Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Click to enlarge

Print Price: $56.50

Format:
Hardback
432 pp.
6.125" x 9.25"

ISBN-13:
9780195379440

Publication date:
May 2011

Imprint: OUP US

A Perfect Moral Storm

The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change

Stephen M. Gardiner

Series : Environmental Ethics and Science Policy Series

Climate change is arguably the great problem confronting humanity, but we have done little to head off this looming catastrophe. In The Perfect Moral Storm, philosopher Stephen Gardiner illuminates our dangerous inaction by placing the environmental crisis in an entirely new light, considering it as an ethical failure. Gardiner clarifies the moral situation, identifying the temptations (or "storms") that make us vulnerable to a certain kind of corruption.

First, the world's most affluent nations are tempted to pass on the cost of climate change to the poorer and weaker citizens of the world. Second, the present generation is tempted to pass the problem on to future generations. Third, our poor grasp of science, international justice, and the human relationship to nature helps to facilitate inaction. As a result, we are engaging in willful self-deception when the lives of future generations, the world's poor, and even the basic fabric of life on the planet is at stake. We should wake up to this profound ethical failure, Gardiner concludes, and demand more of our institutions, our leaders and ourselves.

Readership : Suitable for academics in philosophy, political science, environmental studies, law and geography, engaged environmentalists and policy people, and the concerned public who read general interest environmental books.

Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction: A Global Environmental Tragedy
I. Some Assumptions
II. Introducing the Perfect Storm Metaphor
III. Climate Change
IV. The Wider Relevance of the Model
V. Outline of the Book
Part A: Overview
1.. A Perfect Moral Storm
I. Why Ethics?
II. The Global Storm
III. The Intergenerational Storm
IV. The Theoretical Storm
V. The Problem of Moral Corruption
2.. A Consumption Tragedy
I. What is the Point of Game Theory
II. Motivating the Models
III. A Green Energy Revolution?
IV. Consumption and Happiness
Part B: The Global Storm
3.. Somebody Else's Problem
I. Past Climate Policy
II. Somebody Else's Burden
III. Against Optimism
IV. Conclusion
4.. In the Shadow of a Common Tragedy
I. Climate Prisoners?
II. An Evolving Tragedy
III. Beyond Pessimism
IV. Lingering Tragedy
V. Climate Policy in the Shadows
VI. Conclusion
Part C: The Intergenerational Storm
5.. The Tyranny of the Contemporary
I. Problems with 'Generations'
II. Intergenerational Buck-Passing
III. Intergenerational Buck-Passing vs. The Prisoner's Dilemma
IV. The Features of the Pure Intergenerational Problem
V. Applications and Complications
VI. Mitigating Factors
VII. The Non-Identity Problem: A Quick Aside
VIII. Against Undermining
IX. Conclusion
6.. An Intergenerational Arms Race?
I. Abrupt Climate Change
II. Three Causes of Political Inertia
III. Against Undermining
IV. Conclusion
Part D: The Theoretical Storm
7.. A Global Test for Political Institutions and Theories
I. The Global Test
II. Scenarios
III. A Conjecture
IV. Theoretical Vices
V. An Illustration: Utilitarianism
VI. Understanding the Complaint
VII. Conclusion
8.. Cost-Benefit Analysis
I. Cost-Benefit Analysis in Normal Contexts
II. CBA for Climate Change
III. The Presumption Against Discounting
IV. The Basic Economics of the Discount Rate
V. Discounting the Rich?
VI. Declining Discount Rates
VII. Two Objections to "Not Discounting"
VIII. The "Devil's in the Details" Argument
IX. Conclusions
Part E: Moral Corruption
9.. Jane Austen vs. Climate Economics
I. Corruption
II. The Dubious Dashwoods: Initial Parallels
III. The Opening Assault on the Status of the Moral Claim
IV. The Assault on Content
V. Indirect Attacks
VI. The Moral of the Story
10.. Geoengineering in an Atomosphere of Evil
I. An Idea that is Changing the World
II. The Problem of Political Inertia Revisited
III. Two Preliminary Arguments: Cost and "Research First"?
IV. Arming the Future
V. Arm the Present?
VI. Evolving the Shadows
VII. Underestimating 'Evil'
VIII. An Atmosphere of Evil?
IX. "Should We Do It?"
Part F: What Now?
Conclusion: The Immediate Future
Postscript: Some Initial Ethics of the Transition
I. Introduction
II. The Ethics of Skepticism
III. Past Emissions
IV. Future Emissions
V. Responsibility
VI. Ideal Theory
VII. Conclusion
Appendices:
Appendix 1: The Population Tragedy
I. Hardin's Analysis
II. Population as a Tragedy of the Commons
III. Total Environmental Impact
IV. Conclusion
Appendix 2: Epistemic Corruption and Scientific Uncertainty in Michael Crichton's State of Fear
I. What the Scientists Know
II. Certainty, Guesswork and the Missing Middle
III. Conclusion

There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.

Stephen Gardiner is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Program on Values in Society at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Climate Ethics - Edited by Stephen M. Gardiner, Simon Caney, Dale Jamieson and Henry Shue
Atmospheric Justice - Steve Vanderheiden
Defining Environmental Justice - David Schlosberg
Is a Little Pollution Good for You? - Kevin C. Elliott
Making Sense - Margot Northey and Joan McKibbin

Special Features

Gardiner defends a controversial thesis about the nature of the climate problem, arguing that because the problem is dominated by its intergenerational aspect, existing institutions and theories are poorly placed to cope.
The book contains an in-depth analysis of geoengineering from an ethical perspective.