Math & Sciences

Significant climate change as a consequence of human pollution of the atmosphere looks increasingly likely. Some change is already occurring but quite what magnitude of change will occur and what it will bring to different parts of the world remains unknown. Meanwhile, despite the catastrophic forecasts of the dangers that a warming world poses to human and other species, the consumer society of the North continues in its energy hungry path, and the peoples of the South continue to bear the cost. In the face of this uncertain yet impending crisis, does it make sense to speak of a moral response? Michael Northcott argues not only that it does, but that it is essential if we are to avoid further environmental disaster.

Lawrence Johnson advocates a major change in our attitude toward the nonhuman world. He argues that nonhuman animals, and ecosystems themselves, are morally significant beings with interests and rights. The author considers recent work in environmental ethics in the introduction and then presents his case.

A New Environmental Ethics: the Next Millennium for Life on Earth offers clear, powerful, and oftentimes moving thoughts from one of the first and most respected philosophers to write on the environment. Rolston, an early and leading pioneer in studying the moral relationship between humans and the earth, surveys the full spectrum of approaches in the field of environmental ethics. This book, however, is not simply a judicious overview. Instead, it offers critical assessments of contemporary academic accounts and draws on a lifetime of research and experience to suggest an outlook for the future. As a result, this focused, forward-looking analysis will be a necessary complement to any balanced textbook or anthology in environmental ethics, and will teach its readers to be responsible global citizens, and residents of their landscape, helping ensure that the future we have will be the one we wish for.

Global capitalism stands at a crossroads-facing terrorism, environmental destruction, and anti-globalization backlash. Today's global companies are at a crossroads, too-searching desperately for new sources of profitable growth. Capitalism at the Crossroads is about solving both of those problems at the same time.

Virtue ethics is now widely recognized as an alternative to Kantian and consequentialist ethical theories. However, moral philosophers have been slow to bring virtue ethics to bear on topics in applied ethics. Moreover, environmental virtue ethics is an underdeveloped area of environmental ethics. Although environmental ethicists often employ virtue-oriented evaluation (such as respect, care, and love for nature) and appeal to role models (such as Henry Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson) for guidance, environmental ethics has not been well informed by contemporary work on virtue ethics. With Character and Environment, Ronald Sandler remedies each of these deficiencies by bringing together contemporary work on virtue ethics with contemporary work on environmental ethics. He demonstrates the many ways that any ethic of character can and should be informed by environmental considerations. He also develops a pluralistic virtue-oriented environmental ethic that accommodates the richness and complexity of our relationship with the natural environment and provides effective and nuanced guidance on environmental issues.

The global economic system now faces a sustainability crisis, Jeffrey Sachs argues, one that will overturn many of our basic assumptions about economic life. The changes will be deeper than a rebalancing of economics and politics among different parts of the world; the very idea of competing nation-states scrambling for power, resources, and markets will in some crucial respects become passé. The only question is how bad it will have to get before we face the unavoidable. We will have to learn on a global scale some of the hard lessons that successful societies have gradually and grudgingly learned within national borders: that there must be common ground between rich and poor, among competing ethnic groups, and between society and nature. The central theme of Jeffrey Sachs's new book is that we need a new economic paradigm-global, inclusive, cooperative, environmentally aware and science-based, because we are running up against the realities of a crowded planet.

In 1994, Interface founder and chairman Ray Anderson set an audacious goal for his commercial carpet company: to take nothing from the earth that can’t be replaced by the earth. Now, in the most inspiring business book of our time, Anderson leads the way forward and challenges all of industry to share that goal. With practical ideas and measurable outcomes that every business can use, Anderson shows that profit and sustainability are not mutually exclusive; businesses can improve their bottom lines and do right by the earth.

