- Table View
- List View
Petroleum Contracts: English Law & Practice
by Peter RobertsIn response to the primacy of English law as the lingua franca governing petroleum transactions, and the increased global demand for new sources of oil and gas, this fully updated new edition analyses the application of English law to contracts for project investment, financing, and development. The book provides practitioners and other parties with essential operational detail, as well as advising on the implications of English law on the interpretation of relevant provisions. The scope extends, unusually, beyond petroleum contracts made in the UK to cover all petroleum contracts worldwide, delivering exceptionally extensive coverage of this ever-growing sector for an international market. This work is a stand-alone practical guide on the application of English law to petroleum contracts, and provides a detailed and scholarly level of analysis, with reference to all relevant contracts and case law. Beginning with an introduction to the English legal system and the law of general contract, the author goes on to distinguish those characteristics that set petroleum contracts apart from others, including distinction between upstream, midstream, and downstream agreements. The contracts considered include those for the financing, management, sale, purchase and exchange of petroleum assets and interests (collectively called interest contracts), and contracts for the management, sale, purchase and exchange of petroleum quantities and petroleum storage, transportation and capacities (collectively called commodity contracts). Subsequent chapters introduce preliminary petroleum contracts and the obligation to negotiate, conditions precedent and subsequent, joint ventures, and the involvement third parties and the implications for privity in this context. Breaches and doctrines triggered by the impossibility of performance are set out in detail, alongside legal advice on damages, termination, liability allocation and equitable remedies. All relevant provisions are analysed in a final chapter of miscellaneous analysis, ensuring a truly comprehensive treatment of the sector. This new edition has been updated with new chapters on contract architecture and related issues and new sections on the Limitation Act and tolling, further assurances, quantum meruit and estoppel. Chapters have been updated in light of key cases on good faith and relational contracts, fiduciary duties and consequential loss recognitions, amongst others. As English law continues to grow in international importance, this is a key text for practitioners in a number of jurisdictions who are looking to draft contracts or handle international transactions under the umbrella of English law.
Moonstruck: How lunar cycles affect life
by Ernest NaylorThroughout history, the influence of the full Moon on humans and animals has featured in folklore and myths. Yet it has become increasingly apparent that many organisms really are influenced indirectly, and in some cases directly, by the lunar cycle. Breeding behaviour among some marine animals has been demonstrated to be controlled by internal circalunar biological clocks, to the point where lunar-daily and lunar-monthly patterns of Moon-generated tides are embedded in their genes. Yet, intriguingly, Moon-related behaviours are also found in dry land and fresh water species living far beyond the influence of any tides. In Moonstruck, Ernest Naylor dismisses the myths concerning the influence of the Moon, but shows through a range of fascinating examples the remarkable real effects that we are now finding through science. He suggests that since the advent of evolution on Earth, which occurred shortly after the formation of the Moon, animals evolved adaptations to the lunar cycle, and considers whether, if Moon-clock genes occur in other animals, they also might exist in us?
Moonstruck: How lunar cycles affect life
by Ernest NaylorThroughout history, the influence of the full Moon on humans and animals has featured in folklore and myths. Yet it has become increasingly apparent that many organisms really are influenced indirectly, and in some cases directly, by the lunar cycle. Breeding behaviour among some marine animals has been demonstrated to be controlled by internal circalunar biological clocks, to the point where lunar-daily and lunar-monthly patterns of Moon-generated tides are embedded in their genes. Yet, intriguingly, Moon-related behaviours are also found in dry land and fresh water species living far beyond the influence of any tides. In Moonstruck, Ernest Naylor dismisses the myths concerning the influence of the Moon, but shows through a range of fascinating examples the remarkable real effects that we are now finding through science. He suggests that since the advent of evolution on Earth, which occurred shortly after the formation of the Moon, animals evolved adaptations to the lunar cycle, and considers whether, if Moon-clock genes occur in other animals, they also might exist in us?
