A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change, Intergenerational Ethics and the Problem of Moral Corruption
Author: Gardner, Stephen M.
Source: Environmental Values, Volume 15, Number 3, August 2006 , pp. 397-413(17)
Publisher: White Horse Press
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Abstract:
The peculiar features of the climate change problem pose substantial obstacles to our ability to make the hard choices necessary to address it. Climate change involves the convergence of a set of global, intergenerational and theoretical problems. This convergence justifies calling it a 'perfect moral storm'. One consequence of this storm is that, even if the other difficult ethical questions surrounding climate change could be answered, we might still find it difficult to act. For the storm makes us extremely vulnerable to moral corruption.Keywords: tragedy of the commons; game theory; global warming; global environment
Document Type: Research article
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