The Moral Emergency at Our Doorstep

Why Climate Change Is the Ultimate Test of Our Ethical Framework

Picture yourself in a burning building. You notice the smoke first, a faint wisp curling under the door. The rational response is immediate evacuation. Now imagine that same building, but this time you're told the fire won't reach your floor for another decade. Perhaps two. Does this temporal distance diminish your moral obligation to warn others? To act?

This is precisely the ethical paradox we face with climate change. The building is burning, yet we sit in our offices, adjusting spreadsheets and optimising workflows, as if the smoke weren't already seeping through the ventilation systems of our collective future.