Dignity in the Anthropocene

Abstract

This chapter argues that built into the idea of the Anthropocene is an understanding of the human as a collective actor. As a collective actor, the Anthropocene asserts, humans have had a common responsibility for their environmentally harmful conduct over generations and, now, face a common threat. This chapter critiques the idea of collective human action and of universally shared responsibility implied in references to the Anthropocene on the grounds that it is both factually inaccurate and normatively unappealing. Instead, the chapter adopts a perspective that highlights human dignity – the inherent equal worth of every person – to demonstrate how attention to each person's humanness can challenge the problematic assumptions of collectivism implicit in common uses of the concept of the Anthropocene. In human rights law, human dignity is a concept used to connect all humans in their humanity and at the same time gives expression to each person's unique, contextual, and relational human self. A dignity lens brings into relief the complex and constitutive relationships between human beings and the environment – relationships that are contextual and relational. Examining the Anthropocene through a dignity lens allows for a more apposite and nuanced understanding of human responsibility for environmental conditions and one that, through meaningful public participation and inclusion in environmental decision-making, allows for the possibility of human-centred solutions to our environmental crisis.

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ORCID for Dina Lupin: orcid.org/0000-0002-6531-8066

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