Climate Ethics

Catalog description

Though the science of climate change is reasonably clear, our ethical responsibility to do something about climate change is much less clear. In this course, students will read from philosophers and thinkers from across the spectrum on difficult issues relating to our ethical responsibility to future generations, our ethical obligations to plants and animals, the ethics of geoengineering, the ethics of having children, and related concepts such as the fair distribution of loss and damage payments. We will also discuss how to weigh one’s personal responsibility for climate change and against that of corporate or governmental actors.