The Moral Austerity of Environmental Decision Making

The Moral Austerity of Environmental Decision Making

Sustainability, Democracy, and Normative Argument in Policy and Law

  • Auteur: Gillroy, John Martin; Bowersox, Joe; Buck, Susan; Paehlke, Robert; Kassiola, Joel J.
  • Éditeur: Duke University Press
  • ISBN: 9780822328506
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780822383468
  • Lieu de publication:  Durham , United States
  • Année de publication électronique: 2002
  • Mois : Juin
  • Pages: 400
  • DDC: 179/.1
  • Langue: Anglais
In The Moral Austerity of Environmental Decision Making a group of prominent environmental ethicists, policy analysts, political theorists, and legal experts challenges the dominating influence of market principles and assumptions on the formulation of environmental policy. Emphasizing the concept of sustainability and the centrality of moral deliberation to democracy, they examine the possibilities for a wider variety of moral principles to play an active role in defining “good” environmental decisions. If environmental policy is to be responsible to humanity and to nature in the twenty-first century, they argue, it is imperative that the discourse acknowledge and integrate additional normative assumptions and principles other than those endorsed by the market paradigm.
The contributors search for these assumptions and principles in short arguments and debates over the role of science, social justice, instrumental value, and intrinsic value in contemporary environmental policy. In their discussion of moral alternatives to enrich environmental decision making and in their search for a less austere and more robust role for normative discourse in practical policy making, they analyze a series of original case studies that deal with environmental sustainability and natural resources policy including pollution, land use, environmental law, globalism, and public lands. The unique structure of the book—which features the core contributors responding in a discourse format to the central chapters’ essays and debates—helps to highlight the role personal and public values play in democratic decision making generally and in the field of environmental politics specifically.

Contributors. Joe Bowersox, David Brower, Susan Buck, Celia Campbell-Mohn, John Martin Gillroy, Joel Kassiola, Jan Laitos, William Lowry, Bryan Norton, Robert Paehlke, Barry G. Rabe, Mark Sagoff, Anna K. Schwab, Bob Pepperman Taylor, Jonathan Wiener

  • Contents
  • Figures and Tables
  • Preface
  • Introduction: The Roots of Moral Austerity in Environmental Policy Discourse
  • Part I. Moral Principles and Environmental Policy: Basic Issues and Dilemmas
    • Issue 1: Science as a Substitute for Moral Principle?
      • Science as a Substitute for Moral Principle / Susan Buck
      • Science Is No Substitute for Moral Principle / Robert Paehlke
    • Issue 2: Environmental Justice without Social Justice?
      • Why Environmental Thought and Action Must Include Considerations of Social Justice / Joel J. Kassiola
      • Environmental Justice: Private Preference or Public Necessity? Joe Bowersox
    • Issue 3: Nature Has Only an Instrumental Value
      • Sustainability: Descriptive or Performative? / Bryan Norton
      • Are Environmental Values All Instrumental? / Mark Sagoff
    • Issue 4: Intrinsic Value Implies No Use and a Threat to Democratic Governance
      • A Practical Concept of Nature’s Intrinsic Value / John Martin Gillroy
      • On Intrinsic Value and Environmental Ethics / Bob Pepperman Taylor
  • Part II. Case Studies in Sustainable Environmental Policy and Law
    • Introduction
    • The Subnational Role in Sustainable Development: Lessons from American States and Canadian Provinces / Barry G. Rabe
    • Sustainable Development and Natural Hazards Mitigation / Anna K. Schwab and David J. Brower
    • Sustainable Governance / Jonathan Baert Wiener
    • Sustainable Development and the Use of Public Lands / Jan G. Laitos
    • Global Environmental Accountability: The Missing Link in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development? / Robert V. Percival
    • Sustainability in the United States: Legal Tools and Initiatives Celia Campbell-Mohn
    • The Impact of Political Institutions on Preservation of U.S. and Canadian National Parks / William Lowry
  • Part III. Moral Principles and Sustainable Environmental Policy: An Analysis of Ends and Means
    • Introduction
    • Issue 1: Science and Sustainability
      • Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Values / Robert Paehlke
      • Saving All the Parts: Science and Sustainability / Susan Buck
      • Discussion
    • Issue 2: Environmental Policy, Sustainability, and Social Justice
      • Why Environmental Public Policy Analysis Must Include Explicit Normative Considerations: Reflections on Seven Illustrations Joel J. Kassiola
      • Sustainability and Environmental Justice: A Necessary Connection / Joe Bowersox
      • Discussion
    • Issue 3: A Sustainable Environment as an Instrumental Value?
      • The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Environment / Mark Sagoff
      • Why Not Foxy Hedgehogs? / Bryan Norton
      • Discussion
    • Issue 4: A Sustainable Environment as an Intrinsic Value?
      • Sustainability: Restricting the Policy Debate / John Martin Gillroy
      • Comments on Sustainability / Bob Pepperman Taylor
      • Discussion
  • Conclusion: Democratic Competence, Accountability, and Education in the Twenty-first Century
  • Notes
  • References
  • Contributors
  • Index

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