This book is concerned with the question of why the environment is protected in the international arena. In this innovative study Gillespie explodes the myth that we all want to achieve the same ends. He shows how nations, like individuals, are creating environmental laws and policies which are continually inviting failure since such laws are riddled with inconsistencies and are ultimately contradictory in purpose. Specifically, he seeks a nexus between the reasons why nations protect the environment, how these reasons are reflected in law and policy, and what complications arise from these choices.
I. Anthropocentricism
II. The Self Interest Justification for Environmental Protection
III. The Use of Economic Rationale As A Justification for Environmental Protection
IV. The Problems With Economic Justifications for Environmental Protection
V. Religious Justifications for Environmental Protection
VI. The Problem of Religiously Inspired Conservation as a Suitable Source of Environmental Protection
VII. Aesthetic, Cultural and Recreational Justifications
VIII. The Rights of Future Generations as a Justification for Environmental Protection
IX. The Problems with the Future Generations Argument
X. The Growth of Non-Anthropocentric Ideals Within International Environmental Law
XI. The Moral Considerability of Animals
XII. Respect for Life
XIII. The Land Ethic
"This is one of the most sophisticated and convincing considerations of the ethical bases of environmental policy currently available. Recommended for undergraduate, graduate, and research collections."
– Choice
"The book provides thoughtful and provocative analysis of the ethical bases for protecting the environment [...] Readers will enjoy this stimulatin book and the author's refreshing, critical style in addressing the philosophical bases for our actions to protect (or often to degrade) the environment."
– The American Journal of International Law