Karenna Gore Discusses Ethics, Faith and Climate with Folha de S. Paulo
CEE Executive Director Karenna Gore was recently interviewed by journalist Cristiane Fontes for Folha de S. Paulo, a major Brazilian national newspaper. The piece, published on November 30, highlights the landmark Global Ethical Stocktake initiative—and the ethical, theological and cultural frameworks underpinning Gore’s GES leadership.
She discussed how ethics should guide climate action, emphasizing the importance of addressing root causes rather than just reacting to symptoms:
Earth ethics expands our “circle of moral concern” to include three groups historically excluded from decision-making: poor and marginalized people, future generations, and non-human life. These three empty chairs should be present in every room where climate decisions are made. If they had been considered from the outset, our choices would have been wiser.
Ethics also needs to be understood as the place where we seek the diagnosis of the disease, not just the treatment of the symptoms. To illustrate this difference, a phrase by Dom Helder Câmara comes to mind: “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint; when I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.” It shows how it is more comfortable to react to events than to investigate their root causes.
Following climate disasters, communities often mobilize in beautiful and supportive
ways, but it is equally necessary to apply that same energy to confronting the
forces that make the storms ever stronger.
The conversation ranged from the influence of religious traditions on environmental justice movements to the central role of the fossil fuel industry in skewing global climate negotiations in their favor.
