Citation:
The Gnat is Older than Man: Global Environment and Human Agenda, Christopher D. Stone, (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993), 330 pp.
The Gnat is Older than Man: Global Environment and Human Agenda will be of interest to those who seek an understanding of human effects on the global environment. The author asserts, in the first chapter, that "The earth has a cancer, and the cancer is man". Herein is contained an examination of the findings of the Rio conference (UNCED) and the prognosis for social change in the face of uncertainty. The second chapter examines the condition of the earth from a legal perspective with consideration of a nation's abuse of its own environment.
Chapter three addresses trans-boundary pollution with examination of three topics: preventive techniques, reactive techniques, and consensual trans-boundary pollution. The first topic considers the effects of one nation's actions on another nation and the need for: notification, consultation, and veto power. The second topic discusses the roles of litigation and diplomacy and the absence of compulsory jurisdiction in the world order. Chapter four examines the management of the global commons. The author discusses the ability of: a nation's internal affairs and activities on the commons to damage the commons, and the ability of a nation's activities on the commons to damage other nations.
Chapter five is an examination of treaties as antidotes. The author discusses: the virtues of a treaty-based approach, the impediments to treaty formation, and the conditions under which international negotiations are likely to succeed. The next chapter addresses taxes and tradable permits as the economist's prescriptions. The author discusses the economic ideal and the institutionalizing of that ideal. He then examines: pro rata cutbacks, effluent taxes and tradable emissions permits. Chapter seven addresses preventatives and remedies. In this context land use planning, harm-based liability rules, penalties, standards, and informational approaches are discussed.
Chapter eight considers: the application of conventional insurance to climate change, modes of government participation, and international precedents and prospects. The penultimate chapter examines a proposal for a global commons trust fund with consideration of: the global financing options, financing options in the light of domestic policy alternativeS and the virtues and vices of global funds. The final chapter addresses the spiritual and moral dimensions of the environmental crisis. The author addresses: the aims of, the arguments against, and the burdens of an environmental ethic. He closes with consideration of the metaphysical underpinnings of an environmental ethic. The text is followed by the usual index and, the very useful, indices to: authors, conventions and legal cases.
The Gnat is Older than Man: Global Environment and Human Agenda is an introductory examination of the title topic. The philosophical undertones of the work are particularly valuable to those who do not generally consider the philosophical basis of environmental problems.