"Frank Assisi, the CEO of the environmental pressure group Chums of the Earth (COTE) has been kidnaped by a band of desperado Emperor Penguins upset that his campaigning on global warming is spoiling their enjoyment of taking cheap flights and driving SUVs. The penguins, having discovered that their flippers are not ideally suited to the task of handling weaponry, are keen to avoid a violent confrontation with COTE; they hope to use rational argument to persuade Frank that his organization has taken a wrong turn. To this end, they have hired a philosopher King Penguin, Pingutotle the Peripatetic, to debate the issue of climate change with Frank.
"PINGUTOTLE: Your organization is committed to the view that every one of us contributes toward climate change, and therefore that we are all morally responsible for the consequences. Is that right?
"FRANK: Yes, Pingutotle. We all have our own personal carbon footprint, which is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that we as individuals cause both directly and indirectly. We know that such emissions contribute toward man — and penguin — made global warming; and we know that global warming will cause an impact on the environment in such a way that it will cause suffering in the future. It follows, therefore, that we are all morally responsible for this future suffering, and that we should take steps to minimize it.
"PINGUTOTLE: So what you're saying is that if I stop using under-flipper deodorants and no longer fly to visit my cousins in Hawaii then fewer people will suffer in the future?
"FRANK: Well, no. I'm saying that if we all take steps to minimize our contribution to the world's carbon footprint, then fewer people will suffer in the future.
"PINGUTOTLE: That's interesting. Is my personal contribution to this carbon footprint great enough so that if it is subtracted from it there will be less global warming, and therefore less suffering in the future?
"FRANK: No. The effect that any one individual has on global warming is minuscule. But if you multiply it by the world's population — more than 6 billion people — then you get a large effect.
"PINGUTOTLE: So, in fact, if I carry on exactly as before, and continue to take flights, drive my SUV, and have regular barbecues, I will not be causing any additional suffering in the future. By your own admission, the effect that any particular individual has on global warming is negligible, is it not?
"Is Pingutotle right to suggest that no individual is personally responsible for any bad consequences that might occur because of global warming?"
