Climate change and animal ethics

Climate change entails consequences also for non-human animals (from now on just “animals”). Since the 1970s of the twentieth century, moral status of animals has been the topic of “animal ethics”. This chapter will deal with the relation of this field of analysis with climate change and the challenges raised by environ- mental crisis for animal ethics. A multidimensional approach to the question of animal moral status is required. The case of animal-based food production and consumption is paradigmatic of the need for such a new multidimensional approach in animal ethics. Furthermore, the analysis of moral responsibilities toward wild animals is deeply affected by the new status of nature (“hybrid nature”) in the epoch of Anthropocene. The new status of wilderness makes the notion of conservation slippery and problematic, especially in the framework of a genuine Darwinian understanding both of life in general and human responsibil- ities toward the non-human world.