Anyone Can Be Vulnerable; Children and Subsequent Generations
Hope and Justice Series Post #2.6, part of The Who of Justice Subseries
Even The Well-off Can Be Vulnerable
Those who are or will be vulnerable to climate change include the three groups we have already discussed in earlier posts: the poor, the powerless and less powerful, and the marginalized.
They are vulnerable to political, economic, and social instability.
But even the well-to-do can be vulnerable to health impacts, such as:
air pollution and smoke from wildfires creating asthma, and exacerbating asthma, emphysema, and allergies;
heat-related health consequences;
future pandemics caused or exacerbated by climate change.
The January 2025 California wildfires are the most costly disaster in the US thus far this year, at $61 billion with 30 deaths. It is the most expensive wildfire in California history, nearly double the next most expensive.
As these wildfires and other natural disasters have shown, the well-off are vulnerable to having their homes, belongings, and cherished, priceless family items (e.g., photos, portraits, furniture) destroyed.
The following celebrities lost homes to the January 2025 wildfires:
Jhené Aiko
Eric Christian Olsen
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Billy Crystal
Tyra Banks
Haley Joel Osment
Anthony Hopkins
Ricki Lake
Jeff Bridges
John Goodman
Jennifer Grey
Eugene Levy
Denise Crosby
Cary Elwes
Kate Beckinsale
We may feel bad for them — or not — but are these losses by the well-known and well-off really a matter of justice? Could we even say that the rich are more accountable and therefore any climate impacts they suffer are in fact a rough sense of justice — they got what was coming to them?
No one deserves to have their house burn down due to climate change.
No one deserves to have their house burn down. No one deserves to have their loved ones put in harm’s way or even killed, or suffer health impacts.
The truth is, while the poor, the powerless and less powerful, and the marginalized are more vulnerable, anyone can be vulnerable. It’s not justice when a vulnerable individual suffers disproportionately because of a systemic aggregate problem like climate change.
Children and Subsequent Generations
Today’s children and subsequent generations have within them the other four categories: the poor, the powerless and less powerful, the marginalized, and the vulnerable.
Even children and subsequent generations whose families are not poor, less powerful, or marginalized, lack the ability to make important decisions that impact their wellbeing, either because they are too young or have yet to be born. The children have moral power to influence those with political and economic power, and the idea of subsequent generations helps create moral power in the minds and hearts of those alive today. But they do not have the power to make the needed decisions to overcome climate change by creating a just and prosperous sustainability that enhances wellbeing for everyone and everything.
They are at our mercy.
It is up to us to live out our Movement Values of love, justice, beauty, freedom, creativity, wisdom, pragmatism, non-violence, sustainability, and success, as we fulfill the Better Future Covenant. They have no power to make the decisions that will shape their lives. But they do have a claim upon us.
The future we bequeath to them is a reflection of who we are. Our Values call us to be and become the forebearers who will be lauded by our children and their children and the generations to come.
For their sake, for such a time as this, on all of our Olympian Fields of Action we must become the greatest and most long-lasting social change movement in the history of the world as we make the impossible possible and the possible actual and the actual beautiful and our future come faster.
This is our time for their sake, our time to stand up and be counted.
This is our time for their sake, our time to stand up and be counted, our kairos-climate moment to reach for and become the better angels of our nature.
All those who need justice, the poor, the powerless and less powerful, the marginalized, the vulnerable, and children and subsequent generations need all Climate Action Artist-Athletes to stand for justice. Join us!
If you are new here, check out our Intro Series, as well as other posts in this Hope & Justice Series. If you like this post, please “like,” comment, and share. And thanks for all you’re doing.