There are major problems in the way in which the environmental ‘ethics’ question is now being framed – problems which could lead to growing confusion and disillusionment, unless they are rapidly addressed and understood. It is on such problems that this paper focuses. We point to three dimensions of the environmental ‘phenomenon’ which prevailing accounts of environmental ethics are tending to overlook. We then identify several ways in which incomplete ethical models tend to be reflected in actual environmental policy discourse. Finally, we suggest three hitherto-absent ingredients which will need to be recognised if future models of the ethics question are to be able to reflect, and hence to engage adequately with, social reality.
CEC (Commission of the European Communities)1991Research and Development Programme in the Field of Environment: 1991–1994 Workprogramme, Document XII/177/91-EN. Brussels, Directorate-General XII, Commission of the European Communities.
5.
DouglasMary1975 “Environments at Risk”, in Implicit Meanings: Essays in Anthropology, pp. 230–48. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul.
6.
EyermanRon and JamisonAndrew1991Social Movements: A Cognitive Approach. Cambridge, Polity.
7.
FayBrian1987Critical Social Science: Liberation and its Limits. Cambridge, Polity.
8.
GadamerHans-Georg1975Truth and Method, tr. Glen-DoepelWilliam, edited by BardenGarrett and CummingJohn. London, Sheed and Ward.
9.
Grove-WhiteRobin1991 “The Emerging Shape of Environmental Conflict in the 1990s”, Royal Society of Arts Journal, 89, No. 5419, 437–47.
10.
Grove-WhiteRobin1992 “Human Identity and the Environment Crisis”, in The Earth Beneath: A Critique of Green Theology, edited by BallIan, GoodallMargaret, PalmerClare and ReaderJohn, pp. 13–34. London, SPCK.
11.
Grove-WhiteRobin, MorrisPaul and SzerszynskiBronislaw1991The Emerging Ethical Mood on Environmental Issues in Britain, report to the World Wide Fund for Nature (UK). Lancaster, CSEC, Lancaster University.
12.
HabermasJürgen1971Towards a Rational Society, tr. ShapiroJeremy J.. London, Heinemann.
13.
HabermasJürgen1979Communication and the Evolution of Society, tr. McCarthyThomas. London, Heinemann.
14.
HarrisonCarolyn, LimbMelanie and BurgessJacquelin1987 “Nature in the City: Popular Values for a Living World”, Journal of Environmental Management, 25(4): 347–462.
15.
HoldgateMartin1991 “Panacea” BBC Wildlife, November, p. 776.
16.
HSE (Health and Safety Executive)1988The Tolerability of Risk from Nuclear Power Stations. London, HMSO.
17.
IUCN, UNEP and WWF (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, United Nations Environment Programme, and World Wide Fund for Nature)1991Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living. London, Earthscan.
18.
JayyusiLena1991 “Values and Moral Judgement: Communicative Praxis as a Moral Order” in Ethnomethodology and the Human Sciences, edited by ButtonGraham, pp. 227–51. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
19.
KitscheltHerbert1986 “Political Opportunity Structures and Political Protest: Anti-Nuclear Movements in Four Democracies”, British Journal of Political Science, 16(1): 57–85.
20.
MacIntyreAlasdair1985After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, second edition. London, Duckworth.
21.
MelucciAlberto1989Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in Contemporary Society. London, Hutchinson Radius.
22.
MulkayMichael1979Science and the Sociology of Knowledge. London, George Allen and Unwin.
23.
NewbyHoward1992 “Join Forces in Modern Marriage”, The Times Higher Education Supplement, January 17, p. 20.
24.
PalmerMartin1988Genesis or Nemesis: Belief, Meaning and Ecology. London, Dryad.
25.
PearceDavid, MarkandyaAnil and BarbierEdward B.1989Blueprint for a Green Economy. London, Earthscan.
26.
PolanyiMichael1958Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. London, Routledge.
27.
RicoeurPaul1981 “The Model of the Text: Meaningful Action Considered as a Text”, in Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences: Essays on Language, Action and Interpretation, edited and tr. ThompsonJohn B., pp. 197–221. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
28.
SagoffMark1988The Economy of the Earth: Philosophy, Law and the Environment. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
29.
ThompsonMichael, WarburtonMichael, and HatleyTom1987Uncertainty on a Himalayan Scale: An Institutional Theory of Environmental Perception and a Strategic Framework for the Sustainable Development of the Himalaya. London, Ethnographica.
30.
WalzerMichael1983Spheres of Justice: A Defence of Pluralism and Equality. New York, Basic Books.
31.
WalzerMichael1988 “Interpretation and Social Criticism”, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, Vol. 8, edited by McMurrinSterling M., pp. 1–80. Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press.
32.
WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development)1987Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
33.
WinnerLangdon1977Autonomous Technology: Technics Out of Control as a Theme in Political Thought. Cambridge, Mass., Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.
34.
WynneBrian1982Rationality and Ritual: The Windscale Inquiry and Nuclear Decisions in Britain. Chalfont St Giles, Bucks, British Society for the History of Science.
35.
WynneBrian1988Risk Management and Hazardous Waste: Implementation and the Dialectics of Credibility. Berlin, Springer-Verlag.
36.
WynneBrian1989a “Frameworks of Rationality in Risk Management: Towards the Testing of Naïve Sociology”, in Environmental Threats: Perception, Analysis and Management, edited by BrownJennifer, pp. 33–47. London, Belhaven.
37.
WynneBrian1989b “Sheepfarming after Chernobyl: A Case Study in Communicating Scientific Information”, Environment, 31(2): 10–15, 33–9.
38.
WynneBrian1992 “Risk and Social Learning: Reification to Engagement”, in Social Theories of Risk, edited by KrimskySheldon and GoldingDominic, pp. 275–97. New York, Praeger.