The Fight Against Hunger and Malnutrition: The Role of Food, Agriculture, and Targeted Policies
by David E. SahnAdvances in science and policy during the past 50 years have prevented the predicted widespread food shortages as the world's population soared. Malnutrition, however, remains prevalent. This book details strategies and practical approaches designed to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in a new era where technological change, markets, patterns of governance, and social programs have an increasingly global dimension. More specifically, this book addresses a range of considerations including the role of small farmers in a world where the global reach of multinational corporations have enormous control from the farm to local markets and the grocery store; misgivings and misperceptions about genetically modified foods; the increasing competition of food and energy sectors for agricultural output; the importance of micronutrient deficiencies and chronic disease related to obesity, which often coexists in the same communities as hunger; and issues of sustainability of the food and agricultural system in an period when there is increasing concerns over global warming and environmental degradation. Currently there is also more emphasis on evidence-based policymaking, which has raised the standard of proof for evaluating the impact of micro-level interventions that have traditionally been so widely embraced and are now under increased scrutiny. It is in this context that this book provides practical advice on programs that can effectively target those at greatest risk of malnutrition and guidance on policies to promote a healthy and sustainable food and agricultural system. Overlaying all of these challenges is the book's emphasis on both identifying data and information needs for decision-making, and practical considerations for better understanding the domestic and international political and social constraints that need to be addressed when trying to translate scientific knowledge and information into practice.
Climate Justice in a Non-Ideal World
Climate change is a pressing international political issue, for which a practical but principled solution is urgently required. Climate Justice in a Non-Ideal World aims to make normative theorising on climate justice more relevant and applicable to political realities and public policy. The motivation behind this edited collection is that normative theorising has something to offer even in an imperfect world mired by partial compliance and unfavourable circumstances. In the last years, a lively debate has sprung up in political philosophy about non-ideal theory and there has also been an upsurge of interest in the various normative issues raised by climate change such as intergenerational justice, transnational harm, collective action, or risk assessment. However, there has been little systematic discussion of the links between climate justice and non-ideal theory even though the former would seem like a paradigm example of the relevance of the latter. The aim of this edited volume is to address this. In doing so, the volume presents original work from leading experts on climate ethics, including several who have participated in climate policy. The first part of the book discusses those facets of the debate on climate justice that become relevant due to the shortcomings of current global action on climate change. The second part makes specific suggestions for adjusting current policies and negotiating procedures in ways that are feasible in the relatively short term while still decreasing the distance between current climate policy and the ideal. The chapters in the third and final part reflect upon how philosophical work can be brought to bear on the debates in climate science, communication, and politics.
The Anthropocene Project: Virtue in the Age of Climate Change
by Byron WillistonThe evidence presented in the recently released Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests strongly that continued failure to make meaningful cuts to greenhouse gas emissions could bring about disastrous results for the human community, especially for future generations. Summing up the findings of AR5, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, has stated that our persistent inaction on climate change presents a grave threat to the very social stability of human systems. The Anthropocene Project attempts to make philosophical sense of this, examining the reasons for the inaction highlighted by the IPCC, and suggests the normative bases for overcoming it. Williston identifies that we are now in the human agethe Anthropocenebut he argues that this is no mere geological marker. It is instead best viewed as the latest permutation of an already existing moral and political project rooted in Enlightenment values. The author shows that it can be fruitful to do climate ethics with this focus because in so many aspects of our culture we already endorse broadly Enlightenment values about progress, equality, and the value of knowledge. But these values must be robustly instantiated in the dispositions of moral agents, and so we require a climate ethics emphasizing the virtues of justice, truthfulness, and rational hope. One of the books most original claims is that our moral failure on this issue is, in large part, the product of motivated irrationality on the part of the world's most prosperous people. We have failed to live up to our commitments to justice and truthfulness because we are, respectively, morally weak and self-deceived. Understanding this provides the basis for the rational hope that we might yet find a way to avoid climate catastrophe.
Legal Aspects of EU Energy Regulation
This book provides comprehensive coverage of EU energy law in practice, evaluating the effectiveness of the Third Energy Package, the rise and importance of national and EU renewable energy measures in electricity markets, interconnection and infrastructure aspects of the electricity and gas markets. The national reports take into account the legal and institutional diversity among the Member States, drawing on the experience of prominent energy lawyers to provide analyses of their own national experiences. This book includes an overview of the Energy Union, the institutional framework of regulation, a comprehensive review of how things have changed as a result of the various energy packages, state aid decisions and Energy Charter and European Court of Justice case law.
