My thesis is that a recovery of Germain Grisez’s theological ethics in relation to the environment and the application of his conservative Catholic methodology to climate change can yield a novel and significant contribution to Catholic theological reflection on this central challenge in an age of ecological crisis. This thesis argues that climate change and the wider ecological crisis are ‘signs of the times’—and hence are appropriate issues for Catholic theological reflection—both in principle and on the basis of their classification as such within the authoritative teaching of the Church’s magisterium. The scientific evidence for the phenomenon of anthropogenic global warming is robust and the UNFCCC establishes a collective legal obligation to deliver a greenhouse gas abatement strategy rigorous enough to prevent ‘dangerous anthropogenic interference with the earth’s climatic system’. This thesis questions both the assumption of endemic anthropocentricism in the Judeo-Christian tradition and the critical-revisionist methodology adopted by a number of ecotheologians in relation to Vatican teaching on the basis of this assumption. This thesis proposes an alternative approach to reflection on ecological issues employing a conservative Catholic theological method exemplified in the work of Germain Grisez. This thesis proposes a rereading of Grisez’s natural law through the lens of his creation theology that reveals an important and hitherto overlooked resource for environmental ethics. Although Grisez himself does not address the climate challenge in his published work, this thesis shows that his ecological insights are pertinent to the issue and application of his theological method can contribute constructively to the wider project of confronting the climate crisis from a Catholic perspective. This thesis further argues that Grisez’s reconstruction of natural law is viable, in that it represents one philosophically cogent solution to the naturalistic fallacy, and that neither his choice of this solution nor his divergence from Classical Thomism compromise the construction of a ‘Grisez School environmental ethics’. In addition, his natural law has the virtue of catholicity in its capacity to contribute to ecumenical and secular debates necessary to the resolution of the climate crisis.

At the heart of liberal political theory is a formula for enabling diverse groups to coexist peacefully in spite of their differences. This formula involves seeking broad consensus on certain key political institutions as well as on moral norms against imposing views on others. In recent centuries, this formula has been highly successful. However, it is now under attack from green theorists who claim liberal societies will systematically fail to protect the environment, precipitating a global ecological crisis. The radical societal transformations advocated by these greens diverge from traditional liberal arrangements and seek to entrench green ideas in the foundations of the political order. In this dissertation, I examine how liberals can rebut such proposals without simply dismissing greens and their beliefs. I argue that the most promising route to a satisfactory liberal response is pragmatic in nature, showing that greens have little to gain from radicalism and more to gain from a continued commitment to liberalism. I develop this argument in two complementary ways, demonstrating first that greens have overestimated the likely benefits of their transformational proposals and second that a conciliatory approach in the spirit of liberalism offers great promise for achieving green goals. Ultimately, I contend that even for those who see a crisis on the horizon and worry that liberal societies will not respond appropriately, liberalism remains the best available approach to political life.

This dissertation is an historical examination of policy and discourse as it impacts on ecological questions in South Africa, with a focus on land, mining and fishing. It shows how ecological issues are embedded in relations of class, race and gender. It argues that relation of nature and society and social relations form each other historically. Specifically, it makes visible how apparently progressive ideas to overcome the legacy of apartheid have served to perpetuate the ecological crisis after the end of apartheid. That is, although liberation ideology aims to overcome irrational and harmful forms of domination, current strategies of overcoming racial dispossession on the basis of capitalism rely on increasing and unbridled exploitation of natural resources. The dissertation concludes with a consideration of political perspectives and agency responding to the ecological crisis in South Africa today. It provides a survey of government, activist and community initiatives and assesses their capacity to help create a new relationship of nature and society, as the basis for a new society.

