Synopses & Reviews
"Amidst the deluge of books on the global environment, this is the one to read! Stone writes wonderfully, with a delightful style that effortlessly carries forth a powerful stream of ideas."--David D. Caron, University of California, Berkeley
"Stone has the rare ability to blend idealism and realism. Like such classics as Silent Spring and A Sand County Almanac, his book has the power to revolutionize the way we thing about protecting the global environment."--Durwood Zaelke, President, Center for International Environmental Law
"Should be read by everyone concerned with the future of our planet."--John H. Chaffee, U.S. Senator (Rhode Island)
Review
Amidst the deluge of books on the global environment, this is the one to read! Stone writes wonderfully, with a delightful style that effortlessly carries forth a powerful stream of ideas.David D. Caron, University of California, Berkeley
Stone has the rare ability to blend idealism and realism. Like such classics as Silent Spring and A Sand County Almanac, his book has the power to revolutionize the way we thing about protecting the global environment.Durwood Zaelke, President, Center for International Environmental Law
Should be read by everyone concerned with the future of our planet.John H. Chaffee, U.S. Senator (Rhode Island)A sweeping critique-its proposals cool, smart, and imaginative-with enough common sense to give the most die-hard environmentalist pause.Kirkus ReviewsIt would be difficult to find a more balanced appraisal of our global environment dilemma than Christopher Stone provides in The Gnat Is Older Than Man. His first chapter alone is a welcome ray of light into the murky waters of doomsday prediction amidst scientific uncertainty.Virginia Quarterly ReviewIt is to Stone's credit that he elucidates his themes with a clarity and modesty that maintains academic rigor even as it opens his subject to a wide range of readers. Highly recommended for public, academic, and professional collections.Choice[Stone] debunks much of the environmental hype that is designed to scare the public into action but also points out that hard evidence leaves plenty of cause for concern in some areas. The real contribution of the book is to examine the philosophical underpinnings of growing concern with the environment, address sympathetically the weaknesses in what could be called the environmentalist creed, and attempt to provide remedies for those weaknesses. It is a levelheaded, thoughtful, and informative essay.Richard Cooper, Foreign Affairs
Review
"A sweeping critique-its proposals cool, smart, and imaginative-with enough common sense to give the most die-hard environmentalist pause."
--Kirkus Reviews
Review
"It would be difficult to find a more balanced appraisal of our global environment dilemma than Christopher Stone provides in
The Gnat Is Older Than Man. His first chapter alone is a welcome ray of light into the murky waters of doomsday prediction amidst scientific uncertainty."
--Virginia Quarterly Review
Review
"It is to Stone's credit that he elucidates his themes with a clarity and modesty that maintains academic rigor even as it opens his subject to a wide range of readers. Highly recommended for public, academic, and professional collections."
--Choice
Review
"[Stone] debunks much of the environmental hype that is designed to scare the public into action but also points out that hard evidence leaves plenty of cause for concern in some areas. The real contribution of the book is to examine the philosophical underpinnings of growing concern with the environment, address sympathetically the weaknesses in what could be called the environmentalist creed, and attempt to provide remedies for those weaknesses. It is a levelheaded, thoughtful, and informative essay."
--Richard Cooper, Foreign Affairs
Synopsis
Why are globe-spanning environmental problems on the rise and what can be done about them? Christopher Stone presents a concise and balanced overview of the risks, from climate change and ozone depletion to deforestation and biodiversity loss. Exploring the institutional framework, Stone shows why global problems do not always benefit from "global solutions," how environmental diplomacy has to account for the growing tensions between rich and poor nations, and why even checking population growth would not heal the planet. Stone's latest work, at once theoretical and realistic, is a major contribution to our understanding of one of humanity's greatest challenges.
Table of Contents
| Preface | |
| Acknowledgments | |
Ch. I | Diagnosis: The Earth Has Cancer, and the Cancer Is Man | 3 |
| In the Doctor's Judgment | 3 |
| Diagnosis at Rio | 5 |
| A Second, Less Foreboding Opinion | 18 |
| Prognosis: Social Choice in the Face of Uncertainty | 26 |
Ch. II | The Condition of the Earth from the Legal Perspective | 33 |
| Astronaut and Diplomat | 33 |
| A Nation's Abuse of Its Own Environment | 37 |
Ch. III | Transboundary Pollution | 50 |
| The Preventive Techniques | 52 |
| The Reactive Techniques | 57 |
| Consensual Transboundary Pollution | 66 |
Ch. IV | Managing the Global Commons | 71 |
| A Nation's "Internal" Activities Damaging the Commons | 72 |
| A Nation's Activities on the Commons Damaging the Commons | 88 |
| A Nation's Activities on the Commons Damaging Another Nation | 94 |
Ch. V | Treaties as Antidotes | 96 |
| The Virtues of a Treaty-Based Approach | 96 |
| The Impediments to Treaty Formation | 98 |
| Under What Circumstances are International Negotiations Likely to Succeed? | 116 |
Ch. VI | The Economist's Prescriptions: Taxes and Tradable Permits | 122 |
| The Economic Ideal | 123 |
| Institutionalizing the Economic Ideal | 129 |
| Pro Rata Cutbacks | 132 |
| Effluent Taxes | 134 |
| Tradable Emissions Permits | 141 |
Ch. VII | Medicating the Earth: Preventatives and Remedies | 153 |
| Need Our Responses Be Fully Global? | 154 |
| Is Prevention Better than Cure? | 159 |
| The Deferred, Go-It-Alone Policy as a Second-Best Strategy | 160 |
| A Review of the Home-Grown Remedies | 162 |
| The New Generation of Legislation | 174 |
Ch. VIII | Taking Out Calamity Insurance | 182 |
| The Application of Conventional Insurance to Climate Change | 187 |
| Modes of Government Participation | 192 |
| The International Precedents and Prospects | 197 |
| Alternative "Insurance" | 198 |
Ch. IX | Paying the Bills: Toward a Global Commons Trust Fund | 201 |
| The Global Financing Options | 203 |
| The Global Commons Trust Fund | 208 |
| Financing Options in the Light of Domestic Policy Alternatives | 220 |
| The Virtues and Vices of Global Funds: The Donors versus the "Democrats" | 226 |
Ch. X | The Spiritual and Moral Dimensions of the Environmental Crisis: Of Humankind and Gnats | 235 |
| The Spiritual Roots of the Environmental Crisis | 235 |
| The Moral Dimensions | 242 |
| What Does an Environmental Ethic Aim For? | 268 |
| The Arguments against an Environmental Ethic | 271 |
| The Burdens an Environmental Ethic Faces | 276 |
| One Further Level of Abstraction: The Metaphysical Underpinnings | 278 |
| Notes | 281 |
| Index to Topics and Institutions | 331 |
| Index to Authors | 337 |
| Index to Conventions | 340 |
| Index to Legal Cases | 341 |