214. Stephen M. Gardiner: Climate Justice: Past, Present, and Future

As awareness of the current climate crisis grows, we can’t help but wonder how the decisions of the past will affect our future. 

In Stephen M. Gardiner’s Dialogues on Climate Justice (co-written by Arthur R. Obst), we follow a cast of fictional characters as they experience the very real consequences of climate change. Spanning from the election of Donald Trump in 2016 until the 2060s, Gardiner’s protagonist, aptly named Hope, spurs conversations exploring the many aspects of the climate justice discussion. She engages with climate skepticism, explores her own climate responsibilities, and finally, as an older woman, to reflects with her granddaughter on what one generation owes another.

Gardiner’s book allows us to explore all aspects of the tricky topic through the eyes of a reliable and relatable narrator. Through Hope’s story, we can better understand the philosophy and science of the current climate crisis. Gardiner joins us at Town Hall to continue the conversation.

Stephen M. Gardiner is a professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington. He is the author of A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change (2011), and co-author of Debating Climate Ethics (2016). His edited books include The Ethics of “Geoengineering” the Global Climate (2020), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics (2016), and The Oxford Handbook of Intergenerational Ethics (2022).