Year: 2020
Type: book-review
Abstract: Environmental ethics is a field of ethics research tackling increasingly urgent global issues.It is important to keep abreast of developments linked to the acceleration in climate change and increase in ecological threats.The future of humankind may depend on environmental ethics solutions, which are particularly reliant on cross-disciplinary research, ranging from the natural sciences and philosophy to social, political and even religious studies.This is the kind of approach adopted in Environmental Ethics by Robin Attfield, emeritus professor of philosophy at Cardiff University.The book was published as part of the Oxford University Press series, A very short introduction, which introduces various topics to anyone wanting an approachable way into a new subject.Robin Attfield was asked to write this volume as he is a world-renowned authority in the field.He is the author or editor of 15 books and over 250 articles and chapters in philosophical domains such as ethics, philosophy of religion, history of philosophy and environmental philosophy.Environmental Ethics: A Very Short Introduction does not proffer a deep analysis but comprehensively and fittingly presents climate change to the general public.In the eight chapters Attfield writes about the ethical approach to crucial environmental problems, which he characterises as interaction-based issues between humans and the natural world.These are pollution, the depletion of resources (including fresh water and fishstocks), degradation of land, loss of biodiversity (cultivars, wild species, habitats) and global warming.According to most researchers, specialists and even politicians, these are the main environmental problems of the present time.The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement is testimony of this.Ratified by 187 parties it is the most successful attempt at international collaboration (Paris Agreement-Status of Ratification, 2020).Attfield emphasises the fact that despite the backsliding by the United States following the election of President Donald Trump, it is good
Source: Human Affairs
Author: Martin Farbák
Institution: Comenius University Bratislava
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,712
OpenAlex ID: W3076833564