The clarity is enhanced by Revesz s excellent introductory notes to each section. The selections are often controversial and thought provoking, and this is highlighted by Revesz s notes and questions at the end of each section. The notes raise difficult ethical and legal questions, provide alternative analyses, suggest further readings, and pose hypothetical situations that encourage one to apply the analyzes in the selections. The authors raise a variety of ethical issues. Although a number of authors in the anthology consider human values and human welfare, it is unfortunate that none of the selections directly challenges Taylor s important and controversial position.
Environmental justice is one of the recurrent themes of the anthology.
Considerations of fairness and justice are raised by Vicki Been who is concerned with the distribution of locally undesirable land uses within the United States and by Henry Shue who is concerned with distribution of the costs of ameliorating the effects of global warming among nations. The anthology does not contain any selections that consider theories of justice or fairness in the abstract, although Been refers to theories by John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin. The authors are instead concerned with the application of principles of justice to environmental issues. In short, we see the philosophical principles in context. Various selections in the anthology do a fine job of showing how seemingly empirical issues such as risk assessment turn on value issues.