Legal Aspects of EU Energy Regulation
by Peter D Cameron and Raphael J HeffronThis book provides comprehensive coverage of EU energy law in practice, evaluating the effectiveness of the Third Energy Package, the rise and importance of national and EU renewable energy measures in electricity markets, interconnection and infrastructure aspects of the electricity and gas markets. The national reports take into account the legal and institutional diversity among the Member States, drawing on the experience of prominent energy lawyers to provide analyses of their own national experiences. This book includes an overview of the Energy Union, the institutional framework of regulation, a comprehensive review of how things have changed as a result of the various energy packages, state aid decisions and Energy Charter and European Court of Justice case law.
EU Environmental Law and Policy
by David Langlet Said MahmoudiAn accessible and comprehensive resource, EU Environmental Law and Policy explains the structure and logic of EU environmental law and enables readers to quickly gain a thorough understanding of the different areas of EU secondary law pertaining to the protection of the environment. This volume explores the institutional, constitutional, and historical premises for the adoption and application of substantive EU environmental law and further expounds upon the dynamics between EU Member States and the EU. The book additionally provides an introduction to the specific subject areas of EU environmental law through thematic chapters that analyse important topics such as climate and energy, water, and biological diversity. Each area is explained in detail, including a discussion of the specific features that characterize each area and an overview of the main legal acts and case law relevant to the particular area.
EU Environmental Law and Policy
by David Langlet Said MahmoudiAn accessible and comprehensive resource, EU Environmental Law and Policy explains the structure and logic of EU environmental law and enables readers to quickly gain a thorough understanding of the different areas of EU secondary law pertaining to the protection of the environment. This volume explores the institutional, constitutional, and historical premises for the adoption and application of substantive EU environmental law and further expounds upon the dynamics between EU Member States and the EU. The book additionally provides an introduction to the specific subject areas of EU environmental law through thematic chapters that analyse important topics such as climate and energy, water, and biological diversity. Each area is explained in detail, including a discussion of the specific features that characterize each area and an overview of the main legal acts and case law relevant to the particular area.
An Introduction to Molecular Ecology
by Graham Rowe Michael Sweet Trevor BeebeeAn Introduction to Molecular Ecology combines theoretical concepts with practice-driven examples to showcase the latest molecular and genomic techniques and their impact on the study of ecology. The opening chapters introduce the essential molecular and genetic concepts that underpin the subject and describe key molecular tools and methods available to the ecologist. Capturing the broad scope of the field, the book goes on to explore the use of molecular tools in the context of behavioural ecology, population genetics, phylogeography, conservation, and microbial ecology. The third edition includes coverage of exciting new technological and analytical developments, such as next generation sequencing, which have revolutionized the field over the last decade. Molecular ecology is now in a position to tackle some truly ecological questions for the first time since its inception. Blending conceptual detail with the most instructive examples, An Introduction to Molecular Ecology is an ideal resource for those new to the subject needing to develop a strong working understanding of the field. Online Resource Centre The Online Resource Centre to accompany An Introduction to Molecular Ecology features: For students: - Suggested review articles to take your learning further - Links to useful websites and software - A range of questions to consolidate your learning and understanding For registered adopters of the book: - Journal Club; suggested research papers and discussion questions linked to topics featured in the book - Figures from the textbook to view and download
The Greening of Everyday Life: Challenging Practices, Imagining Possibilities
The Greening of Everyday Life develops a distinctive new way of talking about environmental concerns in post-industrial society. It brings together several conceptual frameworks with a diversity of case studies and practical examples of efforts to orient everyday material practices toward greater sustainability. The volume builds upon internal criticisms of dominant strands of contemporary environmentalism in post-industrial societies, and develops a new approach which emerges from a number of disciplines, but is unified by a normative concern for the material objects and practices familiar to members of societies in their everyday lives. In exploring alternatives, the chapter authors utilize conceptual frameworks rooted in environmental justice, new materialism, and social practice theory and apply it to the everyday; attention to urban biodiversity, infrastructure for storm water run-off, green home remodelling, household toxicity, community gardens and farmers markets, bicycling and automobility, alternative technologies, and more. With contributions from leading international and emerging scholars, this volume critically explores specific strategies and actions taken to generate homes, communities, and livelihoods that might be scaled-up to promote more sustainable societies.
