Ethics & Climate Change: The Greenhouse EffectWilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 1993 M08 19 - 199 pages Faced with the prospect of global warming, the anticipated rapid rise in global air temperatures due to the release of gases into the atmosphere, we have two choices of how to respond: adaptation or avoidance. With adaptation we keep burning fossil fuels, let global temperatures rise and make whatever changes this requires: move people from environmentally damaged areas, build sea walls, etc. With avoidance we stop warming from occurring, either by reducing our use of fossil fuels or by using technology such as carbon dioxide recovery after combustion to block the warming effect. Yet each strategy has its drawbacks—adaptation may not be able to occur fast enough to accommodate the expected temperature increases, but avoidance would be prohibitively expensive. An ethically acceptable goal must involve some mixture of adaptation and avoidance. Written by a team of scientists, social scientists, humanists, legal and environmental scholars and corporate researchers, this book offers an ethical analysis of possible responses to the problem. Their analyses of the scientific and technological data and the ethical principles involved in determining whose interests should be considered point to a combination of adaptation and avoidance of greenhouse gas production. They offer assessments of personal, corporate, government and international responsibility and a series of recommendations to aid decision-makers in determining solutions and apportioning responsibility. |
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... benefits of warming on the one hand and the steps needed to avoid it on the other . This will require technical informa- tion : about the biological effects of warming in different regions , about the economic effects of different ...
... benefit , economic value assessment of the kind economists produce , we do contend that economic values occupy a ... benefits of so doing are shared by others , who then may see themselves as free to pol- lute more . Only when the ...
... benefit while others will be unable to migrate or adapt fast enough and may become extinct . Enhanced levels of carbon dioxide may increase pro- ductivity and efficiency of water use of vegetation . The effect of warming on bi- ological ...
... benefits them and against the act if it harms them . But what do benefits and harms consist in ? On no plausi- ble view can they consist ultimately in effects on people's wealth or in- come . Money is a means to the good life , but it ...
... benefit and harm humans will be roughly the same on welfarist , perfectionist , and indeed all plausible the- ories of the human good . If we confine ourselves to the uncontentious principle that we should consider the effects of our ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
23 | |
3 Religious Responsibility | 39 |
4 The ArcticA Canadian Case Study | 61 |
5 Personal Responsibility | 81 |
6 Corporate Responsibility | 99 |
7 International Responsibility | 115 |
Efficiency and Ethical Considerations | 133 |
9 Energy Efficiency at Home and Abroad | 149 |
Conclusion | 165 |
About the Authors | 171 |
Bibliography | 175 |
Index | 187 |
Other editions - View all
Ethics and Climate Change: The Greenhouse Effect Harold Coward,Thomas Hurka No preview available - 1993 |
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The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology ... Peter D. Ward,Donald Brownlee No preview available - 2003 |