Consuming Choices considers the ethical dimensions of consumer life by exploring several basic questions: Exactly what sorts of unethical practices are implicated in today's consumer products? Does moral culpability for these practices fall solely on the companies that perform them, or does it also fall upon consumers who purchase the products made with such practices? And most importantly, do consumers ever have moral obligations to avoid particular products? To answer, David T. Schwartz provides the most detailed philosophical exploration to date on consumer ethics. He utilizes historical and fictional examples to illustrate the types of wrongdoing currently implicated by consumer products in this age of globalization, offers a clear description of the relevant moral theories and important ethical concepts, and provides concrete suggestions on how to be a more ethical consumer.

Culture, Leadership, and Organizations reports the results of a ten-year research program, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program. GLOBE is a long-term program designed to conceptualize, operationalize, test, and validate a cross-level integrated theory of the relationship between culture and societal, organizational, and leadership effectiveness. A team of 160 scholars worked together since 1994 to study societal culture, organizational culture, and attributes of effective leadership in 62 cultures. Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies reports the findings of the first two phases of GLOBE. The book is primarily based on the results of the survey of over 17,000 middle managers in three industries: banking, food processing, and telecommunications, as well as archival measures of country economic prosperity and the physical and psychological well-being of the cultures studied.

Until now, no single work has been devoted to both a scholarly understanding of the complexities of the Daoist tradition and a critical exploration of its contribution to recent environmental concerns. The authors in this volume consider the intersection of Daoism and ecology, looking at the theoretical and historical implications associated with a Daoist approach to the environment. They also analyze perspectives found in Daoist religious texts and within the larger Chinese cultural context in order to delineate key issues found in the classical texts. Through these analyses, they assess the applicability of modern-day Daoist thought and practice in China and the West, with respect to the contemporary ecological situation.

An essential and paradigm-altering framework for understanding economic development--for both rich and poor--in the twenty-first century. Freedom, Sen argues, is both the end and most efficient means of sustaining economic life and the key to securing the general welfare of the world's entire population. Releasing the idea of individual freedom from association with any particular historical, intellectual, political, or religious tradition, Sen clearly demonstrates its current applicability and possibilities. In the new global economy, where, despite unprecedented increases in overall opulence, the contemporary world denies elementary freedoms to vast numbers--perhaps even the majority of people--he concludes, it is still possible to practically and optimistically retain a sense of social accountability.

Doing Environmental Ethics faces our ecological crisis by drawing on environmental science, economic theory, international law, and religious teachings, as well as philosophical arguments. It engages students in constructing ethical presumptions based on arguments for duty, character, relationships, and rights, and then tests these moral presumptions by predicting the likely consequences of acting on them. Students apply what they learn to policy issues discussed in the final part of the book: sustainable consumption, environmental policy, clean air and water, agriculture, managing public lands, urban ecology, and climate change. Questions after each chapter and a worksheet aid readers in deciding how to live more responsibly.

The recent execution of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa for the "crime" of organizing an environmental campaign tragically underscores the findings of a study from the Worldwatch Institute--that the ravages of environmental exploitation are often backed up by brutal human rights violations. Documented cases not only in Nigeria but also in the United States, Brazil, Kenya, the Philippines, China, and many other countries reveal a systematic sweeping aside of communities and individuals who suffer from and then protest environmental damage. The report, Eco-Justice: Linking Human Rights and the Environment, by Worldwatch Research Associate Aaron Sachs, also reveals that the most common victims of environmental and human rights abuses are impoverished minorities who already face societal discrimination, and who have limited resources for mounting protests.

This book is a major new introduction to the field of ecological ethics. Taking issue with the common assumption that existing human ethics can be 'extended' to meet the demands of the ongoing ecological crisis; Patrick Curry shows that a new and truly ecological ethic is both possible and urgently needed. With this distinctive proposition in mind, Curry introduces and discusses all the major concepts needed to understand the full range of ecological ethics.

