On the eve of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Fernando J. R. da Rocha challenged environmental philosophers to suggest and develop effective ways in which universities might engender ecological literacy and environmental ethics. The result was a preconference held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, whose aim was to put the summit in philosophical perspective, influence its outcome, and chart a new course, linking environment and ethics through university education. This book is an outgrowth of the Porto Alegre conference, and the international environmental philosophers and educators represented here inaugurate a constructive dialogue that will continue well into the twenty-first century. Among the contributors to the volume are environmental philosophers Andrew Brennan, J. Baird Callicott, Fernando J. R. da Rocha, and Holmes Ralston, III, and education theorists Peter Madsen and John Lemons. In addition, the book introduces English-language readers to the work of French philosopher Catherine Larrere, Spanish philosopher Nicholas Sosa, and Brazil's radical former Secretary for the Environment and deep ecologist Jose Lutzenberger.

An international group of environmental philosophers and educators propose ways universities can produce and promote ecological literacy and environmental ethics.

When the world began to wake up to the global environmental crisis in the 1970s, the United States was the undisputed world leader in environmental policy. Yet, on an unsettling number of international environmental issues--including global warming--the U.S. has not only forfeited its leadership role but has too often become the major barrier to protecting the global environment. 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.

More than two decades of international negotiations have failed to stem emissions of greenhouse gases that are causing global warming and climate change. This book identifies a way to escape this ongoing tragedy of the atmospheric commons. It takes a fresh approach to the ethics and practice of international environmental justice and proposes fundamental adjustments to the climate change regime, in the process drawing support from cosmopolitan ethics and global conceptions of justice. The author argues for 'cosmopolitan diplomacy', which sees people, rather than states alone, as the causes of climate change and the bearers of related rights, duties and obligations.

Sustainable development, ecology, environmental ethics.

In The Global and the Local: An Environmental Ethics Casebook, Dale Murray presents fifty-one actual, unique, and compelling case studies. The book covers a wide variety of environmental topics from those as global as overfishing, climate change, ocean acidification, and e-waste, to those topics as local as whether we should place salt on the driveway during winter, construct rain gardens, or believe we have a duty to hunt. The book also features an easy to read, yet rigorous introductory section exposing readers to ethical theories and approaches to environmental ethics. By interweaving these theoretical considerations into long and short case studies, Murray illuminates a comprehensive range of the most pressing environmental issues facing our biosphere both today and in the future.

This valuable classroom resource explores a number of issues in social and environmental ethics and provides resources for engaging in ethical reflection about them. Nine cases explore issues like population growth, material consumption, and climate change; water rights and species conservation; genetic engineering and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa; hydraulic fracturing and greenhouse gas reduction options; and mountaintop coal removal mining and fossil fuel divestment. Utilizing the tried-and-true case method approach pioneered by the Harvard Business School, the case studies present material in a clear and relevant fashion and allow instructors to select discrete issues for study and discussion.