Dale Jamieson

This new edition of a widely used and cited introduction to ethics and the environment offers a broad and lively discussion of nature's future, focusing on climate change, conservation, and justice for both our contemporaries and future generations. It discusses the nature of environmental problems and their relationship to economics, religion, technology, and aesthetics. It includes incisive discussions of our moral relations with other animals, and of how animals are used in our food systems. It also provides a deep discussion of the value of nature, which takes up ecofeminist and deep ecology views as well as sentientism and biocentrism. It discusses the plurality of values, and applies this analysis to some conflicts from the author's home state of California. The volume is comprehensively revised and updated, with several new chapters, and concludes with a compelling discussion of the question “How should I live?” in this new epoch of the Anthropocene.

This new edition of a widely used and cited introduction to ethics and the environment offers a broad and lively discussion of nature's future, focusing on climate change, conservation, and justice for both our contemporaries and future generations. It discusses the nature of environmental problems and their relationship to economics, religion, technology, and aesthetics. It includes incisive discussions of our moral relations with other animals, and of how animals are used in our food systems. It also provides a deep discussion of the value of nature, which takes up ecofeminist and deep ecology views as well as sentientism and biocentrism. It discusses the plurality of values, and applies this analysis to some conflicts from the author's home state of California. The volume is comprehensively revised and updated, with several new chapters, and concludes with a compelling discussion of the question “How should I live?” in this new epoch of the Anthropocene.

How do scientists evaluate environmental knowledge for public policy? Discerning Experts examines three sets of landmark environmental assessments involving acid rain, ozone depletion, and sea level rise, exploring how experts judge scientific evidence and determine what the scientific facts are. The three case studies also explore how scientists come to agreement on contested issues, why consensus is considered important, and what factors contribute to confusion, bias, and error, and how scientists understand and navigate the boundaries between science and policy. The authors also suggest strategies for improving the assessment process. As the first study of the internal workings of large environmental assessments, this book explores the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment process and explains what it can—and cannot—be expected to contribute to public policy and the common good.

From the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference there was a concerted international effort to stop climate change. Yet greenhouse gas emissions increased, atmospheric concentrations grew, and global warming became an observable fact of life. In this book, philosopher Dale Jamieson explains what climate change is, why we have failed to stop it, and why it still matters what we do. Centered in philosophy, the volume also treats the scientific, historical, economic, and political dimensions of climate change. Our failure to prevent or even to respond significantly to climate change, Jamieson argues, reflects the impoverishment of our systems of practical reason, the paralysis of our politics, and the limits of our cognitive and affective capacities. The climate change that is underway is remaking the world in such a way that familiar comforts, places, and ways of life will disappear in years or decades rather than centuries. Climate change also threatens our sense of meaning, since it is difficult to believe that our individual actions matter. The challenges that climate change presents go beyond the resources of common sense morality -- it can be hard to view such everyday acts as driving and flying as presenting moral problems. Yet there is much that we can do to slow climate change, to adapt to it and restore a sense of agency while living meaningful lives in a changing world.

An audacious collaboration between an award-winning novelist and a leading environmental philosopher, Love in the Anthropocene taps into one of the hottest topics of the day, literally and figuratively—our corrupted environment—to deliver five related stories (“Flyfishing,” “Carbon,” “Holiday,” “Shanghai,” and “Zoo”) that investigate a future bereft of natural environments, introduced with a discussion on the Anthropocene—the Age of Humanity—and concluding with an essay on love. The “love” these writer/philosophers investigate and celebrate is as much a constant as is human despoliation of the planet; it is what defines us, and it is what may save us. Science fiction, literary fiction, philosophical meditation, manifesto? All the above. This unique work is destined to become an essential companion—a primer, really—to life in the 21st century.

