Title: Global warming as a moral issue: ethics and economics of reducing carbon emissions

Authors: Mishka Lysack

Addresses: University of Calgary, Canada

Abstract: In attempting to mitigate the effects of global warming, the international community has relied on the autonomous and amoral forces of the global market economy as a primary, if not sole, instrument of reducing GHG emissions. Signs are now appearing that such an arrangement has reinforced the disadvantage of the global South by contributing to eco-social stresses and ecological decline, while failing to significantly reduce GHG emissions. Rather than seeing climate change as a technological or economic issue, I propose that a moral framework and collective decision-making are required, combined with a communitarian ethic of care and environmental justice.

Keywords: global warming; moral issue; ethics; economics; carbon reduction; carbon emissions; emissions reduction; CO2; carbon dioxide; market economy; GHG emissions; greenhouse gases; collective decision making; ethic of care; environmental justice.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2008.053964

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2008 Vol.10 No.1/2, pp.95 - 109

Published online: 13 May 2013 *

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