KNOXVILLE — The ethics of climate change will be the theme of several events that kick off later this month. The events, which include two book discussion sessions and a public lecture by the author, are being sponsored by the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
To prepare for the events, the community is invited to read excerpts from “Climate Ethics: Essential Readings,” edited by Stephen M. Gardiner, Simon Caney, Dale Jamieson and Henry Shue and published in 2010 by Oxford University Press.
Four chapters from the book will be discussed on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2. Those sessions, which are free and open to the public, will be led by John Nolt, UT professor of philosophy, and Joanne Logan, environmental climatologist and UT professor of biosystems engineering and soil science.
The book can be purchased online.
The four chapters which will be discussed are available to members of the UT campus through the Baker Center Blackboard site. Go to the Community tab and do an organization search for “Baker.” When you get to the site, look in “Documents.”
A limited number of paper copies of the four chapters are available by permission from Oxford University Press. To inquire about receiving one, contact Amy Gibson at agibson1@utk.edu.
On Oct. 26, the discussion will focus on chapters 11 and 15. Those chapters are “Subsistence Emissions and Luxury Emissions” by Henry Shue and “Adaptation, Mitigation and Justice” by Dale Jamieson. The discussion will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium at the Baker Center, 1640 Cumberland Ave.
On Nov. 2, the discussion will focus on chapters 4 and 18. Those chapters are “Perfect Moral Storm,” by Stephen Gardiner and “It’s Not My Fault,” by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong. The event will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium at the Baker Center.
Then, at 7 p.m. on Nov. 8, one of the book’s authors, Stephen Gardiner, will give a public lecture on, “Climate Policy in a Perfect Moral Storm” in the Baker Center’s Toyota Auditorium. The event also will be webcast live.
Gardiner is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Program on Values in Society at the University of Washington, Seattle. He specializes in ethics, political philosophy and environmental ethics. He also has interests in ancient philosophy, bioethics and the philosophy of economics. He received a doctorate in philosophy from Cornell University in 1999. He also has a master’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a bachelor’s degree from Oxford University.
The Baker Center is a public policy institute integrating research, education, public programming and archives. It develops programs and promotes research to further the public’s knowledge of our system of governance and to highlight the critical importance of public service, a hallmark of Sen. Baker’s career.
For more about the Baker Center, see http://bakercenter.utk.edu/.
C O N T A C T :
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)