A crise ecológica contemporânea gera pressões para a reorganização da sociedade. Com a eliminação contínua da biodiversidade uma das características para tal reorganização seria sua conservação. Parte das propostas visa incorporar tais elementos na economia, com a criação de mercados que sustentem a manutenção de tais espécies e com isso amenizem a crise ecológica. Essa dissertação realizou uma investigação sobre a criação de mercadorias baseadas na biodiversidade através do uso do cambuci (Campomanesia phaea). Partimos da perspectiva de totalidade histórica, onde compreendemos nosso objeto enquanto parte constituinte e relacionada com o todo. Assim, buscamos evidenciar a estrutura e a dinâmica da produção do fruto, e discutimos as tendências do desenvolvimento de produtos da biodiversidade para o mercado capitalista. Através do conceito de circuito espacial produtivo podemos identificar os agentes que monopolizam e acumulam o excedente de capital no circuito. Para compreender tal dinâmica procedemos a uma análise de quatro casos distintos dentro do território produtor de cambuci, sendo eles: os comerciantes da Vila de Paranapiacaba - Santo André (SP), a Cooper Cambucy da Serra - Rio Grande da Serra (SP), o Sítio do Belo - Paraibúna (SP) e a Casa Angelina - Natividade da Serra (SP). Com isso pudemos identificar a execução da renda de monopólio e as tendências na organização do território, por meio da monopolização do território e territorialização do monopólio. As mercadorias baseadas na biodiversidade surgem geralmente de modo alternativo ao hegemônico, por processos artesanais executados por camponeses, pequenos agricultores, quilombolas e indígenas. Entretanto uma vez destacadas sua qualidades e características como mercadorias, empresários capitalistas tendem a se apropriar desse conhecimento, incorporando a biodiversidade em novos mercados. / The contemporary ecological crisis generates pressures for the reorganization of society. With the continuous elimination of biodiversity one of the characteristics for such reorganization would be your conservation. Of the proposals aims to incorporate such elements in the economy, with the creation of markets to support the maintenance of such species and thereby ease the ecological crisis. This dissertation conducted an investigation into the creation of commodity based on biodiversity through the use of cambuci (Campomanesia phaea). We start from the perspective of historical totality, where we understand our object as part of constitutional and related to the whole. Thus, we seek to highlight the structure and dynamics of production of the fruit, and discuss development trends of biodiversity products for the capitalist market. Through the concept of productive space circuit we can identify agents who monopolize and accumulate capital surplus in the circuit. To understand such dynamics we examined four different cases within the territory producer cambuci, namely: the merchants of Vila de Paranapiacaba - Santo André (SP), the Cooper Cambucy da Serra - Rio Grande da Serra (SP), the Sítio do Belo - Paraibúna (SP) and the Casa Angelina - Natividade da Serra (SP). Thus we identified the implementation of the monopoly rent and trends in the organization of the territory, through the monopolization of the territory and territorial monopoly. The commodities based on biodiversity generally arise alternatively to the hegemonic, by artisanal processes run by peasants, small farmers, indigenous and quilombolas. However once highlighted his qualities and characteristics as commodities, capitalist entrepreneurs tend to take ownership of this knowledge by incorporating biodiversity into new markets.

This dissertation explores the prospects for Christian-Muslim dialogue regarding the ecological crisis. It compares the views of Sallie McFague and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, leaders in ecological theology and ethics. In 1990, at the Spirit and Nature symposium at Middlebury College, they dialogued unsuccessfully. They could not understand each other across the ideological gulf of McFague's postmodernism and Nasr's traditionalism. However, beneath an outer shell of significant differences, McFague and Nasr share profound common ground. They both understand the ecological crisis as a result of the desacralization of nature in human perception. They believe that Western Christianity's failure to cultivate a spiritual vision of nature set the stage for the development of a thoroughly mechanistic and desacralized worldview in the Renaissance and Enlightenment. They both articulate visions for the resacralization of nature. While unique, these visions both image the world as a body animated by the Spirit of God rather than as a lifeless machine. Furthermore, both authors find insights to support human harmony with the natural world in the mystical wisdom of their traditions. The dissertation models a process of dialogue that unveils McFague's and Nasr's common ground. The first two chapters explore their stories and contexts, modeling the importance of getting to know one's interlocutor. In chapters three and four, their overall ecological theologies are outlined. Only in chapter five, in a dialogical setting in which both authors' ideas are viewed empathetically, are their differences engaged. Chapter six looks at their common ground, tracing how it grows out of their mutual ecological concerns. Finally, chapter seven creatively synthesizes their ideas, especially their proposals for the reintegration of nature into cities and their descriptions of the mystical understanding of the God-world and human-world relationships. The dissertation explores how the mystical consciousness of the unity of the human body with the body of the world needs to be cultivated more widely, and extended into the practice of interfaith dialogue. Christians, Muslims, and all others concerned about the ecological crisis need to become more aware of our unity and see through the illusion that we are separate.