Sharing the Costs and Benefits of Energy and Resource Activity: Legal Change and Impact on Communities
A new phase is emerging in the relationship between energy and resource activities and the communities that are affected by them. Any energy or resource project - a mine, a wind farm, a dam for hydroelectricity, or a shale gas development - will involve a mix of impacts and benefits for communities. For many years, the law has mediated impacts on communities and provided for the distribution of financial benefits. Now, there is growing awareness of the need to consider not only a wider range of costs and benefits for communities from energy and resource projects, but also the effects on communities at multiple scales and in complex ways. Sharing the costs and benefits of natural resource activity has now become a legal requirement for energy and resource projects operating in many jurisdictions, particularly in developing countries. This book uses cases studies from across the globe to examine the emergence of such legal measures, their advantages and disadvantages, and the improvements that may be feasible in the legal frameworks used to distribute the costs and benefits of energy and resources activity. The book has three parts: Part I considers general legal and conceptual frameworks; Part II addresses the mechanisms available to distribute costs and benefits; and Part III considers the role of public engagement and participation in the sharing of the costs and benefits from energy and resource projects.
Sharing the Costs and Benefits of Energy and Resource Activity: Legal Change and Impact on Communities
by Lila Barrera-Hernández Barry Barton Lee Godden Alastair Lucas Anita RønneA new phase is emerging in the relationship between energy and resource activities and the communities that are affected by them. Any energy or resource project - a mine, a wind farm, a dam for hydroelectricity, or a shale gas development - will involve a mix of impacts and benefits for communities. For many years, the law has mediated impacts on communities and provided for the distribution of financial benefits. Now, there is growing awareness of the need to consider not only a wider range of costs and benefits for communities from energy and resource projects, but also the effects on communities at multiple scales and in complex ways. Sharing the costs and benefits of natural resource activity has now become a legal requirement for energy and resource projects operating in many jurisdictions, particularly in developing countries. This book uses cases studies from across the globe to examine the emergence of such legal measures, their advantages and disadvantages, and the improvements that may be feasible in the legal frameworks used to distribute the costs and benefits of energy and resources activity. The book has three parts: Part I considers general legal and conceptual frameworks; Part II addresses the mechanisms available to distribute costs and benefits; and Part III considers the role of public engagement and participation in the sharing of the costs and benefits from energy and resource projects.
The Improbable Primate: How Water Shaped Human Evolution
by Clive FinlaysonTaking an ecological approach to our evolution, Clive Finlayson considers the origins of modern humans within the context of a drying climate and changing landscapes. Finlayson argues that environmental change, particularly availability of water, played a critical role in shaping the direction of human evolution, contributing to our spread and success. He argues that our ancestors carved a niche for themselves by leaving the forest and forcing their way into a long-established community of carnivores in a tropical savannah as climate changes opened up the landscape. They took their chance at high noon, when most other predators were asleep. Adapting to this new lifestyle by shedding their hair and developing an active sweating system to keep cool, being close to fresh water was vital. As the climate dried, our ancestors, already bipedal, became taller and slimmer, more adept at travelling farther in search of water. The challenges of seeking water in a drying landscape moulded the minds and bodies of early humans, and directed their migrations and eventual settlements. In this fresh and provocative view of a seven-million-year evolutionary journey, Finlayson demonstrates the radical implications for the interpretation of fossils and technologies and shows that understanding humans within an ecological context provides insights into the emergence and spread of Homo sapiens sapiens worldwide.
The Oxford Handbook of International Climate Change Law (Oxford Handbooks)
Climate change presents one of the greatest challenges of our time, and has become one of the defining issues of the twenty-first century. The radical changes which both developed and developing countries will need to make, in economic and in legal terms, to respond to climate change are unprecedented. International law, including treaty regimes, institutions, and customary international law, needs to address the myriad challenges and consequences of climate change, including variations in the weather patterns, sea level rise, and the resulting migration of peoples. The Oxford Handbook of International Climate Change Law provides an unprecedented and authoritative overview of all aspects of international climate change law as it currently stands, with guidance for how it should develop in the future. Over forty leading scholars and practitioners set out a comprehensive understanding of the legal issues that surround this vitally important but still emerging area of international law. This book addresses the major legal dimensions of the problems caused by climate change: not only in the content and nature of the international legal frameworks, which need implementation at the national level, but also the development of carbon trading systems as a means of reducing the costs of meeting emission reduction targets. After an introduction to the field, the Handbook assesses the relevant institutions, the key applicable principles of international law, the international mitigation regime and its consequences, and climate change litigation, before providing perspectives focused upon specific countries or regions. The Handbook will be an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and practitioners of international climate change law. It provides readers with diverse perspectives, bringing together interpretations from different disciplines, countries, and cultures.
