Lifeboat Ethics: The case against helping the poor DANNY MIRANDA

Spaceship Earth Environmentalist refer the Earth as a “Spaceship” in order to convince countries and industries to stop polluting and degrading natural resources. This makes sense since we all share life on this planet. But does this mean we all deserve to have equal access to natural resources? In terms of Rich and Poor countries, two thirds of the world is poor and one third is comparatively rich. We should be viewing the Earth as a Lifeboat rather than a Spaceship.

The Lifeboat Concept View each rich nation as individual lifeboats. You would have to recognize the capacity of each lifeboat. Outside of those lifeboats are the poor of the world floating in the ocean Each of those wanting to gain access to a lifeboat. What should the passengers on the lifeboat do?

The Lifeboat Metaphor Make pretend you’re on one of those lifeboats. The lifeboat you’re on is currently holding 50 people with a capacity of 60. You then come across 100 people in the ocean who are begging to board your lifeboat. If you take in all 100 swimmers, you now have a lifeboat with 150 people when its meant to hold 60. The boat capsizes and everyone drowns. Who do you let in? How many do you let in? How do you pick who gets in?

The Lifeboat Metaphor If you do end up deciding to add the additional 10 people onto your lifeboat. You now are at full capacity and have to constantly be on guard about one more person entering your lifeboat.

Rich vs Poor reproductive differences The growth rate of “rich” nations or the people on the lifeboats were doubling in numbers on average every 87 years while the “poor” nations or the people outside the lifeboats were doubling every 35 years. As this number keeps increasing and the worlds resources keeps decreasing, the difference in prosperity between the rich and poor also continue to rise. If America, serving as one of those lifeboats, decides to pool its resources with people from other “poor” countries, each American would have to share the available resources with more than three times as many people.

Tragedy of The Commons “ Under a system of private property, the men who own property recognize their responsibility to care for it, for if they don’t they will eventually suffer. A farmer will allow no more cattle in his pasture than his pasture allows. If he does, erosion will set in, weeds will take over and his pasture would be gone. If that same pasture becomes a commons open to all, the right of each to use it may not be matched by a corresponding responsibility to protect it. It takes only one less than everyone to ruin a system of voluntary restraint. “ In a crowded world of less than perfect human beings, mutual ruin is inevitable if there are no controls. This is the tragedy of the commons

Food Bank Solution? There has been a common proposal for a Food Bank system by many liberal international groups The concept of a Food Bank is an international food depository system where participating countries would contribute to their ability and draw to their needs. This would be available to countries in times such as emergencies The question then is what happens when you have countries that prepare for emergencies and some countries that don’t?

Food Bank Solution? Emergencies are inevitable and countries will at some point go through them It is expected for countries to budget and prepare for any type of emergencies or catastrophes that may arise at some point Properly ran countries will be ready but what about the poorly ran ones? They will suffer due to their government? And what does this mean as far as operational costs of running a Food Bank?

Food Bank Solution? If poorly ran countries with bad leadership continue to remain unprepared for unexpected occurrences, the fact that a Food Bank system will be at their aid when necessary will begin to be detrimental to other countries. As a result of this food shortage solution, poorer countries will not learn to mend their ways and will continue to suffer progressively from emergencies the more their population grows.

The Harsh Reality We are all descendent of thieves and the worlds resources are inequitably distributed We must focus on the present and accept that we can not re-make the past. As long as reproduction rates continue to rise, we must accept that we can not equally disperse the worlds resources. This would almost guarantee a ruined world for future generations For those who propose solutions such as Food Banks or unrestricted immigration, this argument must be brought up For as long as there is no world government control over reproduction or the allocation of resources, we must govern our actions by the ethics of a lifeboat.