U of M's Andrew Hoffman on Climate Change, Slavery

Andrew Hoffman, a former Michigan LCV board member, has been receiving some attention for a provocative paper in the journal Organization Dynamics that compares climate change to slavery. His point: Like ending slavery, tackling climate change will require a major cultural shift in our way of thinking. 

His arguments were recently featured in TreeHugger, an online arm of the Discovery network. Writer Matthew McDermott concludes that Hoffman is "right on the mark." 

Hoffman, a University of Michigan professor, writes: "Just as few people saw a moral problem with slavery in the 18th century, few people in the 21st century see a moral problem with the burning of fossil fuels.

"Will people in 100 years look at us with the same incomprehension we feel towards 18th-century defenders of slavery? If we are to address the problem adequately, the answer to that question must be yes--our common atmosphere will no longer be seen as a free dumping ground for greenhouse gases and other pollutants."

Read more from "Climate Change, Like Slavery, Needs a True Cultural Shift to Stop It."

Hoffman also has been written up in The New York Times. See "A Cultural Barrier to Action on Climate Change."

--- Photo via U of M.