Shame, Moral Motivation, and Climate Change

An emotion like shame is endowed with special motivational force. Drawing on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s concept of shame, I develop an account of moral motivation that lends new perspective to the contemporary climate crisis. Whereas religious ethicists often engage the problem of climate change by re-imagining the metaphors, symbols, and values of problematic cosmologies, I focus on some specific moral tactics generated by religious communities who use their traditions to confront climate destruction. In particular, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries, a Christian non-profit organization that seeks to infuse a renewed commitment in church parishes to bioregions and watersheds, effectively employs shame in the context of its Christian practice and leadership. My analysis of Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries demonstrates both the efficacy of shame to motivate environmentally responsible behavior as well as the advantage to religious ethics of considering contextual practices over abstract cosmologies.