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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... protect the atmosphere and the ocean demands sound ethical reasoning . Following the scientific analysis of chapter 1 , chapters 2-9 offer reli- gious , economic , personal , corporate , international , and technological re- sponses to ...
... protection of the environment . Drawing from their experience within large private petroleum compa- nies , the authors examine the responsibility of corporations to protect the atmosphere from greenhouse gas emissions . This new ...
... protect the atmosphere and ocean is generic to all such controversies . The need for sound judgement and good ethical decisions has never been more evi- dent . Chapter 2 ETHICAL PRINCIPLES Thomas Hurka As Hare notes in 22 Ethics and ...
... protect future generations ' interest in a healthy environment is to do those countries ' citizens a serious harm , that of perpetuating an indefensibly low standard of living ; but to allow their industrialization is to place very ...
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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 |
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Ethics and Climate Change: The Greenhouse Effect Harold Coward,Thomas Hurka No preview available - 1993 |
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