Global Warming and the Precautionary Principle
Environmental lawyer and author Carolyn Raffensperger argues that procrastination over threats to our basic support systems—climate, air and water quality, biodiversity—in the name of short-term economic cost imposes unacceptable risks to life as we know it. She calls for “a new ethic that asserts that we have a responsibility to care for the commonwealth and the common health of this and future generations.” This ethic gives rise to new decision-making strategies like the precautionary principle, which invites us to take precautionary action to prevent harm rather than wait to measure and manage risk.
The director of the Iowa-based Science and Environmental Health Network, Raffensperger is the co-editor of Precautionary Tools for Reshaping Environmental Policy (2006) and Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle (1999). She has also been featured in Gourmet magazine, the Utne Reader, Yes! Magazine, the Sun, Whole Earth, and Scientific American.