CLIMATE CHANGE AND RADICAL HOPE

In the face of increasingly dire warnings about the severity of climate change, how can we rationally hope for a solution to the problem? In this paper I argue that although such hope is warranted, it must take the form of what Jonathan Lear calls 'radical hope.' That is, given that the cultural and social changes in store for humanity in the wake of climate catastrophes will likely be very dramatic, we may not be able to retain many of the thick cultural materials we cherish and take for granted. For this reason, the object of our hope must be relatively indeterminate. What should it be? My answer is that we should strive hopefully to retain the ability to flourish as moral agents. I show (a) that this involves constitutively the capacity to recognize and accord positive moral weight to the vital interests of members of the moral community; and (b) that this ability is already being eroded as the climate crisis deepens. I close by suggesting ways this hope can be instantiated in our practices and virtues.