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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... harmful to some economies , especially those of developing countries . Van Kooten's careful and convincing economic analysis makes clear that the opportunity cost of any action or policy aimed at reducing global warming must be ...
... 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 is only a means , and we must know what ...
... harm humans will be roughly the same on welfarist , perfectionist , and indeed all plausible the- ories of the human ... harms threatened by global climatic change : that a rise in global temperatures may damage the environment , killing ...
... harm or benefit — the time when it occurs - has no bearing on its ethical significance . Goods and evils in the future will be just as real as ones today and ought to count as much in our ethical deliberations ( Sidgwick 1907 , 381 ) ...
... harms far away are as real as ones close by and should figure as much in our deliberations ( Singer 1972 ) . If we ... harmed by global climatic change . They live on low - lying islands or coastal plains or depend on industries such as ...
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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