The Early Ethics of Planetary Health

This lecture is co-presented by Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care and the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB), and is part of the JCB Bioethics Seminar Series.

Title: The Early Ethics of Planetary Health

Abstract: Proponents of the concept of planetary health constitute one branch of a wider movement which seeks to reorganize, and perhaps revolutionize, public health in response to global environmental problems, especially climate change. Ethics is at the center of this push for transformation. This paper explores the concept of planetary health, interrogates its central values, identifies key tensions, and articulates an agenda for future research. It proposes (first) that the planetary health movement should embrace a wide, normative vision of planetary health as opposed to a narrower, more technocratic one, and (second) that it should reorient itself so as to make its overarching normative concept “planetary flourishing”, while regarding “planetary health” as an essential, but subsidiary component.

Speaker:
Dr. Stephen M. Gardiner

Ph.D., Philosophy, Cornell University
Professor of Philosophy and Ben Rabinowitz Endowed
Professor of Human Dimensions of the Environment/Director, Program on Ethics

• 4:00 – Introduction and History of the Philippa Harris Lecture Series
• 4:10 – Introduction of the Speaker
• 4:15 – Speaker Presentation
• 5:00 – Question and Answer Period

This event is free and is open to the general public. The YouTube live stream link to the lecture will be sent out to registered participants two hours before the event.