Ethics for Disaster shows how individual and government preparation and response to hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, pandemics, and other disasters are ethical matters. Confronting the social inequalities revealed by these disasters, we must also acknowledge how the lack of preparation for climate change and pandemics has shifted these threats from modern, isolated disasters into constant contemporary risks.
This second edition presents four new chapters about disaster-as-risk from; climate change, the natural elements of earth, air, wind, and fire; the COVID-19 and other pandemics; and innocent victims and refugees. Now more than ever, we need good and just moral principles to guide us through the disruptive crises ahead––especially for minorities. Humanism and humanitarianism are vital. Zack combines moral philosophy, political theory, public policy, and environmental science to present new ways to think about changes in the world we all share.
Naomi Zack is professor of philosophy at Lehman College, CUNY. Her recent books are: Ethics and Race: Past and Present Intersections and Controversies, The American Tragedy of COVID-19: Social and Political Crises of 2020, Progressive Anonymity: From Identity Politics to Evidence-Based Government , and Reviving the Social Compact: Inclusive Citizenship in an Age of Extreme Politics.
Preface to the Second Edition and Acknowledgements
Preface to the Paperback Edition
Preface to the First Edition and Acknowledgements
Book Introduction and Overview of parts and chapters
Part I: Ethics
Disaster Planning: Is Saving the Greatest Number Best?
Lifeboat Ethics and Disaster: Should We Blow Up the Fat Man?
Virtues for Disaster: Mitch Rapp and Ernest Shackleton
Part II: Politics
The Social Contract: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Art Spiegelman
Public Policy: Snakes on a Plane, Fire in the Pentagon, and Disaster Rights
The Disadvantaged and Disaster: Hurricane Katrina
Part III: The New Disaster-as-Risk World
Climate Change: Understanding the basics, including economics.
Earth, Air, Fire, and Water: The elements of disaster
COVID-19 and Minorities: How the worse-off fare worst
Innocent victims and refugees: Moral and Practical questions
Conclusion: A Code of Ethics for Disaster, its Implications, and the Global Water Crisis
Postscript to 2nd edition
Postscript to the 1st edition
Select Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Naomi Zack’s work is distinguished by her careful and considered thought, with a keen eye for the ways that disadvantaged groups can become more vulnerable through disasters. Such dynamics were seen with devastating clarity during the pandemic. This revised and extended volume grapples with the fraught realities of COVID-19 and climate change, examining recent and predicted disasters in reference to the fundamental elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Zack is a sensitive, empathetic thinker with a strong sense for some of the most fundamental challenges we are collectively reckoning with. The new edition of Ethics for Disaster is an important contribution to a set of issues that will unfortunately continue to be central in the years to come. — Christopher Hobson, associate professor, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, and visiting associate professor, College of Global Liberal Arts, Ritsumeikan University
Ethics for Disaster is an unmatched guidebook in homeland security and emergency management. With its practical framework and real-world examples, it challenges readers to consider their moral obligations during crises, providing invaluable insights into the ethics of preparedness and response. Its an essential resource for anyone working in the field. — Christopher Bellavita, academic programs director, Center for Homeland Defense and Security, Naval Postgraduate School
