Skip to main content
Login
  1. Home
  2. Having Too Much
  3. 13. Ecological Limits: Science, Justice, Policy, and the Good Life
Open Book Publishers

13. Ecological Limits: Science, Justice, Policy, and the Good Life

  • Fergus Green(author)
Chapter of: Having Too Much: Philosophical Essays on Limitarianism(pp. 335–360)
  • Export Metadata
  • Metadata
  • Locations
  • Contributors
  • References

Export Metadata

Metadata
Title13. Ecological Limits: Science, Justice, Policy, and the Good Life
ContributorFergus Green(author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0338.13
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0338/chapters/10.11647/obp.0338.13
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
CopyrightFergus Green
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2023-07-06
Long abstract

Recent years have witnessed a revival of scientific, political and philosophical discourse concerning the notion of ecological limits. This article provides a conceptual overview of descriptive ecological limit claims—i.e. claims that there are real, biophysical limits—and reviews work in political and social philosophy in which such claims form the basis of proposals for normative limits. The latter are classified in terms of three broad types of normative theorising: distributive justice, institutional/legal reform, and the good life. Within these three categories, the article reviews normative proposals for limits on both aggregate‐level and individual‐level ecological exploitation. It also considers the relevance of political and ideological facts to the normative analysis of ecological limits, raising methodological questions about how normative theorists should respond to a world facing escalating ecological challenges.

Page rangepp. 335–360
Print length26 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Locations
Landing PageFull text URLPlatform
PDFhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0338/chapters/10.11647/obp.0338.13Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0338.13.pdfFull text URLPublisher Website
HTMLhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0338/chapters/10.11647/obp.0338.13Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0338/ch13.xhtmlFull text URLPublisher Website
Contributors

Fergus Green

(author)
Lecturer in Political Theory & Public Policy in the Department of Political Science at University College London
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5317-6016

Fergus Green is a Lecturer in Political Theory & Public Policy in the Department of Political Science, University College London. He works on the politics, governance and ethics of low-carbon transitions—including the “just transition” agenda, fossil fuel supply, and Green New Deal-style policy programmes. He has published in academic journals ranging from Nature Climate Change to the Journal of Political Philosophy, and has written numerous policy papers. Before joining UCL, Fergus completed a PhD in political theory in the LSE Department of Government followed by postdoctoral research at Utrecht University.

