Ethics & Climate Change: The Greenhouse Effect

Front Cover
Wilfrid 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.

From inside the book

Contents

Introduction
1
1 The Challenge
11
2 Ethical Principles
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
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information