Our efforts to build a sustainable world cannot succeed unless future generations learn how to partner with natural systems to our mutual benefit. In other words, children must become “ecologically literate.” The concept of ecological literacy advanced by this book’s creators, the Center for Eco literacy in Berkeley, California, goes beyond the discipline of environmental education. It aims, says David Orr in his foreword, “toward a deeper transformation of the substance, process, and scope of education at all levels”—familial, geographic, ecological, and political. The reports and essays gathered here reveal the remarkable work being done by the Center’s network of partners. In one middle school, for example, culinary icon Alice Waters founded a program that not only gives students healthy meals but teaches them to garden—and thus to study life cycles and energy flows. Other hands-on student projects described here range from stream restoration and watershed exploration to confronting environmental justice issues at the neighborhood level.

In his book, Peter reviews writers such as his old friend and environmental hero, the late John Gardner, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and best-selling-journalist Thomas Friedman, all of whom support the argument that in order to promote our economy, we must take care of our natural resources.

In Emerald Cities, Joan Fitzgerald shows how in the absence of a comprehensive national policy, cities like Chicago, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle have taken the lead in addressing the interrelated environmental problems of global warming, pollution, energy dependence, and social justice. Cities are major sources of pollution but because of their population density, reliance on public transportation, and other factors, Fitzgerald argues that they are uniquely suited to promote and benefit from green economic development. For cities facing worsening budget constraints, investing in high-paying green jobs in renewable energy technology, construction, manufacturing, recycling, and other fields will solve two problems at once, sparking economic growth while at the same time dramatically improving quality of life. Fitzgerald also examines how investing in green research and technology may help to revitalize older industrial cities and offers examples of cities that don't make the top-ten green lists such as Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio and Syracuse, New York.

How can you use philosophical to make progress toward solving environmental problems? ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY introduces you to ethical theory in new and easily understood ways. But most of all, this environmental ethics textbook shows you how we can work together to build a better future.

The book introduces environmental problems and environmental ethics and surveys theories of the sources of the problems. Attfield also puts forward his own original contribution to the debates, advocating bio-centric consequentialism among theories of normative ethics and defending objectivism in meta-ethics. The possibilities of ethical consumerism and investment are discussed, and the nature and basis of responsibilities for future generations in such areas as sustainable development are given detailed consideration. Attfield adopts an inclusive, cosmopolitan perspective in discussions of global ethics and citizenship, and illustrates his argument with a discussion of global warming.

This anthology, edited by a professor of wild-life science and a professor of philosophy, offers the most current and comprehensive collection on the topic of environmental ethics available today. It surveys diverse approaches to environmental ethics by leading writers from a variety of disciplines, and provides an historical survey of thought on our responsibility to the environment. The perspectives are represented by their most articulate spokespersons and are accompanied by appraisals of their respective strengths and weaknesses. Chapter introductions, headnotes, discussion questions, and annotated bibliographies are provided. Twenty eight of the 64 articles are new. The new edition deletes those articles with which students had difficulty because they were hard to read and substitutes newer or better-written articles. All chapter introductions were revised to reflect changes in the field. New topics include biodiversity, ecological restoration, environmental justice, and genetic engineering. A new section in the appendix on conflict resolution was requested by students.

The most comprehensive introduction to environmental ethics available, ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS offers students a current look at the issues and topics that dominate the field today, organized into two main parts that take students seamlessly from theory to application. This Fifth Edition of the Pojmans' popular anthology, like its predecessors, includes numerous topic areas not covered in other anthologies-including an all-new section on Climate Change. Featuring articles carefully selected for clarity and accessibility, the text follows a dialogic pro-con format presenting divergent positions on each topic, ensuring that students are both exposed to and understand both sides of every topic so they can develop their own informed positions. The bulk of royalties for this book are donated to groups dedicated to protecting the environment, such as the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club.

Beginning with an overview of current concerns, Belshaw locates our attitudes toward the environment within their cultural and historical milieu. He then examines the various positions in detail, ranging from the moderate view that we ought to consider not only ourselves but also other animals, to the seemingly more extravagant contention that non-sentient life, rocks, deserts B indeed all of the processes of nature B should be considered intrinsically valuable. In later chapters Belshaw explores the importance of an aesthetic response to the environment, opening the way for a human-centered position that is both more generous and more flexible than those often advanced elsewhere. In contrast to many of its competitors, Environmental Philosophy challenges accepted dichotomies - man/nature, instrumental/intrinsic, green/non-green - and advocates conciliation rather than confrontation.

