The Wicked Problem of Climate Change

摘要

Although best known for his perceived critiques of Christianity in his 1967 "Historical Roots" article, I draw upon Lynn Townsend White, jr.'s lesser-known texts and unpublished archival materials to argue that White made a significant, constructive contribution to environmental ethics. Through his rejection of anthropocentric and prudential forms of ethics, White proposed an ethic of compassion for nature rooted in his notion of a "spiritual democracy of all God's creatures." This ethical model, referred to here as Christian ecocentrism, is offered as a framework for Christian reflection and as a means for changing attitudes and behaviors on the "wicked problem" of climate change.