator, Dr. Anil Kumar Jain Organizing Secretaries, Dr. Keerti Singh Dr. Akhilesh Kumar