Philosophers Fight Climate Change Series
This interview series highlights the exciting ways philosophers engage the public to combat a central crisis of our time.
Kian Mintz-Woo is a permanent lecturer in Department of Philosophy at University College Cork, Ireland. His work in moral philosophy and climate change includes engaging with the public whenever he gets the opportunity.
What public philosophy do you do? What is a way you have been successful?
I think it is important that philosophers present our reasons and arguments to the public (as I describe here), and I try to put my views into practice whenever I have the opportunity. At the end of April 2021, the opportunity took the form of introducing my work to some Canadian parliamentarians.
The reason I was asked is that I have written several pieces about the ethics of carbon taxes. In a scholarly meeting about carbon taxes, an activist heading the Canadian branch of the NGO Citizens’ Climate Lobby—which advocates for revenue-neutral carbon taxes—asked some questions and I asked her if we could meet. After chatting, it was clear that we had very similar views and that she liked my presentation style, so she asked if I could present to a few of their members. After that went well, she invited me to keynote their first cross-Canada online lobbying effort.
Normally, these advocates meet with provincial legislators in person but because of COVID-19 this was obviously unsafe. So she brought together provincial teams of advocates, who each tried to bring their legislators along, to have a cross-Canada Zoom session. For a philosopher, my 15 minutes was laughably short—but this made me pare the arguments down to the most accessible and fundamental points. I think the final product was very informative; please feel free to see for yourself.
And I took the broader event to be a huge success. Ultimately, I think there were around 80 people on the call including about 20 provincial parliamentarians.
Why is it important for philosophers to engage in activities like this?
I think that moral philosophers have a role to play in the public sphere by sharing the arguments and reasons that we have developed. In this case, these politicians have to be mini-experts on a hugely diverse array of issues; if I can lay out some of the most important considerations with respect to carbon taxes, then they can answer a constituent’s question or they can use that argument in a briefing note—or even in legislation.
Climate change requires action by many in very different ways. For many, that is voting, or talking about the issue—including in public! (here’s a great example in which climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe conveys key points while on the CBS show “Ideas that Matter,” a partnership with TED)—or writing letters to the editor. What philosophers are good at is developing arguments. Sharing those with the public, in order to help create a more informed and vibrant public debate, is both deeply satisfying and also respectful to our fellow citizens by giving them the space to consider different points of view.
In what ways does your philosophical work benefit from this type of outreach?
This outreach has been really exciting because I think it draws attention to the public relevance of climate and environmental ethics. However, it is also helpful to my own writing. For one thing, it led me to more carefully develop the motivation for public philosophy that the comments above articulate (and a full-length article currently in review). For another, it has forced me to think about these considerations in the way that someone who is not familiar with these debates would. That has led to a Philosophy Compass piece which I am writing now where I try to break down the ethics of carbon pricing for a philosophical audience that is unfamiliar with these issues. And climate change is not only a moral philosophy issue; it’s relevant for engaged work for philosophers more broadly.
If someone wanted to take on public work like yours, how would you recommend they go about it?
The major thing for public-facing work is that it requires comfort with a very different type of communication. When communicating with colleagues, we want to carefully consider each objection, frame everything precisely, and pay attention to (often science fiction) counterexamples. In contrast, for a public or policy audience, the idea is to get across some key ideas very quickly and very accessibly. As I was preparing the presentation, all kinds of objections were occurring to me, but because I was given very little time—and I would probably lose people’s interest and attention—I did not include them as I would in scholarly work. Not all philosophers are comfortable with this kind of communication, but I think it is quite important for public-facing work.
In the case of my talk at the scholarly carbon taxes event, when the activistasked questions, they were clearly not scholarly and some would be turned off by that, but I could see that she was passionate, so I followed up with her. I was also lucky in that, although she was an activist, she had a background as a teacher and in higher education so she did think that members of higher education could be resources (that might be less true for other activists). In other words, being open to and pursuing potential outreach opportunities paid off.
More generally, your college or university may have a press/public relations office. If you draft a piece discussing a relevant new piece—or discuss with the office about how your work matters—they may release a press release. You should not have huge expectations about results, but if your message could be interesting to a broader public, you might get some pick up. If that’s too much, you can craft a Tweet or a Facebook post and ask your public relations office to share it. In my experience, if you write the Tweet yourself, they are more than happy to share it. It’s worth your time to do this because, after all, not only do you have the chance to influence the debate, you are doing your duty to help others understand.
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