American Heat Ethical Problems with the United States' Response to Global Warming

by Brown, Donald A.; Weiskel, Tim

• ISBN13: 9780742512962
• ISBN10: 0742512967
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-28
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

In American Heat, Donald Brown critically analyzes the U.S. response to global warming, inviting readers to examine the implicit morality of the U.S position, and ultimately to help lead the world toward an equitable sharing of the burdens and benefits of protecting the global environment. In short, Brown argues that an ethical focus on global environmental matters is the key to achieving a globally acceptable solution.

Author Biography

Donald A. Brown is director of the Pennsylvania Consortium for Interdisciplinary Environmental Policy (PCIEP), an organization comprised of forty-three colleges and universities and state-level environmental decision makers dedicated to improving environmental policy through interdisciplinary analyses of environmental and sustainable development problems and solutions.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Tim Weiskel
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xxi
Part I: Preliminary Matters	1	(134)
Absence of Ethical Concern	3	(10)
History of U.S. Participation in Global Warming Negotiations	13	(36)
Environmental Ethics and Global Warming Policy	49	(18)
Global Warming, Ethics, and Foreign Policy	67	(18)
What Is at Stake? Global Warming's Threat to Human Health and the Environment	85	(16)
Uncertainty in the Science of Climate Change	101	(34)
Part II: Ethical Analysis of U.S. Excuses for Lack of Action on Global Warming	135	(66)
Ethical Duty to Reduce Emissions in the Face of Scientific Uncertainty about Global Warming Consequences	137	(14)
U.S. Obligations to Act Even if the Developing World Does Not	151	(12)
Ethical Issues Entailed by the Use of Cost-Benefit Analysis Based Arguments Made in Opposition to U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Programs	163	(22)
Ethical Problems with the U.S. Insistence on Its View of the Kyoto Flexibility Mechanisms	185	(16)
Part III: Other Global Warming Ethical Issues	201	(42)
An Equitable Allocation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions among Nations	203	(22)
Ethical Dimensions of a Greenhouse Gas Atmospheric Stabilization Target	225	(10)
Conclusion: Some Additional Issues	235	(8)
Glossary	243	(6)
Bibliography	249	(8)
Index	257	(4)
About the Author	261