The Oxford Handbook of International Climate Change Law (Oxford Handbooks)
by Cinnamon P. Carlarne, Kevin R. Gray and Richard G. TarasofskyClimate change presents one of the greatest challenges of our time, and has become one of the defining issues of the twenty-first century. The radical changes which both developed and developing countries will need to make, in economic and in legal terms, to respond to climate change are unprecedented. International law, including treaty regimes, institutions, and customary international law, needs to address the myriad challenges and consequences of climate change, including variations in the weather patterns, sea level rise, and the resulting migration of peoples. The Oxford Handbook of International Climate Change Law provides an unprecedented and authoritative overview of all aspects of international climate change law as it currently stands, with guidance for how it should develop in the future. Over forty leading scholars and practitioners set out a comprehensive understanding of the legal issues that surround this vitally important but still emerging area of international law. This book addresses the major legal dimensions of the problems caused by climate change: not only in the content and nature of the international legal frameworks, which need implementation at the national level, but also the development of carbon trading systems as a means of reducing the costs of meeting emission reduction targets. After an introduction to the field, the Handbook assesses the relevant institutions, the key applicable principles of international law, the international mitigation regime and its consequences, and climate change litigation, before providing perspectives focused upon specific countries or regions. The Handbook will be an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and practitioners of international climate change law. It provides readers with diverse perspectives, bringing together interpretations from different disciplines, countries, and cultures.
Shakespeare's Nature: From Cultivation To Culture
by Charlotte ScottShakespeare's Nature offers the first sustained account of the impact of the language and practice of husbandry on Shakespeare's work. It shows how the early modern discourse of cultivation changes attitude to the natural world, and traces the interrelationships between the human and the natural worlds in Shakespeare's work through dramatic and poetic models of intervention, management, prudence and profit. Ranging from the Sonnets to The Tempest, the book explains how cultivation of the land responds to and reinforces social welfare, and reveals the extent to which the dominant industry of Shakespeare's time shaped a new language of social relations. Beginning with an examination of the rise in the production of early modern printed husbandry manuals, Shakespeare's Nature draws on the varied fields of economic, agrarian, humanist, Christian and literary studies, showing how the language of husbandry redefined Elizabethan attitudes to both the human and non-human worlds. In a series of close readings of specific plays and poems, this book explains how cultivation forms and develops social and economic value systems, and how the early modern imagination was dependent on metaphors of investment, nurture and growth. By tracing this language of intervention and creation in Shakespeare's work, this book reveals a fundamental discourse in the development of early modern social, political and personal values.
Climate-Challenged Society
by John S. Dryzek Richard B. Norgaard David SchlosbergThis book is an original, accessible, and thought-provoking introduction to the severe and broad-ranging challenges that climate change presents and how societies can respond. It synthesizes and deploys cutting-edge scholarship on the range of social, economic, political, and philosophical issues surrounding climate change. The treatment is introductory, but the book is written "with attitude", for nobody has yet charted in coherent, integrative, and effective fashion a way to move societies beyond their current paralysis as they face the challenges of climate change. The coverage begins with an examination of science, public opinion, and policy making, with special attention to organized climate change denial. The book then moves to economic analysis and its limits; different kinds of policies; climate justice; governance at all levels from the local to the global; and the challenge of an emerging "Anthropocene" in which the mostly unintended consequences of human action drive the earth system into a more chaotic and unstable era. The conclusion considers the prospects for fundamental transition in ideas, movements, economics, and governance.
The Energy Charter Treaty
by Kaj HobérThe Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is unique under international law, providing a multilateral framework for energy cooperation through the operation of more open and competitive energy markets, while respecting the principles of sustainable development and sovereignty over energy resources. With 29 arbitrations currently under its provisions, a growing number of investors are resorting to the protection of the ECT. This is the first in-depth, article-by-article commentary on all aspects of the Treaty. It provides clear and comprehensive discussion of all provisions, analysing them against the background of other relevant writings such as case law and academic papers. It also considers relevant arbitral awards. It also offers insightful coverage and analysis of the history and background, as well as discussion of its relationships with other treaties. As energy investors and the legal community become more aware of the Treaty, the number of disputes relating to it is rapidly increasing, and the book considers the growing volume of case law concerning the interpretation or application of the provisions of the treaty. This is an invaluable reference tool for practitioners and investors.
