ABSTRACT
Those who are marginalised and vulnerable most acutely feel the effects of environmental degradation and climate change. Inequities in mobility, access to wealth, food, water and safe places to live mean that people living in poverty, older people, Indigenous peoples and women will be most adversely affected. Current political approaches to tackling climate change have focused on adhering to global carbon emissions targets and the economic impacts of doing so. Such an approach disregards the importance of addressing social and economic inequities brought about by neoliberalism that prioritises economies over people. Research has gained momentum globally around promoting community adaptation and resilience, recognising the interdependence of human health and the natural environment, and the unequal effects of climate change. However, what is often overlooked is that humanity is not only interdependent on the natural environment but is fundamentally a part of it. This chapter argues that a critical ethics of care, where inequity is no longer tolerated and people and their environments are valued equally, is needed. It highlights that solutions to climate change and environmental degradation are not reliant on individual change alone, but instead require governments and societies to work together collectively in compassionate and caring ways that recognise humanity as a part of nature, not in binary opposition to it.
