Rolston III, Holmes --- "The Earth Charter facing the Anthropocene Epoch" [2019] ELECD 2179; in Burdon, Peter; Bosselmann, Klaus; Engel, Kirsten (eds), "The Crisis in Global Ethics and the Future of Global Governance" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 72

Book Title: The Crisis in Global Ethics and the Future of Global Governance

Editor(s): Burdon, Peter; Bosselmann, Klaus; Engel, Kirsten

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: The Earth Charter facing the Anthropocene Epoch

Author(s): Rolston III, Holmes

Number of pages: 20

Abstract/Description:

This chapter considers whether the Earth Charter will remain an aspirational document. Aspirational documents may be cheerfully endorsed as high ideals that we can some day hope for, but with the reservation that these ideals are nowhere in sight on the contemporary horizon. It argues that the Earth Charter is unlikely ever to be treated as an ‘unconditional covenant commitment... to be a real and operative agency in our lives, something to which we give ourselves wholeheartedly’. It also engages Engel’s contention that the Earth Charter can be a forceful influence in the face of Earth engineering and advancements in environmental ethics.