Philosophy 9.02: Environmental Ethics

Dartmouth College — Winter 2025 Class Meetings: 12 Hour (MWF 12:50–1:55; 12X T 1:20–2:10), Kemeny Hall 008 Instructor: Kirun Sankaran (Silsby 106) Office hours: MWF 2–3pm, or by appointment

Course Description

Climate change is an urgent moral, political, and technological challenge. It's also an interesting one. In this class we'll explore some of the moral and political issues raised by the realities of a warming planet, as well as the specter of future warming. These questions can be extremely applied: how do we figure out who's responsible for paying for climate change adaptations and mitigations? How do we trade off climate risks against other important values? They can also be extremely broad, touching on how we conceive of our humanity and its relationship to the rest of the natural world. How should we think about ecological limits to economic growth? What's the role of technology in shaping our relationship with nature? How should we arrange our lives?

Learning Goals

Students should leave class with an understanding of the various moral and political issues surrounding climate change and climate change policy.

Assignments

1. Three (3) Argument Analyses, due in the first half of the quarter, roughly 250 words apiece (5/10/15%, 30% total)
2. One (1) research paper, roughly 2500 words, in components: proposal (Week 6, 10%); rough draft (Week 7, 10%), with an individual feedback meeting in Weeks 7–8; final draft (35%)
3. Class attendance and participation (15%)

Argument analyses are graded anonymously.

Attendance and Participation

You learn philosophy by doing it. This class does not work unless you come to class having done the assigned reading, and actually discuss it. You get two no-excuse skips for the quarter; beyond that, absent a Dean's note, your participation grade drops by a third of a letter grade.

Late Work Policy

Assignments are due at 11:59pm on their due dates. You get two no-excuse extensions (48 hours each), usable on any assignment except the final draft — just email me that you're taking one; no justification required. Work submitted after an extension period, or after extensions are exhausted, is marked down a third of a letter grade per day.

Screen Policy

Laptops and cell phones are not permitted in class, except with explicit permission for a specific activity or as an SAS-instructed accommodation. I encourage you to print the readings and take handwritten notes.

ChatGPT and Other LLMs

I encourage the use of LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude as an aid to your learning. If you use one to aid your writing, I expect you to be up-front and honest about the division of labor between it and you. More specific guidance appears on assignment sheets.

Reading List

All course texts are available electronically through the Dartmouth Libraries and posted on Canvas; no purchases required.

Week 1: What Kind of Ethical Problem is Climate Change?

• Jan 6 — No reading
• Jan 7 (X) — Ritchie, "Are We the Last Generation? Or the First Sustainable One?"; Gardiner, "A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change, Intergenerational Ethics, and the Problem of Moral Corruption"
• Jan 8 — Mann, "Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Billion People?" (The Atlantic); Heath, Philosophical Foundations of Climate Change Policy, Ch. 1, §1.1
• Jan 10 — Using LLMs to Write. AA1 assigned.

Week 2: Climate Change is a Collective Action Problem, and Collective Action is Hard

• Jan 13 — Ostrom, Governing the Commons, Ch. 1–2
• Jan 14 (X) — cont.
• Jan 15 — Barry, "Sustainability and Intergenerational Justice"
• Jan 17 — No class. AA1 due.

Week 3: Intergenerational Collective Action

• Jan 20 — No class (MLK Day). AA2 assigned.
• Jan 21 (X) — Samuelson, "Sustainability: An Economist's Perspective"; Howarth, "Intergenerational Justice"
• Jan 22 — Heath, Ch. 2, "Climate Change and Growth"; Kallis et al., "Research on Degrowth"
• Jan 24 — cont.

Week 4: Trading Off Present and Future, and the Social Cost of Carbon

• Jan 27 — Heath, Ch. 3, "Intergenerational Justice"
• Jan 28 (X) — Nordhaus, The Climate Casino, Ch. 16, "Discounting and the Value of Time"
• Jan 29 — Kelleher, "Temporal Discounting and Climate Change"
• Jan 31 — No class. AA3 assigned.

Week 5: The Social Cost of Carbon / Carbon Pricing

• Feb 3 — Heath, Ch. 5, "The Social Cost of Carbon"
• Feb 4 (X) — cont.
• Feb 5 — Paul Kelleher visit
• Feb 7 — No class. AA2 due.

Week 6: Carbon Pricing

• Feb 10 — Heath, Ch. 4, "The Case for Carbon Pricing"
• Feb 12 — Sandel, "It's Immoral to Buy the Right to Pollute"; Anderson, "The Ethical Limitations of the Marketplace"
• Feb 14 — Heath, "Three Normative Models of the Welfare State." Paper proposal due; sign up for Week 7–8 meetings.

Week 7: Distributive Justice

• Feb 17 — Kahn, Adapting to Climate Change, Ch. 3, "Protecting the Poor"
• Feb 18 (X) — Táíwò, "The Fight For Reparations Cannot Ignore Climate Change" (Boston Review)
• Feb 19 — Kremer, Snyder, and Levin, "Advance Market Commitments: Insights from Theory and Experience"
• Feb 21 — No class. AA3 due.

Week 8: Innovation and Adaptation

• Feb 24 — Olson, The Rise and Decline of Nations, Ch. 2
• Feb 26, 28 — No class. Paper draft due Feb 28.

Week 9: Institutions and Governance

• Mar 3 — Sabin, The Liberal Attack on Government; Demsas, "Community Input is Bad, Actually"; Demsas, "Not Everyone Should Have a Say" (both The Atlantic)
• Mar 4 (X) — cont.
• Mar 5 — cont.
• Mar 7 — Last day of class; no class.

Final paper due Thursday, March 13, 11:59pm.

Institutional boilerplate (religious observances, Student Accessibility Services, Title IX) included in the distributed syllabus per Dartmouth requirements; omitted here for brevity.