A fair and honest debate about religious responses to environmental issues should always distinguish theological principles from prudential judgments. The Cornwall Declaration and the accompanying essays in this volume were written to do just that. They were not written to provide theological rationale for current environmentalist fashion. Rather, they seek to articulate the broad Judeo-Christian theological principles concerning the environment, and to distinguish those principles from contrary ideas popular in the environmental movement.

Much has been written in recent years on environmental ethics relating to the more general 'natural' environment but little specifically written about ethics of the built environment. Ethics and the Built Environment responds to this need and offers a debate on the ethical dimension of building in all its forms from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and approaches. This book should be of interest to architects, students of building and building design, environmentalists, politicians and general readers with an interest in ethics.

This book, arising from over twenty years’ experience of working with the world's major faiths, draws extensively upon joint World Bank and ARC (Alliance of Religion and Conservation)/WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature) projects worldwide. It shows, through stories, land management, myths, investment policies, legends, advocacy and celebration, the role the major faiths have, do and can play in making the world a better place. The major faiths are the oldest institutions in the world and have survived essentially because they are constantly evolving and changing. There is much to be learned by newer institutions such as the World Bank and the multitudes of NGOs about how to remain true to what you believe but change and grow as you develop.

Fifty Key Thinkers on the Environment is a unique guide to environmental thinking through the ages. Joy A. Palmer, herself an important and prolific author on environmental matters, has assembled a team of thirty-five expert contributors to summarize and analyze the thinking of fifty diverse and stimulating figures – from all over the world and from ancient times to the present day. Among those included are: Rousseau, Wordsworth and St. Francis of Assisi. Lucid, scholarly and informative, these fifty essays offer a fascinating overview of mankind’s view and understanding of the physical world.

Based on the demonstrated existence of Western aesthetic intuitions, Hargrove presents a detailed argument for the ethical foundations of preservationist policy. He argues against the justification of preservation based on "therapeutic nihilism:" since we cannot know precisely how nature operates, we should let it alone. This prevalent ideal is expressed as Barry Commoner's "third law" of ecology: "nature knows best," a platitude which Hargrove convincingly rejects. The central problem with the preservationist argument based on therapeutic nihilism is that its force is contingent upon developments in the science of ecology and technological power. If we do learn more about nature, so that we may re-create it, then the preservationist position loses its support. Much better, argues Hargrove, to ground environmentalist policy on the aesthetic values we discover in nature. Nature, even more than human-created art, is beautiful and good; and moral agents have an obligation to preserve and promote goodness in the world.

This volume is fourth in the series of annuals created under the auspices of The Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory (FEAST). It includes papers by philosophers offering cutting-edge feminist perspectives on ethical issues of global and transnational significance. Feminist approaches to global issues address a great many questions that grip people who are not philosophers, nor even necessarily feminists. These questions include: What are the obligations of global citizenship? How must our concepts of caring, and of human rights, be modified or expanded when applied in a global context? What approach to peacekeeping, if any, underwrites effective peacekeeping missions? Who counts as poor, and who does not? What emotions can motivate sustained, ethical, and effective political action? The topics covered herein-from peacekeeping and terrorism, to sex trafficking and women's paid labor, to poverty and religious fundamentalism-are vital to women and to feminist movements throughout the world.

What is the appropriate criterion to use for distributive justice? Is it efficiency, need, contribution, entitlement, equality, effort, or ability? Globalization and Economic Ethics maintains that far from being rival principles of distributive justice, efficiency and need satisfaction are, in fact, complementary norms in our emerging knowledge economy. After all, human capital plays the central role in effecting and sustaining long-term efficiency in the Digital Age. This book explores the vital link between human capital formation and allocative efficiency using the properties of the market and the knowledge economy as analytical tools.

