Environmental Justice: Creating Equity, Reclaiming Democracy (Environmental Ethics & Science Policy) [Hardcover]

Kristin Shrader-Frechette (Author)

Book Description

Series: Environmental Ethics & Science Policy | Publication Date: September 26, 2002

Shrader-Frechette offers a rigorous philosophical discussion of environmental justice. Explaining fundamental ethical concepts such as equality, property rights, procedural justice, free informed consent, intergenerational equity, and just compensation--and then bringing them to bear on real-world social issues--she shows how many of these core concepts have been compromised for a large segment of the global population, among them Appalachians, African-Americans, workers in hazardous jobs, and indigenous people in developing nations. She argues that burdens like pollution and resource depletion need to be apportioned more equally, and that there are compelling ethical grounds for remedying our environmental problems. She also argues that those affected by environmental problems must be included in the process of remedying those problems; that all citizens have a duty to engage in activism on behalf of Environmental Justice; and that in a democracy it is the people, not the government, that are ultimately responsible for fair use of the environment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is an example of precisely the type of practical ethics one hopes to see more of. . . . The cases here aren't just illustrations of more general philosophical points-they're interesting in their own right. Very few philosophers, even those of us who do practical ethics, take the time to work through the details of cases in the way that Shrader-Frechette does in this book. It is a must-read for anyone interested in environmental justice and accessible enough that it would make a valuable addition to any undergraduate environmental ethics syllabus. . . a valuable contribution to the literature."--Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

About the Author

Kristin Shrader-Frechette, O'Neill Professor of Philosophy and Concurrent Professor of Biological Science, University of Notre Dame.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195152034
• ISBN-13: 978-0195152036
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,858,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timely, June 3, 2006

By 

Amy Rodriguez (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Environmental Justice: Creating Equality, Reclaiming Democracy (Environmental Ethics and Science Policy Series) (Paperback)

I read this book after seeing Shrader-Frechette's interview in the US Catholic, and I found the work to be an excellent introduction to the philosophical and historical issues surrounding the EJ movement.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Maybe if you're a philosopher you'll like it..., May 4, 2006

By 

Hikey (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Environmental Justice: Creating Equity, Reclaiming Democracy (Environmental Ethics & Science Policy) (Hardcover)

After reading this title in an undergraduate philosophy class, and reading it carefully and thoroughly, I feel confident giving it a bad review. It was selected by the professor, who I assume is a fan, but I know I, and all my friends in class, extremely dislike this book. I'm a very strong student, an environmentalist, and whatever else you think I need to be a credible reviewer, but this book is very un-engaging. If you're a professor yourself, I urge you not to use it in class.
The arguments are at times internally inconsistent (the author feels comfortable negating opponents for using the same argument structures she later uses), hyperbolic (the author creates extensive yet repetitive lists of victims of various injustices, redundantly reclassifying the same individual in several ways to make the list longer), and on and on.
The nail in the coffin, from a student's point of view, is that it does so in an extremely boring manner. I feel bad that the first review is such a negative one, but from the eye of a undergrad, it's a really bad book. Hopefully a professional philosopher can be more constructive, but undergrad students (its a class for majors and non-majors, to fill a core requirement) are not an appropriate audience for this book.