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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... present and future humans , were adopted , these would enjoin avoidance of further global warming . And even if we respect only basic human rights with the least contentious claim for compensation , avoidance rather than adaptation is ...
... present , they do not sacrifice the interests of future generations . This concept , the authors argue , has the capacity to bring corporations , governments , environmen- tal groups , and individuals together to deal with challenges ...
... common to all countries is that they have mortgaged the future in order to pay for the consumption of the present . Van Kooten's conclusion is that economic policies can help to 8 Ethics and Climate Change : The Greenhouse Effect.
... present gases — carbon dioxide , water vapour , methane , ozone , and nitrous oxide — raise the global mean annual surface air temperature to about 15 ° C. They do this ( and were so doing before humans appeared ) by freely admitting ...
... present day . The summers of 1991 and 1992 were extremely cold through much of this area , including St. John's , Newfoundland , indicating that the coolness is still present in this sector . These anomalies illustrate an important ...
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 |