From federal rebates for high-efficiency appliances to bottle deposits to "Meatless Mondays," practices promoting sustainability are now incorporated into our daily lives. Due to the establishment of protection agencies and the efforts of activist groups, the wider public has become more conscious of the impact we humans make on the planet, and what we can do to preserve what we have. Religious communities, long concerned with broad issues of social responsibility and justice, have naturally become full participants in this greening movement. In Green Discipleship: Catholic Theological Ethics, scholars from the fields of theology and the social and hard sciences discuss this development, and consider how a proactive approach to the earth's welfare is, essentially, a moral obligation of Christians, and those of other faiths around the world.

With a primary focus on green environmental ethics, this reference work, presents approximately 150 signed entries organized A-to-Z, traversing a wide range of curricular disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, business, economics, religion, and political science. A rich blend of topics, from the Hannover Principle to green eco-feminism, responsible eco-tourism, corporate values and sustainability, and more, are explained by university professors and scholars, all contributing to an outstanding reference mainly for academic and public libraries. Vivid photographs, searchable hyperlinks, numerous cross references, an extensive resource guide, and a clear, accessible writing style make the Green Society volumes ideal for classroom use as well as for research.

"The Land Ethic," Callicott argues, is traceable to the moral psychology of David Hume and Charles Darwin's classical account of the origin and evolution of Hume's moral sentiments. Leopold adds an ecological vision of organic nature to these foundations. How can an evolutionary and ecological environmental ethic bridge the gap between is and ought? How may wholes--species, ecosystems, and the biosphere itself--be the direct objects of moral concern? How may the intrinsic value of nonhuman natural entities and nature as a whole be justified? In addition to confronting and resolving these distinctly philosophical queries, Callicott engages in lively debate with proponents of animal liberation and rights--finally to achieve an integrated theory of animal welfare and environmental ethics.

The absence of strong spiritual and ethical dimensions in twentieth-century development helped to produce one of the most violent, environmentally impoverished, and economically unequal centuries in human history. Ethical and spiritual contributions in the twenty-first century are needed to rectify these pitfalls. Religions can help societies to wrestle with the bedrock question of societal advancement: What does it mean to be a developed society? In doing so, religious traditions help to create the new worldviews needed to build sustainable civilizations in the new century. Fortunately, many religious traditions are awakening to their vital role. Inspiring Progress identifies the value that religions add to the debate about societal advancement, and it encourages the world’s religious traditions to step up their involvement in shaping the development path of the human family in the twenty-first century.

A powerful pro-environmental coalition may be emerging worldwide as religious people and institutions begin to partner with advocates of sustainable development.

Originally published in 1972, Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology, by John B. Cobb, Jr., was the first single-authored book-length environmental ethics text to deal with the ecological crisis. As relevant today as it was over two decades ago, it serves as a clear warning that the questions it addresses still urgently need to be answered! Written for the Christian lay public and other concerned citizens, it is an excellent introduction to key philosophical, theological, and ecological issues that require no technical background in environmental philosophy. John B. Cobb, Jr. is professor of philosophy at the School of Theology at Claremont in California. He is a pioneer not only in environmental ethics, but is also process philosophy and theology. He is co-founder of Process Studies and author of numerous books and articles.

This innovative book takes a new look at environmental ethics and the need for ecological and biological integrity. Laura Westra explores the necessity for radical alteration not only of interpersonal ethics, but also of social institutions and public policy. In the process, Westra denies the validity of majority rule in environmentally ethical concerns. Issues discussed in the book include the link between ecological integrity and human health; an environmental evaluation of business and technology; biotechnology and transgenics in agriculture and aquaculture; and the environmental ethics of the ancient Greeks and Kant. Living in Integrity is a valuable book for philosophers and environmentalists alike.

Nature as Subject traces the development of an ethical policy that is centered not on human beings, but on itself. Katz applies this idea to contemporary environmental problems, introducing themes of justice, domination, imperialism, and the Holocaust.

