- The Potential of Social Contracts
- Semantics of “Social Contracts”
- Social
- Contract
- What Would Be a Communal Pledge in the Context of Climate?
The Potential of Social Contracts
I’m fascinated by the concept of mutual trust.
It is the reason why traffic works.
It is the reason why societies work.
In a recent essay, Jonathan Haidt postulated that there are three things that hold democratic societies together:
- Social Capital → Trust in one another.
- Strong Institutions → Trust in the elected institutions.
- Shared Stories → Trust in shared narratives.
These three are a social contract to me.
In more abstract terms, if all of us are vectors, then how do we all start pointing in the same direction.
In the context of climate, I see too much division right now.
Doomers. Deniers. Worriers. Warriors.
How can we conjure a social contract that incentivizes climate action?
If you have any ideas, please get in touch.
Semantics of “Social Contracts”
Social
- Civil
- Communal → shared by all members; for common use
- comment: I really like this word, since it hits the nail on its head. Social contracts are there to result in a
greater & shared good. - Collective
- Common
- Community
- Societal
- Organized
Contract
- Arrangement
- Bond
- Commitment
- Obligation
- Pact
- Pledge → a promise
- comment: going back to an individual level, a pledge seems like a sincere intent to commit to something.
What Would Be a Communal Pledge in the Context of Climate?
Here’s an example of the pledge of allegiance to the US flag 🇺🇸
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
In the context of climate I could see something like this 👇
“I pledge allegiance to Mother Earth. I promise to protect her and all her children.”
The current train of thought is:
- Mother Earth = planet = nature = our ecosystems 🌍
- All her children = Nature = humans = animals = plants = … 🐘