From the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference there was a concerted international effort to stop climate change. Yet greenhouse gas emissions increased, atmospheric concentrations grew, and global warming became an observable fact of life. In this book, philosopher Dale Jamieson explains what climate change is, why we have failed to stop it, and why it still matters what we do. Centered in philosophy, the volume also treats the historical, economic, and political dimensions of climate change. Our failure to prevent or even to respond significantly to climate change, Jamieson argues, reflects the impoverishment of our systems of practical reason, the paralysis of our politics, and the limits of our cognitive and affective capacities. The climate change that is underway is remaking the world in such a way that familiar comforts, places, and ways of life will disappear in years or decades rather than centuries. Climate change also threatens our sense of meaning, since it is difficult to believe that our individual actions matter. The challenges that climate change presents go beyond the resources of common sense morality -- it can be hard to view such everyday acts as driving and flying as presenting moral problems. But we must learn to do so if we are to continue to live meaningful lives. There is much that we can do to slow climate change, to adapt to it and restore a sense of agency while living meaningful lives in a changing world.

Spanning centuries of philosophical and environmental thought, Reflecting on Nature: Readings in Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, Second Edition, will inform and enlighten your students while also encouraging debate. Extensively revised and updated for the second edition, this comprehensive collection presents fifty classic and contemporary readings, thirty-three of them new. The second edition retains the core readings and insights of the first edition while also updating its coverage in light of the many changes that have occurred over the last twenty years in the intellectual climate and in patterns of environmental concern. The selections are topically organized into sections on animals, biodiversity, ethics, images of nature, wilderness, and--new to this edition--aesthetics, climate change, food, and justice. This thematic organization, in combination with coverage of current environmental issues, encourages students to apply what they learn in class to real-life problems. Featuring insightful section introductions, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading, Reflecting on Nature, Second Edition, is ideal for use in environmental philosophy, environmental ethics, and environmental studies courses.

This collection gathers a set of seminal papers from the emerging area of ethics and climate change. Topics covered include human rights, international justice, intergenerational ethics, individual responsibility, climate economics, and the ethics of geoengineering. Climate Ethics is intended to serve as a source book for general reference, and for university courses that include a focus on the human dimensions of climate change. It should be of broad interest to all those concerned with global justice, environmental science and policy, and the future of humanity.

This collection gathers a set of seminal papers from the emerging area of ethics and climate change. Topics covered include human rights, international justice, intergenerational ethics, individual responsibility, climate economics, and the ethics of geoengineering. Climate Ethics is intended to serve as a source book for general reference, and for university courses that include a focus on the human dimensions of climate change. It should be of broad interest to all those concerned with global justice, environmental science and policy, and the future of humanity.

What is the environment, and how does it figure in an ethical life? This book is an introduction to the philosophical issues involved in this important question, focussing primarily on ethics but also encompassing questions in aesthetics and political philosophy. Topics discussed include the environment as an ethical question, human morality, meta-ethics, normative ethics, humans and other animals, the value of nature, and nature's future. The discussion is accessible and richly illustrated with examples. The book will be valuable for students taking courses in environmental philosophy, and also for a wider audience in courses in ethics, practical ethics, and environmental studies. It will also appeal to general readers who want a reliable and sophisticated introduction to the field.

What is the environment, and how does it figure in an ethical life? This book is an introduction to the philosophical issues involved in this important question, focussing primarily on ethics but also encompassing questions in aesthetics and political philosophy. Topics discussed include the environment as an ethical question, human morality, meta-ethics, normative ethics, humans and other animals, the value of nature, and nature's future. The discussion is accessible and richly illustrated with examples. The book will be valuable for students taking courses in environmental philosophy, and also for a wider audience in courses in ethics, practical ethics, and environmental studies. It will also appeal to general readers who want a reliable and sophisticated introduction to the field.

This volume is the summation of nearly three decades of work by a leading figure in environmental ethics and bioethics. The 22 papers are diverse, but together tell a unified story about various aspects of the morality of our relationships to animals and to nature. Jamieson's direct and accessible essays aim to convince sceptics that thinking about these relations offers great intellectual reward, and his work here sets a challenging, controversial agenda for the future.

'Morality's Progress' is the summation of nearly three decades of work by a leading figure in environmental ethics and bioethics. The 22 papers here are diverse, but together tell a unified story about various aspects of the morality of our relationships to animals and to nature.