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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... ture increases , but avoidance would be prohibitively expensive . An ethically acceptable goal must involve some mixture of adapta- tion and avoidance . Written by a team of scientists , social scientists , humanists , legal and ...
... . Ac- cording to current estimates , pure adaptation would involve a tempera- ture rise of between 2 and 5° C in the next century , faster than any in the last ten thousand years . This would surely be devastating Introduction.
... ture . All of these changes are seen as having a significant impact on global ocean circulation patterns , thus rendering change in the Arctic im- portant for the whole of the earth . It is further suggested that ocean , ice , and ...
... ture generations in mind . One characteristic that seems 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 ...
... ture generations for us to pursue a balance between adaptation and avoidance policies . The final chapter , by Kerri Blair and Bill Ross , titled " Energy Effi- ciency at Home and Abroad , " examines ways to avoid rather than adapt to ...
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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