Professor Stephen Gardiner gave the 2021 Alan Saunders Lecture “Climate Crisis & institutional Denialism: Is it Time for a Global Constitutional Convention for the Young & Other Future Generations?” at the annual Australasian Association of Philosophy Conference. The lecture is available to stream on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio National’s Big Ideas.
In his talk, Gardiner explains how the world has reached crunch time for climate crisis, and that current strategies, including the Paris Agreement, are inadequate. Consequently, urgent action is needed. For the sake of future generations, we can no longer tolerate institutional denial of climate change. Gardiner calls for a global constitutional convention focused on future generations. This deliberative forum would confront the serious “governance gap” that currently exists surrounding concern for the young and other future generations. It would be charged with creating new structures that compel governments and corporations to make bold changes to current global climate strategy.