Climate Ethics Environmental Justice and Climate Change

by Tremmel, Joerg; Robinson, Katherine

• ISBN13: 9781780763637
• ISBN10: 1780763638
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-03-27
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris

Summary

Climate change is perhaps the most important issue of our time and yet the international measures necessary to mitigate it have not been implemented. Given the urgency of the problem, why has so little been done? Climate Ethics identifies the reasons behind this crucial paradox and outlines a way forward. In the first part of the book the authors provide an accessible account of the basics of climate change, demystifying the complicated terminology that so often hinders a proper understanding of the subject. In the second part, they explore the complex ethical and moral questions that need to be addressed if long-term solutions to climate change are to be realized. What moral responsibility do we have to future generations? How should we share out emission rights? Do we take into account past emissions? What is the fairest approach to the politics of climate change on a global scale? An original and timely engagement with one of the most pressing problems facing us and future generations

Author Biography

Joerg Tremmel is Professor of Intergenerationally Just Policies at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany. He was previously Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His books include A Theory of Intergenerational Justice (2009) and he is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Intergenerational Justice Review.

Katherine Robinson is a member of the Institute for Political Science at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany. Previously she studied public policy at Vanderbuilt University.

Table of Contents

PART I: CLIMATE CHANGE: PHYSICAL CAUSES AND EFFECTS
1. Introduction: Why an Imminent Threat Stays on the Back Burner
2. The Science of Climate Change
3. The Culprits of Climate Change
4. The Human Costs of Climate Change
5. Addressing Climate Change: Options and Obstacles
PART II: CLIMATE ETHICS
6. Distribution of What?
7. Intergenerational Justice
8. Pure Distributive Justice
9. International Justice
10. Historical Justice
11. The Currency of Greenhouse Gases to Monetary Distribution
12. What is Just with Regard to Climate Change?
13. Rights in the Context of Climate Change
Notes
Bibliography
Index