Climate Justice: Ethics, Energy, and Public Policy

by James B. Martin-Schramm

Energy issues and climate change have loomed up from issues at the horizon to confront humanity directly and vitally. They are now pressing public-policy challenges of monumental scale and import. James Martin-Schramm draws on decades of involvement with ethics, public policy, and environmental ethics to provide this lucid and astute analysis of the problems and options for addressing energy and climate change. Martin-Schramm argues that reliance on fossil fuels has produced grave threats to justice, peace, and the integrity of creation. Addressing these threats requires of Christians not simply new individual sensitivities and sacrifices but a new way of living in harmony with the earth and an earnest search for policy that fosters sustainability, reflects values of equity and fairness, and operates on a scale commensurate with the problems. Martin-Schramm proposes a full analysis of the problems and causes of our situation and real principles for an ethic of ecojustice. He also provides specific assessment of norms, policy options, and recommendations in the areas of energy and climate change and a glimpse of what a workable alternative might look like, globally and locally. Martin-Schramm's work combines solid analysis with genuine commitment to effective policy, all driven by a Christian imperative to understand and tackle this deepest challenge to life itself.

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2010