References
  1. Acemoglu, Daron, Aghion, Philippe, Bursztyn, Leonard & Hemous, David. 2012. The Enviroment and Directed Technical Change. American Economic Review, 102, 131–166. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.1.131
  2. Aghion, Philippe, Hepburn, Cameron, Teytelboym, Alexander & Zenghelis, Dimitri. 2014. Path Dependence, Innovation and the Economics of Climate Change. London. http://2014.newclimateeconomy.report/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Path-dependence-and-econ-of-change.pdf.
  3. Agyeman, Julian, Bullard, Robert D. & Evans, Bob (Eds.). 2003. Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World. Cambridge, MA.: The MIT Press.
  4. Aldred, Jonathan. 2016. Emissions Trading Schemes in a ‘Non-Ideal’ World. In Clare Heyward & Dominic Roser (Eds.), Climate Justice in a Non-Ideal World (pp. 148–168). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198744047.003.0008
  5. Armstrong, Chris. 2017. Justice and Natural Resources: An Egalitarian Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198702726.001.0001
  6. Averchenkova, Alina, & Nachmany, Michal. 2017. Institutional Aspects of Climate Legislation. In Alina Averchenkova, Sam Fankhauser & Michal Nachmany (Eds.), Trends in Climate Change Legislation (pp. 108–122). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786435781.00015
  7. Averchenkova, Alina, Fankhauser, Sam & Finnegan, Jared J. 2021. The Impact of Strategic Climate Legislation: Evidence from Expert Interviews on the UK Climate Change Act. Climate Policy, 21, 251–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2020.1819190
  8. Bell, Derek. 2017. Justice on One Planet. In Stephen M. Gardiner & Allen Thompson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics (pp. 276–287). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199941339.013.25
  9. Bullard, Robert D. 1990. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. Boulder: Westview Press.
  10. Butt, Daniel. 2017. Law, Governance, and the Ecological Ethos. In Stephen M. Gardiner & Allen Thompson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics (pp. 51–61). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  11. Caney, Simon. 2012. Just Emissions. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 40, 255–300. https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.12005
  12. Caney, Simon. 2014. Two Kinds of Climate Justice: Avoiding Harm and Sharing Burdens. Journal of Political Philosophy, 22, 124–149. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopp.12030
  13. Caney, Simon. 2016. Cosmopolitanism and the Environment. In Teena Gabrielson, Cheryl Hall, John M. Meyer, & David Schlosberg (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory (pp. 238–254). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199685271.013.16
  14. Caney, Simon. 2020. Climate Justice. In Edward N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/entries/justice-climate/.
  15. Caney, Simon, & Hepburn, Cameron. 2011. Carbon Trading: Unethical, Unjust and Ineffective? Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 69, 201–234. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1358246111000282
  16. Dobson, Andrew. 2003. Citizenship and the Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199258449.001.0001
  17. Dobson, Andrew. 2016. Are There Limits to Limits? In Teena Gabrielson, Cheryl Hall, John M. Meyer, & David Schlosberg (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory (pp.289–303). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199685271.013.41
  18. Douglas, Heather E. 2009. Science, Policy, and the Value-Free Ideal. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
  19. Downey, Liam. 2015. Inequality, Democracy, and the Environment. New York: New York University Press.
  20. Duraiappah, Anantha Kumar. 2004. Exploring the Links: Human Well-Being, Poverty, and Ecosystem Services. Nairobi. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/economics_exploring_the_links.pdf.
  21. Eckersley, Robyn. 2004. The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty. Cambridge, MA.: The MIT Press.
  22. Elliott, Kevin C. 2017. A Tapestry of Values: An Introduction to Values in Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190260804.001.0001
  23. Fragnière, Augustin. 2016. Ecological Limits and the Meaning of Freedom: A Defense of Liberty as Non-Domination. De Ethica, 3, 472–475. https://doi.org/10.3384/de-ethica.2001-8819.163333
  24. Gabrielson, Teena, Hall, Cheryl, Meyer, John M. & Schlosberg, David. (Eds.). 2016. The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199685271.001.0001
  25. Green, Fergus. 2017. The Normative Foundations of Climate Legislation. In Alina Averchenkova, Sam Fankhauser & Michal Nachmany (Eds.), Trends in Climate Change Legislation (pp.85–107). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786435781.00014
  26. Green, Fergus. 2018. Anti-Fossil Fuel Norms. Climatic Change, 150, 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-017-2134-6
  27. Green, Fergus & Brandstedt Eric. 2020. Engaged Climate Ethics. Journal of Political Philosophy, 29, 539–563. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jopp.12237.
  28. Hathaway, Julia Robertson. 2020. Climate Change, the Intersectional Imperative, and the Opportunity of the Green New Deal. Environmental Communication, 14, 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2019.1629977
  29. Hayward, Tim. 2006. Ecological Citizenship: Justice, Rights and the Virtue of Resourcefulness. Environmental Politics, 15, 435–446. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644010600627741
