Vol. 9 No. 2 (2025)
Book Reviews

Environmental Ethics and Population Growth in the Work of Robin Attfield

PDF
  • David Samways
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/whpjps.63887831800449

Published 2025-08-29

How to Cite

Samways, David. 2025. “Environmental Ethics and Population Growth in the Work of Robin Attfield”. The Journal of Population and Sustainability 9 (2):185-93. https://doi.org/10.3197/whpjps.63887831800449.

Copyright (c) 2025 David Samways

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC
PDF

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

  1. Alcock, I., M.P. White, T. Taylor, D.F. Coldwell, M.O. Gribble, K.L. Evans, K.L., A. Corner, S. Vardoulakis and L.E. Fleming. 2017. ‘“Green” on the ground but not in the air: Pro-environmental attitudes are related to household behaviours but not discretionary air travel’. Global Environmental Change 42: 136–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.11.005
  2. Attfield, R. 1983. The Ethics of Environmental Concern. Oxford: Blackwell.
  3. Attfield, R. 2015. Ethics of the Global Environment. Second edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  4. Attfield, R. 2024. The Ethics of the Climate Crisis. Cambridge: Polity.
  5. Bradshaw, C.J.A. and B.W. Brook. 2014. ‘Human population reduction is not a quick fix for environmental problems’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (46): 16610–15. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1410465111
  6. Broomell, S.B., D.V. Budescu and H.-H. Por. 2015. ‘Personal experience with climate change predicts intentions to act’. Global Environmental Change 32: 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.03.001
  7. Chaurasia, A. 2020. ‘Population effects of increase in world energy use and CO2 emissions: 1990–2019’. The Journal of Population and Sustainability 5 (1). https://doi.org/10.3197/jps.2020.5.1.87
  8. Colombo, S.L., S.G. Chiarella, C. Lefrançois, J. Fradin, A. Raffone and L. Simione. 2023. ‘Why knowing about climate change is not enough to change: A perspective paper on the factors explaining the environmental knowledge-action gap’. Sustainability 15 (20): 14859. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152014859
  9. Compassion in World Farming. n.d. ‘Factory farming map’: https://www.ciwf.org.uk/our-campaigns/factory-farming-map/ (accessed 28 May 2025).
  10. Coole, D.H. 2018. Should We Control World Population? Cambridge: Polity Press.
  11. Demski, C., S. Capstick, N. Pidgeon, R.G. Sposato and A. Spence. 2017. ‘Experience of extreme weather affects climate change mitigation and adaptation responses’. Climatic Change 140 (2): 149–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1837-4
  12. Fisher, S., R. Fitzgerald and W. Poortinga. 2018 ‘Climate change: social divisions in beliefs and behaviour’. In J. Curtice, J. Perry, D. Phillips and M. Phillips (eds), British Social Attitudes: The 35th Report, pp. 1–26. London: The National Centre for Social Research.
  13. Graham, H., J.M. Bland, R. Cookson, M. Kanaan and P.C.L. White. 2017. ‘Do people favour policies that protect future generations? Evidence from a British survey of adults’. Journal of Social Policy 46 (3): 423–45. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279416000945
  14. Kahn, M.E. and M.J. Kotchen. 2011. ‘Business cycle effects on concern about climate change: the chilling effect of recession’. Climate Change Economics 02 (03): 257–73. https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010007811000292
  15. O’Neill, D.W., A.L. Fanning, W.F. Lamb and J.K. Steinberger. 2018. ‘A good life for all within planetary boundaries’. Nature Sustainability 1 (2): 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0021-4
  16. O’Sullivan, J.N. 2023. ‘Demographic delusions: World population growth is exceeding most projections and jeopardising scenarios for sustainable futures’. World 4 (3): 545–68. https://doi.org/10.3390/world4030034
  17. Ritchie, H., P. Rosado and M. Roser. 2019. ‘Meat and dairy production’. Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production (accessed 19 June 2025).
  18. Rosling, H., O. Rosling and A.R. Rönnlund. 2019. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things are Better Than You Think. London: SCEPTRE.
  19. Samways, D. 2022. ‘Population and sustainability: Reviewing the relationship between population growth and environmental change’. The Journal of Population and Sustainability 6 (1): 15–41. https://doi.org/10.3197/JPS.63772239426891
  20. Samways, D. 2023. ‘Anthropocentrism, ecocentrism and hunter-gatherer societies: A strong structurationist approach to values and environmental change’. Environmental Values 32 (2): 131–50. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327122X16491521047062
  21. Samways, D. 2025. ‘The anthropocentrism thesis: (mis)interpreting environmental values in small-scale societies’. Environmental Values 34 (1): 25–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/09632719241245170
  22. Scruggs, L. and S. Benegal. 2012. ‘Declining public concern about climate change: Can we blame the great recession?’ Global Environmental Change 22 (2): 505–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.01.002
  23. Spence, A., W. Poortinga, C. Butler and N.F. Pidgeon. 2011. ‘Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience’. Nature Climate Change 1 (1): 46–49. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1059
  24. United Nations. 2024. World Population Prospects 2024: Summary of Results. New York: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
  25. Vieira, J., S.L. Castro and A.S. Souza. 2023. ‘Psychological barriers moderate the attitude-behavior gap for climate change’. PLOS ONE 18 (7): e0287404. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287404