Climate Reparations: An International Necessity?

Abstract

The world is currently facing a choice between climate colonialism and climate reparations. The status quo trend, climate colonialism, is characterized by worsening environmental inequality and expanding consequences of anthropogenic warming. Through an enlarging refugee crisis, increasing number of natural disasters, and growing destruction of property, evidence of the problem is omnipresent. If left unabated, these issues will only expand, with potentially cataclysmic and existential consequences for the planet.

              Thus, in response, the United States should choose a policy of climate reparations. This solution would include raising the federal refugee ceiling and increasing funding for United Nations climate mitigation programs. A commitment to reparations provides a promising opportunity for the U.S. to meet its international legal and ethical obligations while simultaneously combating environmental colonialism.