Paper short abstract:

This study proposes the Igbo/African view of reality, which is aware of an interconnected reality, as a panacea for climate change. It believes that a consciousness of the interconnectedness of reality and that any harm to nature comes back to us would engender actions that protect and heal nature.

Paper long abstract:

Virtually every human progress comes with a price. Hence, since the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries which has in no small measure contributed to human progress, the earth has been impacted negatively by human activities. These human activities have resulted in climate change which has destabilised the earth’s temperature equilibrium with telling effects on human beings and the environment. The global warming occasioned by the rise in earth temperature cause the shrinking of glaciers and a rise in sea levels, among other far-reaching effects. In this regard, the United Nations foresees a rise in climate refugees as a result of natural disasters such as flooding and drought. Several environmental ethical theories have been put forward to address the issue of climate change and the environmental challenges it poses. These range from the anthropocentric, biocentric to geocentric theories. In all these, except, to an extent, the geocentric theory, the focus seems to be on the intrinsic value of each individual species each theory focuses on. The interconnectedness of the human and non-human reality seems to be given little or no attention. It is in this regard that this study proposes the Igbo/African Understanding of reality, which takes seriously the fact that what goes around comes around, as an alternative environmental ethics for mitigating climate change. It concludes that a consciousness of the interconnectedness of reality with the implication that any harm to nature comes back to us would engender actions that protect and heal nature.