The Environmental Responsibility Reader

by Reynolds, Martin; Blackmore, Chris; Smith, Mark J.

• ISBN13: 9781848133174
• ISBN10: 1848133170
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-15
• Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

Summary

This book is for anyone involved with managing environmental decisions making. The book promotes innovative ways of understanding and taking responsibility for actions in the context of our 'natural' world through a selection of classic and contemporary edited readings accompanied with an editorial narrative. It provides sense-making tools for appreciating and doing something about seemingly intractable modern-day environmental dilemmas--including global warming, fossil fuel consumption, fresh water quality, industrial pollution, habitat destruction, and biodiversity loss. The book draws on contemporary ideas associated with environmental ethics, social learning, communities of practice, systems thinking, ecological citizenship, corporate responsibility, fair trade, and the connections between environmental and social justice; configuring these ideas into practical notions for responsible action.

Author Biography

Martin Reynolds, Chris Blackmore and Mark J. Smith are all lecturers at the Open University, UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements viii
Introduction to environmental responsibility	p. 1
Ethical and cultural traditions
Introduction to part one	p. 9
Silent spring	p. 11
A fable for tomorrow	p. 11
And no birds sing	p. 13
The land ethic	p. 22
On values and obligations to the environment	p. 28
Environmental ethics	p. 40
The consequentialist side of environmental ethics	p. 52
Deontological environmental ethics	p. 60
The virtues of ecological citizenship	p. 66
Summary of part one	p. 77
Nature matters
	p. 81
Toward an ecological conversation	p. 83
Contemporary environmental ethics	p. 94
The two-culture problem: ecological restoration and the integration of knowledge	p. 103
The framing paradox	p. 114
Systems thinking for environmental responsibility	p. 123
The web of life	p. 124
Hidden connections	p. 126
Can we secure future-responsive management through systems thinking and design?	p. 132
Environmental pragmatism, ecocentrism and deliberative democracy	p. 138
Knowledge, justice and democracy	p. 150
Summary of part two	p. 159
Individual and collective responsibility
	p. 163
Autonomous yet responsible?	p. 165
Individualization: plant a tree, buy a bike, save the world?	p. 172
Obligations to future generations	p. 187
The tragedy of the commons	p. 197
The struggle to govern the commons	p. 206
The big debate: reform or revolution?	p. 223
Social learning and environmental responsibility	p. 229
Uncertainty, environmental policy and social learning	p. 236
Summary of part three	p. 241
Ecological citizenship
Introduction to part four	p. 245
Environmental justice in the United States and South Africa	p. 247
Ecological citizenship	p. 256
Just sustainability in practice	p. 271
Justice, governance and sustainability: some perspectives on environmental citizenship from North America and Europe	p. 281
The project of feminist ecological citizenship	p. 292
Shopping for sustainability: can sustainable consumption promote ecological citizenship?	p. 302
Buddhist virtues and environmental responsibility in Thailand	p. 314
Corporate environmental responsibility and citizenship	p. 321
Strategic thinking and the practices of ecological citizenship: bringing together the ties that bind and bond	p. 328
Summary of Part Four	p. 339
Epilogue	p. 341
Sources	p. 348
Index	p. 351
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