Intergenerational Democracy, Environmental Justice and the Case of Nuclear Waste

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-032-72801-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 200 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 381 g

Reihe: Routledge Explorations in Energy Studies

This book explores the interplay between intergenerational justice and intragenerational justice using nuclear waste management as a consistent case to explore these themes.

Lee Towers and Matthew Cotton examine the issue of intergenerational justice from a social scientific perspective, drawing on central case studies of nuclear waste management in Canada, Finland, and the United Kingdom. They connect indigenous philosophies and notions of justice with the concept of intergenerational democracy, advocating for better inclusion of youth and elders in decision-making that affects their well-being. As such, the book’s primary objectives are fourfold:

- To assess whether trade-offs between intergenerational and intragenerational justice are necessary, and if so, what these trade-offs are and how they might be resolved.
To critically assess dominant western liberal philosophical approaches that shape contemporary intergenerational justice thinking in policy and practice, and consider alternatives drawn from anthropology and indigenous philosophies.
To assess how far our current capitalist system can achieve substantive forms of justice.
To critically examine three nuclear waste management case studies and assess how far these achieve environmental and energy justice and how they exemplify tensions between inter- and intragenerational justice.

This short, accessible volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy, environmental justice, and ethics.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Towers, Lee

Cotton, Matthew

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Physik Mechanik Energie
• Technische Wissenschaften Energietechnik | Elektrotechnik Atomenergietechnik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

 

            Defining Intergenerational Justice

            Three Features of Intergenerational Justice

            Children as Proxies of Future Generations

            Indigenous Societies and the World System  

            Humanity, Ethnoclass, Ability, Gender, and Sexuality

            Book Outline

 

Part One – Intergenerational justice dilemmas

 

Chapter 1: The philosophical challenge of intergenerational justice

            Philosophical challenges and concepts in intergenerational justice

            Can future people have rights? The non-identity problem

            What obligations do we hold to future generations? The problem of reciprocity

            The weighting of future obligations – the issue of social discounting

            Sufficientarianism, or is enough, enough?    

            Environmental Rights

            Ontological challenges

            Conclusions

 

Chapter 2: Alternative philosophical traditions

            Social Relations of the Gift

            Indigenous Perspectives on Justice and Time

            Defining the Human Across Deep Time

            The Over-determination of Man

            Conclusions – a new/old subjectivity for intergenerational justice

Chapter 3: Mainstream Economics and Scarce Justice

            Generational Wealth Transfers

            Trading Justice

            The Economics of the Anthropocene

            Conclusions

 

Chapter 4: Abundant Justice and Democracy

            Intergenerational Dilemmas

            Children and Young People as Future Generational Proxies

            Intergenerational Democracy

            Media Framings of Youth Protestors

            Youth as Proxies

            The UN Convention on the Rights of Children

            The Intergenerational Capability Approach

            Future Studies, Decoloniality, and Backcasting

            Mainstream Future Studies

            Backcasting Decolonised?

            Conclusions

 

Part Two – Nuclear Waste and Intergenerational Democracy

 

Chapter 5: Critical Nuclear Concepts

            Nuclear Landscapes & Communities

            Peripheralisation

            Energopower

            Nuclear Colonialism  

            Conclusions

 

Chapter 6: Canada and the Nuclear Waste Management Organisation

            Context and Histories

            NWMO – Aims, Scope and Assumptions

            The Search for a GDF Site and Implementation

            Conclusions

 

Chapter 7: The World’s First GDF – Finland

            Context and History

            Aims, Scope and Assumptions of NWMOs in Finland

            STUK

            TVO & Fortum            

            Posiva

            Shared Assumptions  

            Implementation of the Most Advanced GDF in the World

            Finland’s Search for a GDF

            Media Representations and Consumption

            Intragenerational and Intergeneration Justice and Finland’s GDF

            Conclusions

 

Chapter 8: The United Kingdom and Nuclear Power and Waste

            Context and history of nuclear technologies in the United Kingdom

            Period one – Economic and Military Securitisation

            Period 2. Nuclear energy expansion and the recognition of waste as an environmental      concern

            Period 3. The Deliberative Turn

            Period 4. Climate change securitisation  

            Current UK Nuclear Waste Policy

            Implementation of the GDF  

            Expanding Costs and Expanding Inventories

            Democratic Deficits and the Nuclear

            Conclusion

 

Conclusion: Justice for All

            Nuclear Waste Management and Justice

            Distributional Justice

            Procedural Justice

            The Justice of Recognition

            The Justice of Redress and Reparation

            Ghosts of Seppo and Western Science

            The Darkness of the Grave or the Womb?

 

References

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Lee Towers is a postdoctoral researcher working at Teesside University looking into aspects of intra- and intergenerational justice and nuclear waste solutions. He holds a PhD in applied social sciences from Brighton University. This PhD explored energy justice with a focus on community energy organisations and their work on energy poverty and climate mitigation in the United Kingdom. Previous published work includes an examination of community energy work on reducing energy poverty in the UK privatised energy system and an exploration of the intergenerational aspects of the pandemic published by Brighton University. His current postdoctoral position is funded by the Nuclear Waste Services.

Matthew Cotton is professor of environmental justice and public policy in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Law at Teesside University. He holds a PhD in environmental science from the University of East Anglia. His research explores the social and ethical dimensions of technology development and environmental planning, and the effective involvement of stakeholders in questions of socio-economic and ecological justice. His previous published works on these topics include the monographs: Virtual Reality, Empathy and Ethics; Nuclear Waste Politics (Routledge); and Ethics and Technology Assessment; and co-edited volumes: Governing Shale Gas (Routledge) and Engaging Environmental Justice. His research in the field of environmental justice is funded by Nuclear Waste Services; Research England; The Economic and Social Research Council; Euratom; The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; and the National Institute for Public Health Research.