Ethics & International Affairs Volume 27.4 (Winter 2013): "A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change" by Stephen M. Gardiner

Jan 10, 2014

A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change, Stephen M. Gardiner (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 495 pp., $35 cloth.

Review by Paul Wapner

Climate change is the most intractable environmental issue, and Stephen Gardiner has written extensively about it, especially from an ethical perspective. He recognizes that climate change is not merely a technical, economic, or political challenge but fundamentally a moral one. It comes about because people—especially the rich and powerful—are unwilling or unable to care about those on the receiving end of climate hardship. This insensitivity generates complacency, or at least confusion, about how to build institutions and shape widespread behavior in the service of climate protection. A Perfect Moral Storm is Gardiner’s most extensive and detailed statement to date on this theme.

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