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Workshop 5
“Anthropogenic Climate Destabilization: A Worst-case Scenario”
Participant Statement
September 12–14, 2008 | Bellevue, Washington
Stephen Gardiner
What are the three critical questions you would ask pertaining to “anthropogenic climate change: a worst-case scenario” – and why?
1. What are our best estimates of where dramatic threshold effects may be found, and what are the likely impacts of encountering such thresholds? What obligations do we have to engage in proactive research in order to identify the relevant risk factors?
2. What responsibilities do specific social groups (e.g., countries, corporations, individuals) have to prepare for catastrophic scenarios, and to assist those who are victims of such scenarios? More generally, how do we understand obligations to the future of humanity and how do they produce related obligations to distant and future people?
3. What scientific, social, and economic institutions might we need to create or modify to prepare for catastrophic impacts? How might the need for new or revised institutions be justified and motivated to existing actors?
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