Description: There is widespread agreement that we are obliged to do something about climate change, but considerable disagreement when it comes to explaining why we must do something. What remains most controversial, in other words, is not climate change policy, but rather the philosophical foundations of climate change policy. This book criticizes the most popular proposals that have been made to supply these foundations. It argues, instead, that our current actions, which involve the relatively unrestricted emissions of greenhouse cases, is a case of simple unfairness. It is an arrangement under which are taking out more than we are putting into the system of cooperation that extends out in time to include future generations.
Review Quotes: "Heath presents a valuable new substantiation of the merits of contractualism to explain our duties to future generations and makes a convincing case that environmental philosophers should take core insights from economics seriously, such as the inevitability of making trade-offs. Heath moreover offers some long-awaited debunkings of misconceptions in the climate debate..." -- Marc Davidson, Utilitas
"He often defends conventional, economics-focused claims which rub many philosophers the wrong way-- claims that are at the heart of issues raised in these pages, claims such as that discounting is justifiable, growth is good, or cost-benefit analysis is appropriate in liberal democracies. In the climate ethics community, many of these claims are fiercely opposed; however, I think we can all agree that sophisticated defences of conventional positions play an important part in the ecosystem." -- Kian Mintz-Woo, Economics and Philosophy"Its main value is in providing a stark, but sophisticated defense of a particular worldview, albeit with a specific twist and a few unorthodox suggestions of its own. While Heath's position is controversialDDLeven extreme--in various ways, sharing the journey with him is a useful, informative, and engaging experience." -- Stephen Gardiner, The Philosophical Review