THE ETHICS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Transcription

1 THE ETHICS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE Global climate change is one of the most daunting ethical and political challenges confronting humanity in the twenty-first century. The intergenerational and transnational ethical issues raised by climate change have been the focus of a significant body of scholarship. In this new collection of essays, leading scholars engage and respond to first-generation scholarship and argue for new ways of thinking about our ethical obligations to present and future generations. Topics addressed in these essays include moral accountability for energy consumption and emissions, egalitarian and libertarian perspectives on mitigation, justice in relation to cap-and-trade schemes, the ethics of adaptation, and the ethical dimensions of the impact of climate change on nature. denis g. arnold is the Jule and Marguerite Surtman Distinguished Scholar in Business Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of The Ethics of Global Business (2011) and the editor of Ethics and the Business of Biomedicine (Cambridge, 2009).

2 THE ETHICS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE edited by DENIS G. ARNOLD

3 cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York Information on this title: / Cambridge University Press 2011 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2011 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data The ethics of global climate change / edited by Denis G. Arnold. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn Environmental ethics. 2. Environmental responsibility. 3. Climatic changes Moral and ethical aspects. 4. Global warming Moral and ethical aspects. I. Arnold, Denis Gordon. ge42.e dc isbn Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

4 Contents List of illustrations List of contributors Acknowledgements page vii ix xi Introduction: climate change and ethics Denis G. Arnold 1 1 Energy, ethics, and the transformation of nature Dale Jamieson 16 2 Is no one responsible for global environmental tragedy? Climate change as a challenge to our ethical concepts Stephen Gardiner 38 3 Greenhouse gas emission and the domination of posterity John Nolt 60 4 Climate change, energy rights, and equality Simon Caney 77 5 Common atmospheric ownership and equal emissions entitlements Darrel Moellendorf A Lockean defense of grandfathering emission rights Luc Bovens Parenting the planet Sarah Krakoff Living ethically in a greenhouse Robert H. Socolow and Mary R. English 170 v

5 vi Contents 9 Beyond business as usual: alternative wedges to avoid catastrophic climate change and create sustainable societies Philip Cafaro Addressing competitiveness in US climate policy Richard D. Morgenstern Reconciling justice and efficiency: integrating environmental justice into domestic cap-and-trade programs for controlling greenhouse gases Alice Kaswan Ethical dimensions of adapting to climate change-imposed risks W. Neil Adger and Sophie Nicholson-Cole Does nature matter? The place of the nonhuman in the ethics of climate change Clare Palmer Human rights, climate change, and the trillionth ton Henry Shue 292 Select bibliography 315 Index 320

6 Illustrations Figure 1 chapter 8 New coastlines for the southeastern Gulf states in the USA resulting from sea-level rises of 1, 2, 4, and 8 meters. page 174 Figure 2 Effect on Bangladesh of a 1.5-meter (m) sea-level rise. 175 Figure 3 Past, present, and potential future levels of CO 2 in the atmosphere. 176 Figure 4 Net annual global increase in CO 2 today. 176 Figure 5 The stabilization triangle. 177 Figure 6 Stabilization wedges. 178 Figure 7 A wedge. 179 Figure 8 Allowable global CO 2 emissions at stabilization. 181 Figure CO 2 emissions, by region. 182 Figure 10 Projected distribution of global emissions across the world s individuals in 2030 and associated numerical constructions relevant to a proposed scheme for equitable distribution across countries. 184 vii

7 viii List of illustrations Figure 1 chapter 9 Decomposition of global energy-related CO 2 emission changes at the global scale for three past and three future decades. 194 Figures 2a Stabilization triangles. 196 and 2b Table 1 Potential conventional carbon mitigation wedges 197 Table 2 World population projections 207 Table 3 Potential alternative carbon mitigation wedges 213

8 Contributors w. neil adger is Professor of Environmental Economics, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, and Programme Manager, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. denis g. arnold is the Jule and Marguerite Surtman Distinguished Scholar in Business Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. luc bovens is Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, London School of Economics and Political Science. philip cafaro University. is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Colorado State simon caney is Professor in Political Theory, University Lecturer, and Fellow and Tutor in Politics, Magdalen College, University of Oxford. mary r. english is Research Leader, Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. stephen gardiner is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington. dale jamieson is Director of Environmental Studies, Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy, and Affiliated Professor of Law at New York University. alice kaswan School of Law. sarah krakoff School. is Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco is Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law darrel moellendorf is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Institute for Ethics and Public Affairs at San Diego State University. ix

9 x richard d. morgenstern the Future. is Senior Research Fellow, Resources for sophie nicholson-cole is Senior Research Associate at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. john nolt Knoxville. clare palmer henry shue Oxford. List of contributors is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee, is Professor of Philosophy, Texas A&M University. is Senior Research Fellow at Merton College, University of robert h. socolow is Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Co-Director of the Carbon Mitigation Initiative at Princeton University.

10 Acknowledgements This volume originated with a conference at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on Energy and Responsibility in April Early versions of half of the papers collected here were presented at that conference, while the remainder of the papers were commissioned specifically for this volume. The conference was co-sponsored by a variety of organizations at the University of Tennessee including the Department of Philosophy, the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics, the Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, the College of Architecture, the College of Business Administration, and the College of Law. The conference also benefited from the financial support of Alcoa, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Charter of Human Responsibilities. Special thanks are due to conference organizers John Nolt, Mary R. English, Heather Douglas, Nina Gregg, Becky Jacobs, and Corrine Martin, as well as conference supporters John Hardwig and Bruce Bursten. My work on this project was supported by the Surtman Foundation and the Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Jason Hubbard and Rebecca Glavin provided excellent research assistance. I am grateful for this support. My editor at Cambridge, Hilary Gaskin, once again provided wise counsel and timely support. Her dedication to the highest standards of publishing is much appreciated. For their love, support, and patience with this project I am especially grateful to Sara and Skye. xi