The Green Party’s popularity in Oregon was evident in the recent election, but people worldwide support the political group’s principles. Alan Carter, head of the University of London Philosophy Department at Heythrop College, spoke to an audience of 20 at the University Thursday evening about his belief that Green Party policy needs to be stronger in order to combat pollution.
His presentation, “Some Theoretical Foundations for Radical Green Politics,” was an elaboration of his theories on the ways in which society harms the environment and how the actions of people today determine the existence of future people.
“If environmentalists are right,” Carter said, “we’re compromising the nation’s integrity by drowning future children in life-threatening pollution.”
Carter opened his presentation with a comparison of the moral obligation to save a child from drowning and the need to end pollution.
He then used a theory he calls the Environmentally Hazardous Dynamic from his book “Radical Green Political Theory,” to illustrate the cycle that causes environmental destruction within democracies.
Carter argued democracies are so concerned with strengthening their economies to increase military power that they use technology damaging to the environment.
“If we’re in a world that looks like this, our politics are required to be more radical,” Carter said.
Even if a society puts itself in this destructive cycle, Carter said people can choose to stop polluting. But, he added, such action may not be successful because it is not easy for a country to get out of an environmentally damaging cycle.
The solution, Carter argued, is that a society should not become trapped in it in the first place.
Lisa Blasch, a doctoral student in philosophy, said she shares Carter’s goals, but his presentation did not raise any new concerns for her.
“I think he’s right about the catastrophic nature of the environmental condition,” she said.
Nancy Tuana, head of the University philosophy department, said Carter’s presentation sparked an interesting discussion from the audience, which is one goal the department has for its presenters.
“The most important part of his presentation was the links he established between nature and politics,” she said.