  30. Hayward, Tim. 2009. International Political Theory and the Global Environment: Some Critical Questions for Liberal Cosmopolitans. Journal of Social Philosophy, 40, 276–295. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2009.01451.x
  31. Hayward, Tim. 2017. Ecological Space: The Concept and Its Ethical Significance. In Stephen M. Gardiner & Allen Thompson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics (pp. 311–320). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199941339.013.31
  32. Healy, Noel, & Barry, John. 2017. Politicizing Energy Justice and Energy System Transitions: Fossil Fuel Divestment and a ‘Just Transition’. Energy Policy, 108, 451–459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.06.014
  33. Hickel, Jason & Kallis, Giorgos. 2020. Is Green Growth Possible? New Political Economy, 25, 469–486. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2019.1598964
  34. Holland, Breena. 2008. Ecology and the Limits of Justice: Establishing Capability Ceilings in Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach. Journal of Human Development, 9, 401–425. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649880802236631
  35. Holland, Breena. 2014. Allocating the Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199692071.001.0001
  36. Huseby, Robert. 2019. Sufficientarianism. In William R. Thompson (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1382.
  37. Hyams, Keith. 2009. A Just Response to Climate Change: Personal Carbon Allowances and the Normal-Functioning Approach. Journal of Social Philosophy, 40, 237–256. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2009.01449.x
  38. Iacobuta, Gabriela, Dubash, Navroz K., Upadhyaya, Prabhat, Deribe, Mekdelawit, & Höhne, Niklas. 2018. National climate change mitigation legislation, strategy and targets: a global update. Climate Policy, 18, 1114–1132. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2018.1489772
  39. Jamieson, Dale. 2007. When Utilitarians Should Be Virtue Theorists. Utilitas, 19, 160–183. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0953820807002452
  40. Jamieson, Dale. 2014. Reason in a Dark Time: Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed—and What It Means for Our Future. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199337668.001.0001
  41. Lambacher, Jason. 2016. The Limits of Freedom and the Freedom of Limits. In Teena Gabrielson, Cheryl Hall, John M. Meyer, & David Schlosberg (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory (pp. 385–398). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199685271.013.27
  42. Lane, Melissa. 2011. Eco-Republic: Ancient Thinking for a Green Age. Witney, UK: Peter Lang Ltd.
  43. Leader Maynard, Jonathan. 2017. Ideological Analysis. In Adrian Blau (Ed.), Methods in Analytical Political Theory (pp. 297–324). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316162576.015
  44. MacNeil, Robert. 2016. Death and Environmental Taxes: Why Market Environmentalism Fails in Liberal Market Economies Robert. Global Environmental Politics, 13, 21–37. https://doi.org/10.1162/GLEP_a_00336
  45. McShane, Katie. 2009. Environmental Ethics: An Overview. Philosophy Compass, 4, 407–420. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2009.00206.x
  46. Meadows, Donella, Meadows, Dennis, Randers, Jørgen & Beerens III, William. 1974. The Limits to Growth. London: Pan.
  47. Nussbaum, Martha. 2000. Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  48. Nussbaum, Martha. 2006. Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.
  49. Nussbaum, Martha. 2011. Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.
  50. O’Neill, John. 1993. Ecology, Policy and Politics: Human Well-Being and the Natural World. London: Routledge.
  51. O’Neill, John, Holland, Alan & Light, Andrew. 2008. Environmental Values. London: Routledge.
  52. O’Neill, Onora. 1987. Abstraction, Idealization and Ideology in Ethics. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 22, 55–69. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1358246100003660
  53. Oreskes, Naomi & Conway, Erik M. 2010. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. London: Bloomsbury Press.
  54. Page, Edward A. 2013. The Ethics of Emissions Trading. WIRES Climate Change, 4, 233–243. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.222
  55. Parker, Wendy. 2017. Environmental Science: Empirical Claims in Environmental Ethics. In Stephen M. Gardiner & Allen Thompson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics (pp. 27–39). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199941339.013.3
  56. Pearse, Rebecca & Böhm, Stefen. 2014. Ten Reasons Why Carbon Markets Will Not Bring about Radical Emissions Reduction. Carbon Management, 5, 325–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2014.990679
  57. Peeters, Wouter, Dirix, Jo & Sterckx, Sigrid. 2015. The Capabilities Approach and Environmental Sustainability: The Case for Functioning Constraints. Environmental Values, 24, 367–389. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327115X14273714154575
  58. Prakash, Varshini, & Girgenti, Guido. (Eds.). 2020. Winning the Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can. London: Simon & Schuster.
  59. Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.
  60. Robeyns, Ingrid. 2008. Ideal Theory in Theory and Practice. Social Theory and Practice, 34, 341–362. https://doi.org/10.5840/soctheorpract200834321
