Environmental Ethics
Last updated: August 20, 2024
Environmental ethics covers all aspects of humanity’s moral relationship with the environment. What do we owe other species and plants? What duty do we have to maintain biodiversity and how can that be achieved? How can we use with the world’s resources without exhausting them? How should humanity respond to climate change? We have a range of interviews dedicated to discussing books on environmental ethics and related questions.
Journalist Adam Minter chooses his best books on the global trash trade, which he has made the focus of his work for over a decade. Juliet Schor, professor of sociology at Boston College, chooses her best books on consumption and the environment. She argues that we need to rethink the way we live, focusing our lives less on ever rising consumption and more on production, on creating things to provide for our personal and cultural satisfaction.
Daniel Headrick, historian of technology, imperialism and international relations, selects his best books on technology and nature. Kate Brown, professor of science, technology and society at MIT chooses her best books on the Chernobyl disaster.
Victor Mallet, journalist and author of River of Life, River of Death, about the Ganges, talks about Asia's Rivers. He chooses books on the Ganges, the Indus, and the threat to Asia’s ecosystems from Chinese development. Denise Russell of Wollongong University chooses her best books on the sea, looking at everything from the role the sea has played in the development of human civilisations to modern piracy, overfishing and the struggle to conserve threatened species.
-
1
Lyrical Ballads
by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge -
2
Letters From A Young Poet: 1887-1895
by Rabindranath Tagore -
3
The Imperative of Responsibility
by Hans Jonas -
4
Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation
by Samuel Alexander -
5
Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime
by Bruno Latour
The Best Eco-Philosophy Books, recommended by Rupert Read
The Best Eco-Philosophy Books, recommended by Rupert Read
Eco-philosophy concerns itself with the intersection of ecology with philosophy—and particularly our response to industrialisation and manmade climate change. Rupert Read, the philosopher-activist and author of Parents for a Future, selects five of the best books that contemplate eco-philosophy and our place on this Earth.
-
1
Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy
by Serhii Plokhy -
2
Producing Power: The Pre-Chernobyl History of the Soviet Nuclear Industry
by Sonja D Schmid -
3
Voices From Chernobyl
by Svetlana Alexievich -
4
Atomic Spaces: Living on the Manhattan Project
by Peter Bacon Hales -
5
The Politics of Invisibility: Public Knowledge about Radiation Health Effects after Chernobyl
by Olga Kuchinskaya
The best books on Chernobyl, recommended by Kate Brown
The best books on Chernobyl, recommended by Kate Brown
While widely regarded as the world’s worst nuclear accident, Chernobyl’s legacy remains fiercely contested, with death tolls ranging from 31 to 200,000. MIT historian Kate Brown, who has spent years in the Chernobyl archives, picks the best books on the disaster, compares its impact with atomic bomb testing, and argues for more research into low-dose radiation exposure
The best books on Wilding, recommended by Isabella Tree
Is there room for both humans and wild nature to flourish on an increasingly crowded planet? The author Isabella Tree argues that ‘wilding’ can be benefit both, and chooses five books to support her case.
-
1
Slowly Down the Ganges
by Eric Newby -
2
Empires of the Indus: The Story of A River
by Alice Albinia -
3
The River's Tale: A Year in the Mekong
by Edward Gargan -
4
Black Dragon River: A Journey Down the Amur River Between Russia and China
by Dominic Ziegler -
5
Meltdown in Tibet: China's Reckless Destruction of Ecosystems from the Highlands of Tibet to the Deltas of Asia
by Michael Buckley
The best books on Asia’s Rivers, recommended by Victor Mallet
The best books on Asia’s Rivers, recommended by Victor Mallet
Human history has been founded on the banks of great rivers – but in the East they are increasingly the focus of bitter international and environmental dispute, says Victor Mallet, the journalist and author of River of Life, River of Death. Here he selects five brilliant books that profile Asia’s most celebrated waterways.
The best books on The Trash Trade, recommended by Adam Minter
Recycling is more than just a blue and green bin in your pantry, says journalist Adam Minter – it’s a global trade with centuries of history that stretches from American scrapyards to Chinese e-waste recycling villages
The best books on Consumption and the Environment, recommended by Juliet Schor
The author of True Wealth suggests how we can rethink our patterns of consumption and approach our relationship with nature in a new, less damaging, way
The best books on Technology and Nature, recommended by Daniel Headrick
The historian explains how the power of technology has affected man’s relationship with the rest of nature, and tells us what determines why some civilisations succeed and others fail
The best books on Man and Nature, recommended by TC Boyle
The novelist and nature lover T C Boyle tells us about delicious dodos, angry tigers, snakes on planes and why Viagra saves rhinos.
The best books on The Sea, recommended by Denise Russell
The Australian environmental philosopher discusses man’s interaction with the oceans – from whaling voyages and dynamite fishing to sea gypsies and the flourishing business of piracy