Known for his thinking on matters ranging from the treatment of animals to genetic screening, Peter Singer now turns his attention to the ethical issues surrounding globalization. In this provocative book, he challenges us to think beyond the boundaries of nation-states and consider what a global ethic could mean in today's world. Singer raises novel questions about such an ethic and, more important, he provides illuminating and practical answers. The book encompasses four main global issues: climate change, the role of the World Trade Organization, human rights and humanitarian intervention, and foreign aid. Singer addresses each vital issue from an ethical perspective and offers alternatives to the state-centric approach that characterizes international theory and relations today.

In this paper, author Molly O'Meara shows that changes in six areas -- water, waste, food, energy, transportation, and land use -- are needed to make cities and the best areas they affect better for both people and the planet. Cities can align their consumption with realistic needs, produce more of their own food and energy, and put much more of their waste to use. Citizens and local leaders from Curitiba, Brazil, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, are already showing the way as they overcome financial and political obstacles to put these ideas into action.

Spirit of the Environment brings spiritual and religious concerns to environmental issues. Providing an alternative to exploring human beings' relationship to the natural world through the restrictive lenses of 'science', 'ecology', or even 'morality', this book offers a different perspective to the field. Spirit of the Environment addresses: the environmental attitudes of the major religions, the relationship between art and nature, the Gaia hypothesis and the non-instrumental values which have inspired environmental concern. Contributors range from a variety of disciplines including philosophy, comparative religion, education and social anthropology, providing students with an intriguing survey on the role that spirituality and religion play in nature.

A revolutionary program of restorative economics explains how businesses can change their methods and use their power and social responsibility to reconstruct and repair Earth's social, environmental, and commercial problems.

In the book, Sachs argues that extreme poverty—defined by the World Bank as incomes of less than 1 dollar per day—can be eliminated globally by the year 2025, through carefully planned development aid. He presents the problem as an inability of very poor countries to reach the "bottom rung" of the ladder of economic development; once the bottom rung is reached, a country can pull itself up into the global market economy, and the need for outside aid will be greatly diminished or eliminated.

First published in 1983, The Ethics of Environmental Concern has become a classic in the relatively new field of environmental ethics. Examining traditional attitudes toward nature, and the degree to which these attitudes enable us to cope with modern ecological problems, Robin Attfield looks particularly at the Judeo-Christian heritage of belief in humankind's dominion, the tradition of stewardship, and the more recent belief in progress to determine the extent to which these attitudes underlie ecological problems and how far they embody resources adequate for combating such problems. He then examines concerns of applied ethics and considers our obligations to future generations, the value of life, and the moral standing and significance of nonhumans. Simultaneously, he offers and defends a theory of moral principles appropriate for dealing with such concerns as pollution, scarce natural resources, population growth, and the conservation and preservation of the environment.

Global climate change is one of the most daunting ethical and political challenges confronting humanity in the twenty-first century. The intergenerational and transnational ethical issues raised by climate change have been the focus of a significant body of scholarship. In this new collection of essays, leading scholars engage and respond to first-generation scholarship and argue for new ways of thinking about our ethical obligations to present and future generations. Topics addressed in these essays include moral accountability for energy consumption and emissions, egalitarian and libertarian perspectives on mitigation, justice in relation to cap-and trade schemes, the ethics of adaptation, and the ethical dimensions of the impact of climate change on nature.

This accessible and timely book uses a Christian perspective to explore ethical debates about nature. It is a detailed exploration of humanity’s treatment of the natural world from a Christian perspective that covers a range of ethical debates, including current controversies about the environment, animal rights, biotechnology, consciousness, and cloning.

Presenting a wide range of views and strategies, The Green Halo analyzes the problematic relations between humans and the rest of the natural world. The author looks at the views of thinkers including John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Al Gore, and suggests alternative ways to view nature, assign it value, and respond to ecological crises.