  61. Robeyns, Ingrid. 2017. Having too much. In Jack Knight & Melissa Schwartzberg (Eds.), Wealth - Yearbook of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy (pp. 1–44). New York: New York University Press.
  62. Robeyns, Ingrid. 2019. What, If Anything, Is Wrong with Extreme Wealth? Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 20, 251–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2019.1633734
  63. Rockström, Johan, Steffen, Will, Noone, Kevin, Persson, Åsa Chapin III, F. Stuart,. Lambin, Eric F, Lenton, Timothy M., Scheffer, Marten, Folke, Carl, Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim, Nykvist, Björn, De Wit, Cynthia A., Hughes, Terry, van der Leeuw, Sander et al. 2009. A Safe Operating Space for Humanity. Nature, 461, 472–475. https://doi.org/10.1038/461472a
  64. Rockström, Johan, Steffen, Will, Noone, Kevin, Persson, Åsa Chapin III, F. Stuart,. Lambin, Eric F, Lenton, Timothy M., Scheffer, Marten, Folke, Carl, Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim, Nykvist, Björn, De Wit, Cynthia A., Hughes, Terry, van der Leeuw, Sander et al. 2009. Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity. Ecology & Society, 14, 32. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03180-140232
  65. Rossi, Enzo & Sleat, Matt. 2014. Realism in Normative Political Theory. Philosophy Compass, 9, 689–701. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12148
  66. Sandler, Ronald. 2007. Character and the Environment: A Virtue-Oriented Approach to Environmental Ethics. New York: Columbia University Press.
  67. Sandler, Ronald & Cafaro, Philip. (Eds.). 2005. Environmental Virtue Ethics. Lanham, MD.: Rowman & Littlefield.
  68. Schlosberg, David. 2007. Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286294.001.0001
  69. Schlosberg, David & Coles, Romand. 2016. The New Environmentalism of Everyday Life: Sustainability, Material Flows and Movements. Contemporary Political Theory, 15, 160–181. https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2015.34
  70. Spengler, Laura. 2016. Two Types of ‘Enough’: Sufficiency as Minimum and Maximum. Environmental Politics, 25, 921–940. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2016.1164355
  71. Spengler, Laura. 2018. Sufficiency as Policy: Necessity, Possibilities and Limitations. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
  72. Steffen, Will et al. 2015. Planetary Boundaries: Guiding Human Development on a Changing Planet. Science, 347, n.1259855. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1259855
  73. Supran, Geoffrey & Oreskes, Naomi. 2017. Assessing ExxonMobil’s Climate Change Communications (1977–2014). Environmental Research Letters, 12. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa815f
  74. Timmer, Dick. Forthcoming. Limitarianism: Pattern, Principle, or Presumption? Journal of Applied Philosophy.
  75. Timmer, Dick. 2021. Thresholds in Distributive Justice. Unpublished manuscript.
  76. Turner, James Morton. 2014. Counting Carbon: The Politics of Carbon Footprints and Climate Governance from the Individual to the Global. Global Environmental Politics, 14, 59–78. https://doi.org/10.1162/GLEP_a_00214
  77. Valentini, Laura. 2009. On the Apparent Paradox of Ideal Theory. Journal of Political Philosophy, 17, 332–355. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2008.00317.x
  78. Vanderheiden, Steve. 2008. Two Conceptions of Sustainability. Political Studies, 56, 435–455. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00691.x
  79. Vanderheiden, Steve. 2009. Allocating Ecological Space. Journal of Social Philosophy, 40, 257–275. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2009.01450.x
  80. Vanderheiden, Steve. 2018. Personal Carbon Trading and Individual Mitigation Accountability. In Beth Edmondson & Stuart Levy (Eds.), Transformative Climates and Accountable Governance (pp. 273–299). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97400-2_12
  81. Walker, Gordon. 2011. Environmental Justice: Concepts, Evidence and Politics. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203610671
  82. Wensveen, Louke van. 1999. Dirty Virtues: The Emergence of Ecological Virtue Ethics. Lanham, MD.: Rowman & Littlefield.
  83. Whyte, Kyle P. 2017. Indigenous Climate Change Studies: Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene. English Language Notes, 55, 153–162. https://doi.org/10.1215/00138282-55.1-2.153
  84. Whyte, Kyle P. & Cuomo, Chris. 2017. Ethics of Caring in Environmental Ethics: Indigenous and Feminist Philosophies. In Stephen M. Gardiner & Allen Thompson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics (pp. 234–247). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199941339.013.22
  85. Winter, Christine Jill. 2020. Does Time Colonise Intergenerational Environmental Justice Theory? Environmental Politics, 29, 278–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2019.1569745
  86. Zwarthoed, Danielle. 2015. Creating Frugal Citizens: The Liberal Egalitarian Case for Teaching Frugality. Theory and Research in Education, 13, 286–307. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878515606620

Export Metadata

UK registered social enterprise and Community Interest Company (CIC).

Company registration 14549556

Metadata

  • By book
  • By publisher
  • GraphQL API
  • Export API

Resources

  • Downloads
  • Videos
  • Merch
  • Presentations
  • Service status

Contact

  • Email
  • Bluesky
  • Mastodon
  • Github

Copyright © 2026 Thoth Open Metadata. Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.