John Rawls (1921 - 2002) - Key figure in the tradition of political liberalism

• Political liberalism focuses on the individual liberty/autonomy and political equality
• Created the influential thought experiment the "Veil of ignorance"
• Think about what kind of laws or principles we would pick in creating a society, we don't know anything about ourselves.

Function vs Capabilities -

• Functioning : things that a person values doing or being
• Capabilities : freedom to achieve goals and prohibition
• Both used in terms of sustainability goals and prohibitions

Approaches -

• Capabilities ceilings
  • Focus on protecting certain capabilities of current and future peoples, and placing limitations on potentially harmful capabilities of current peoples
• Functioning Constraints -
  • Focus on placing limits on what people do, for example by placing a limit on how much carbon emissions a person may produce each year

Why People Harm the Environment

• Cognitive dissonance based on the geographic and temporal distance from cause and effect
• Exchange / trade-off based psychology
• Potential solutions
  • Direct feedback and education on the environmental consequences of certain actions
  • Education on misleading sustainability concepts such as environmentally friendly.
• Do you think this is accurate? Why do you think people harm the environment

Haruhiko Kawacuchi