The Energy Charter Treaty
by Professor Kaj HobérThe Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is unique under international law, providing a multilateral framework for energy cooperation through the operation of more open and competitive energy markets, while respecting the principles of sustainable development and sovereignty over energy resources.. This is an in-depth, article-by-article commentary on all aspects of the Treaty and is essential for the large number of investors who are resorting to the protection of the ECT. It provides clear and comprehensive discussion of all provisions, analysing them against the background of other relevant writings such as case law and academic papers. It provides clear and comprehensive discussion of all provisions, analysing them against the background of other relevant materials such as case law, arbitral awards, and academic scholarship. It also offers insightful coverage and analysis of the history and background, as well as discussion of its relationships with other treaties. As energy investors and the legal community become more aware of the Treaty, the number of disputes relating to it is rapidly increasing, and the book considers the growing volume of case law concerning the interpretation or application of the provisions of the treaty. This is an invaluable reference tool for practitioners and investors.
Environmental Politics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by Andrew DobsonEnvironmental politics has many faces and operates at multiple scales: it preoccupies individuals as well as governments, drives local agreements as well as international treaties, results in minor business changes as well as wholesale business decisions, and fluctuates between a politics of protest and one of accommodation. In this Very Short Introduction Andrew Dobson offers a lively and comprehensive commentary on the many facets of environmental politics today. Looking towards the future, he asks whether environmental politics will be comfortably accommodated by mainstream politics, or whether the advent of the Anthropocene - a whole new geological epoch driven by human impact on the environment - will herald a break with the politics of growth that has dominated social life since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Environmental Politics: From Margins To Mainstream (Very Short Introductions)
by Andrew DobsonEnvironmental politics has many faces and operates at multiple scales: it preoccupies individuals as well as governments, drives local agreements as well as international treaties, results in minor business changes as well as wholesale business decisions, and fluctuates between a politics of protest and one of accommodation. In this Very Short Introduction Andrew Dobson offers a lively and comprehensive commentary on the many facets of environmental politics today. Looking towards the future, he asks whether environmental politics will be comfortably accommodated by mainstream politics, or whether the advent of the Anthropocene - a whole new geological epoch driven by human impact on the environment - will herald a break with the politics of growth that has dominated social life since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Climate Change And The Moral Agent: Individual Duties In An Interdependent World
by Elizabeth CrippsMany of us take it for granted that we ought to cooperate to tackle climate change. But where does this requirement come from and what does it mean for us as individuals trying to do the right thing? Although climate change does untold harm to our fellow humans and to the non-human world, no one causes it on their own and it is not the result of intentionally collective action. In the face of the current failure of institutions to confront the problem, is there anything we can do as individuals that will leave us able to live with ourselves? This book responds to these challenges. It makes a moral case for collective action on climate change by appealing to moralized collective self-interest, collective ability to aid, and an expanded understanding of collective responsibility for harm. It also argues that collective action is something we owe to ourselves, as moral agents, because without it we are left facing marring choices. In the absence of collective action, individuals should focus on trying to promote such action (whether through or by bypassing existing institutions), with a supplementary duty to aid victims directly. The argument is not that we should not be cutting our own emissionsthis can be a vital part of bringing about collective action or alleviating harmbut that such `green lifestyle choices cannot straightforwardly be defended as duties in their own right, and should not take priority over trying to bring about collective change.
The Natural History of Selborne
by Anne Secord'I was much entertained last summer with a tame bat, which would take flies out of a person's hand.' Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne (1789) reveals a world of wonders in nature. Over a period of twenty years White describes in minute detail the behaviour of animals through the changing seasons in the rural Hampshire parish of Selborne. He notes everything from the habits of an eccentric tortoise to the mysteries of bird migration and animal reproduction, with the purpose of inspiring others to observe their own surroundings with the same pleasure and attention. Written as a series of letters, White's book has all the immediacy of an exchange with friends, yet it is crafted with compelling literary skill. His gossipy correspondence has delighted readers from Charles Darwin to Virginia Woolf, and it has been read as a nostalgic evocation of a pastoral vision, a model for local studies of plants and animals, and a precursor to modern ecology. This new edition includes contemporary illustrations, a contextualizing introduction, and an appendix of literary responses to the book. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.