Climate Change and Human Rights: Shaping the Narrative for Reflexive Responses from Civilization’s Leadership to Counter and Abate Climate Change and Enhance the Role of Human Rights in the Rule of Law

Authors

Michael Donlan, Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities

Abstract

This article offers a bold new legal process for enhancing and upgrading the rule of law to enable civilization to cope with and counter the mounting damage and injustice caused by climate change. Climate change, once an unimaginable threat, is now a brutal, ubiquitous game changer that is leading inexorably to the demise of all humanity. Only by enhancing the rule of law and melding international law with domestic law can civilization fashion a coherent, global action plan for survival.

For almost three centuries greenhouse gases have been emitted around the world by the burning of fossil fuel, and—most alarming—these gases remain in the atmosphere permanently, intensifying global warming. Already, the accumulating greenhouse gases have reached saturation and our planet is in an environmental emergency. The acceleration of global warming has led to the unrelenting melting of polar ice, which is releasing further greenhouse gases in the form of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

As global warming intensifies, sea levels are rising, threatening massive numbers of people in the low-lying islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the low-lying peninsulas in Asia, such as Bangladesh, with the loss of their lands and livelihoods in but a few decades. These injuries will greatly affect their human rights, starting with their right to self-determination. Thus, the rule of law must be enhanced to better preserve and protect human rights. Immediate action is needed, because a monumental injustice caused by rich nations is being inflicted on the poor of the globe.

Recommended Citation

Donlan, Michael (2019) "Climate Change and Human Rights: Shaping the Narrative for Reflexive Responses from Civilization’s Leadership to Counter and Abate Climate Change and Enhance the Role of Human Rights in the Rule of Law," New England Journal of Public Policy: Vol. 31: Iss. 2, Article 13.
Available at: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol31/iss2/13