Fairness And Futurity

Fairness and Futurity: Essays on Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice brings together leading international figures in political theory and sociology, as well as representatives from the political community, to consider the normative issues at stake in the relationship betweenenvironmental sustainability and social justice. It raises important questions and sets out to provide the answers. If future generations are owed justice, what should we bequeath them? Is `sustainability' an appropriate medium for environmentalists to express their demands? Is environmental protection compatible with intra-generational justice?Is environmental sustainability a luxury when social peace has broken down? These essays emerged from three intensive seminars that involved participants in constant re-evaluations of their work, and which bought three distinct groups--environmental theorists, `mainstream' political theorists, and policy community members--into fruitful contact. In particular, the attemptto involve `mainstream' theorists in environmental questions, and to encourage environmentalists to use intellectual resources of political theory, should be highlighted.

Fairness and Futurity: Essays on Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice brings together leading international figures in political theory and sociology, as well as representatives from the political community, to consider the normative issues at stake in the relationship between environmental sustainability and social justice. It raises important questions and sets out to provide the answers. If future generations are owed justice, what should we bequeath them? Is `sustainability' an appropriate medium for environmentalists to express their demands? Is environmental protection compatible with intra-generational justice? Is environmental sustainability a luxury when social peace has broken down? These essays emerged from three intensive seminars that involved participants in constant re-evaluations of their work, and which bought three distinct groups—environmental theorists, `mainstream' political theorists, and policy community members—into fruitful contact. In particular, the attempt to involve `mainstream' theorists in environmental questions, and to encourage environmentalists to use intellectual resources of political theory, should be highlighted.

The links between education and sustainable development are deepening, although subject to much controversy and debate. The success of the sustainability discourse depends both on the pedagogic and research functions of higher education. Similarly, for higher education itself to remain relevant and engaged it faces pressure not only to integrate the insights and lessons drawn from the perspective of sustainable development, but also to be responsive to scrutiny of its own practices in relation to sustainability. Among professionals in higher education, sustainable development has its supporters and detractors. It is embraced by some individuals and departments while being perceived by others as a threat to the coherence of particular disciplines. Although it is not currently an academic discipline in its own right, increasing public and professional familiarity with the term, and the increasing urgency of global calls for the implementation of sustainable development mean that this is rapidly changing. This volume analyses the impact of the concepts and practices of sustainability and sustainable development on various academic disciplines, institutional practices, fields of study and methods of enquiry. The contributors, drawn from a wide-range of disciplines, perspectives, educational levels and institutional contexts, examine the purpose of the modern university and the nature of sustainable education, which includes exploring links to social movements for sustainability projects, curriculum change, culture and biodiversity, values relating to gender equality and global responsibility, and case studies on the transformation, or otherwise, of some specific disciplines.

Must freedom be sacrificed to achieve ecological sustainability - or vice versa? Can we be genuinely free and live in sustainable societies? This book argues that we can, if we recognise and celebrate our ecological embeddedness, rather than seeking to transcend it. But this does not mean freedom can simply be redefined to fit within ecological limits. Addressing current unsustainability will involve significant restrictions, and hence will require political justification, not just scientific evidence. Drawing on material from perfectionist liberalism, capabilities approaches, human rights, relational ethics and virtue theory, Michael Hannis explores the relationship between freedom and sustainability, considering how each contributes to human flourishing. He argues that a substantive and ecologically literate conception of human flourishing can underpin both capability-based environmental rights and a eudaimonist ecological virtue ethics. With such a foundation in place, public authorities can act both to facilitate ecological virtue, and to remove structural incentives to ecological vice. Freedom and Environment is a lucid addition to existing literature in environmental politics and virtue ethics, and will be an excellent resource to those studying debates about freedom with debates about ecological sustainability.

The theory of deliberative democracy promotes the creation of systems of governance in which citizens actively exchange ideas, engage in debate, and create laws that are responsive to their interests and aspirations. While deliberative processes are being adopted in an increasing number of cases, decision-making power remains mostly in the hands of traditional elites. In Democratic Illusion, Genevieve Fuji Johnson examines four representative examples: participatory budgeting in the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Deliberative Polling by Nova Scotia Power Incorporated, a national consultation process by the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization, and public consultations embedded in the development of official languages policies in Nunavut. In each case, measures that appeared to empower the public failed to challenge the status quo approach to either formulating or implementing policy. Illuminating a critical gap between deliberative democratic theory and its applications, this timely and important study shows what needs to be done to ensure deliberative processes offer more than the illusion of democracy.

Palgrave Advances in International Environmental Politics provides a state of the art review of the major theoretical approaches and substantive debates of the field. The first section reviews the historical development of international environmental politics as well as the theoretical and methodological approaches used in its study. The following chapters each review the trajectory of a key research area within international environmental politics and elaborate on current approaches and debates. Case studies in each chapter illuminate the main theoretical questions that emerge from the review.

Peter Lawrence�s Justice for Future Generations breaks new ground by using a multidisciplinary approach to tackle the issue of what ethical obligations current generations have towards future generations in addressing the threat of climate change. This

Climate Change, Justice and Future Generations is a valuable contribution to the debate on both theoretical and applied justice in climate change, and it fills a manifest gap in the current literature. Marco Grasso, International Environmental Agreements Page effectively marries the issues raised by climate change science with analytical philosophy to provide a perspective on why or why not measures should be taken to reduce climate change and the risks/harm it poses for future generations. . . a valuable book for politicians and policy makers who seek to change the world and manage its climate. Antoinette M. Mannion, Electronic Green Journal We are badly in need of ways of understanding global problems that go beyond the current economic paradigms. Climate Change, Justice and Future Generations helps us with this task by effectively linking climate change with some important mainstream work on political justice. It should be a very useful book not just for the classroom and the academy, but also for the realm of policy. Stephen Gardiner, University of Washington, US The book begins with a detailed account of the science of climate change that is user friendly for non-scientists without sacrificing depth. . . Page s analysis is impressive in both its scope and execution, and has a relevance and potential appeal in a number of fields. Kerri Woods, Political Studies Review Climate Change, Justice and Future Generations is an authoritative, analytical and extremely scholarly integration of scientific and technical information, empirical data and modelling concerning global climate change and high-level normative analysis. Page convincingly and patiently lays out the argument, including the ways in which climate change challenges settled modes of ethical thought, despite it being one of the most, if not the, important ethical issues of the age. As a book on both theoretical and applied ethics it makes an important contribution to the field. John Barry, Queen s University Belfast, UK What the climate change policy called Contraction and Convergence has lacked until now is an authoritative theoretical grounding. Here Ed Page puts this right. In masterful fashion, he dissects the issues at stake in designing climate change policy, and leaves his readers in no doubt that there is a fair and effective alternative to rising tides. This is a book for students, researchers and for anyone with the feeling that business as usual is no longer an option. Andrew Dobson, University of Keele, UK Global climate change raises important questions of international and intergenerational justice. In this important new book the author places research on the origins and impacts of climate change within the broader context of distributive justice and sustainable development. He argues that a range of theories of distribution notably those grounded in ideals of equality, priority and sufficiency converge on the adoption of the ambitious global climate policy framework known as Contraction and Convergence . Climate Change, Justice and Future Generations will be of great interest to academics and students specialising in environmental ethics, politics and environmental sustainability. It will also be of general interest to those concerned with climate change and the environment.