In the face of the environmental crisis, believers from the entire world's faith traditions have come to recognize that religion's relation to ecology is critically important. New theologies, profound criticisms of the past and ecologically oriented visions of God, Enlightenment, and human beings have arisen. Religious morality has expanded to include human relations to other species and ecosystems, and religious practice has come to include rituals that express our grief and remorse as well as celebrate what is left. Religious leaders and institutions have committed themselves to a new green gospel and in countless places across the globe people engage in environmental activism for religious reasons. This book serves as an overview of these exciting new developments.

In his previous book, The Elusive Quest for Growth, William Easterly criticized the utter ineffectiveness of Western organizations to mitigate global poverty, and he was promptly fired by his then-employer, the World Bank. The White Man’s Burden is his widely anticipated counterpunch—an indictment of the West’s economic policies for the world’s poor. Sometimes angry, sometimes irreverent, but always clear-eyed and rigorous, Easterly argues that we in the West need to face our own history of ineptitude and draw the proper conclusions, especially at a time when the question of our ability to transplant Western institutions has become one of the most pressing issues we face.

In a time of increasing cultural pluralism and vast religious restructuring in the United States, Christian social ethics must take account of how values and commitments shape Christian communities. In Public Worship and Public Work Christian Scharen examines theological claims about the relationship of worship and ethics by means of ethnographic study of the life, worship, and work of three vibrant congregations. Public Worship and Public Work moves beyond two caricatures of the relationship between worship and social ethics. Rather than resolute portrayals of the Church as a reflection of its culture and context and causal accounts of the Church's liturgy forming a Christian witness over and against culture, this book lifts up congregational identity as an area of dynamic interaction between worship, social ethics, and culture.

Varieties of Ethical Reflection brings together new cultural and religious perspectives--drawn from non-Western, primarily Asian, philosophical sources--to globalize the contemporary discussion of theoretical and applied ethics. The work pushes ethics beyond a Western philosophical tradition tending toward universalism to infuse and broaden modern ethical theory with relativistic Asian ethical principles. The contributors introduce multicultural concepts and ideas from the Chinese Taoist, Confucian and Neo-Confucian, Indian and East Asian Buddhist, and Hindu traditions, focusing on such areas of moral controversy as the clash between women's rights and culture; universal human rights; abortion and euthanasia in a non-Western setting; and the standardization of medical practice across cultures.

One of the most significant topics of our time is the current eco-crisis of overpopulation, overconsumption (often called "affluenza"), and environmental degradation. In Visions of a New Earth, eight world religion scholars and two creative international economists address these linked problems by bringing religious perspective into conversation with economics. They conclude that religion and other cultural forces must be mobilized to force humankind toward an epochal birthing of bio-reverence. Traditions discussed include Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese, Native American, and African religions.

Environmental issues can be complex. You need an environmental ethics textbook that you can actually understand. WATERSHEDS 4: TEN CASES IN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS provides ten fascinating case studies of real-life environmental conflicts and explains the principles involved in an easy-to-understand, impartial way.

Global warming and climate change present profound challenges, with scientific predictions of devastating impact in the coming decades, yet rich countries are doing little to address the problem and developing countries are becoming the largest source of the problem. Grounded in practical cosmopolitan ethics, this book presents a serious and workable solution to climate change. It particularly addresses the role of individuals, proposing a new way of approaching the global politics of climate change and recommending more explicit involvement of people by incorporating practical cosmopolitan ethics (which focus on the rights and obligations of individuals) into international environmental diplomacy.

Perhaps unprecedented in scope, this anthology explores current environmental and ecological issues amidst the various worldviews, cultures, and traditions that constitute the world's major religions. Presenting a global conceptual landscape in part one with selections that focus on the spiritual and environmental crises associated with modernity, this volume, with typical skillful editing in part two, distills all of the major world religions' perspectives-Eastern, Western, and newly emerging-on contemporary ecological issues. Part three rounds out this extraordinary collection of insights with an exploration of other cross-cutting motifs in today's enviro-cultural criticism, including radical environmentalism, ecofeminism, ecojustice, and the rising voice of the Global South.