Examining the Role of Existentialism in Climate Change Mitigation

Man has relied on nature for food, medicine, fresh air, water, and other life-supporting factors. However, human activities have threatened biodiversity which now poses a magnanimous threat to man’s food, water, air, and medicine supply. Existentialist philosophy emphasizes the aspects of freedom, choice, and responsibility. We are where we are because of man’s choice and we can change our situation through choice. In this paper, we refer to among various existential themes, the concept of freedom, authenticity, transcendence, choice, and responsibility. We acknowledge that man’s actions have led to threats to his existence. On the contrary, man has lived in bad faith by relying on the deity to save him (man) from self-inflicted anguish. It can be observed that unless man authentically takes responsibility, his very existence is threatened and may lead to his extinction. For centuries, man’s existence has been dependent on nature for survival, however, man’s actions have destroyed nature upon which man’s existence was dependent. The purely scientific course of action which depends on the political will of the governments has not produced any tangible fruits, since politicians tend to act based on political expediency. Governments are formed by politicians who are often keen on winning the next election. As such, most governments tend to place climate change on the periphery as they get preoccupied with what can help them win the next election. This therefore implies that there is very high confidence that policies managed by governments are very likely to fail. This is why this paper seeks to reinvent the narrative and develop a framework based on existentialist philosophical aspects of individual, authenticity, freedom, and choice, and demonstrate how this framework anchored on existentialist philosophy goes beyond mere mitigation and adaptation.