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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... cent reduction in lighting energy consumption in all U.S. residences by replacing incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent bulbs . Residents would save money , and the utilities would realize higher profits . Similar savings ...
... cent higher than early in the century . Another striking record is from the African Sahel , where research has documented an intense desiccation following a phase of abundant rain in the 1950s and culminating in the fearsome droughts of ...
... cent per annum ) . These non - equilibrium models attempt to simulate the action of the oceans , which are cold below a shallow surface layer , and which also transport large quantities of heat about the earth . The oceans act so as to ...
... cent per annum ) , predict a warming of about 60 per cent of the equi- librium model value ; □ business - as - usual economic scenarios ( i.e. , no control over emis- sions ) , using simpler models with " best judgement " estimates ...
... cent and 15 per cent in mean annual precipita- tion and evaporation , the smallest figure coming from the Canadian Cli- mate Centre model , which has much spatial detail . This range of uncer- tainty is too great to be useful as a basis ...
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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