O presente trabalho busca analisar a possibilidade de aplicação da mediação aos conflitos ecológicos com a finalidade de promover a proteção do meio ambiente de forma eficaz e inclusiva no Brasil. Como base deste estudo está o exame da crise ecológica e da mudança de postura do ser humano em relação às questões ambientais. A partir da compreensão desse processo histórico e social, procura-se verificar a evolução da proteção legal ao meio ambiente no direito brasileiro e a afirmação da intenção da sociedade de proteger o meio ambiente como parte do direito fundamental à qualidade de vida. Propõe-se uma análise que também envolve questões de ecologia política no sentido de examinar a ação política da indagação sobre as mudanças mais recentes da condição do ser humano em relação à natureza. Neste aspecto, constrói-se uma análise legislativa sobre os instrumentos de proteção ambiental no direito brasileiro, incluindose o questionamento sobre os instrumentos extrajudiciais de proteção ambiental. A estrutura apresentada se mostra como fundamento ao exame da mediação como alternativa ao enfrentamento dos conflitos ambientais no Brasil. Esta análise desenvolve-se a partir do método dedutivo, uma vez que, por meio da revisão de literatura, partiu-se de noções gerais sobre a concepção do ser humano frente à natureza e da forma com que as diferentes concepções alteraram o tratamento jurídico da proteção à natureza. A pesquisa, portanto, mostra-se adequada à linha de pesquisa à qual está vinculado, pois busca uma análise dos fundamentos teórico-filosóficos da mediação aplicada à questão ambiental no direito brasileiro. / This study aims to analyze the application possibility concerning the mediation procedure for ecological conflicts in order to promote the environment protection in Brazil. The study approaches the examination of the ecological crisis and the human changing posture in front of environmental matters. It parts from the historical review concerning the environmental protection legal affirmation process. The aim is to examine the development of environment legal protection in brazilian law, as well as to examine the social intention concerning the environment protection - as a fundamental right for quality of life. The analysis involves political ecology theories in order to analyze the political action on the current changes in the human condition in relation to nature. In this context, it built an analyses concerning the legal instruments for the environmental protection in Brazil. However the focus was also the extra-legal instruments: mediation. The research structure presents the mediation process as an alternative way for solving some environmental matters. The methodology applied is deductive method, begging from a literature review concerning legal regulation for environment in Brazil as well as legal regulations concerning mediation process. The research, therefore, is in harmony to the research lines of this Program.

O presente trabalho busca analisar a possibilidade de aplicação da mediação aos conflitos ecológicos com a finalidade de promover a proteção do meio ambiente de forma eficaz e inclusiva no Brasil. Como base deste estudo está o exame da crise ecológica e da mudança de postura do ser humano em relação às questões ambientais. A partir da compreensão desse processo histórico e social, procura-se verificar a evolução da proteção legal ao meio ambiente no direito brasileiro e a afirmação da intenção da sociedade de proteger o meio ambiente como parte do direito fundamental à qualidade de vida. Propõe-se uma análise que também envolve questões de ecologia política no sentido de examinar a ação política da indagação sobre as mudanças mais recentes da condição do ser humano em relação à natureza. Neste aspecto, constrói-se uma análise legislativa sobre os instrumentos de proteção ambiental no direito brasileiro, incluindose o questionamento sobre os instrumentos extrajudiciais de proteção ambiental. A estrutura apresentada se mostra como fundamento ao exame da mediação como alternativa ao enfrentamento dos conflitos ambientais no Brasil. Esta análise desenvolve-se a partir do método dedutivo, uma vez que, por meio da revisão de literatura, partiu-se de noções gerais sobre a concepção do ser humano frente à natureza e da forma com que as diferentes concepções alteraram o tratamento jurídico da proteção à natureza. A pesquisa, portanto, mostra-se adequada à linha de pesquisa à qual está vinculado, pois busca uma análise dos fundamentos teórico-filosóficos da mediação aplicada à questão ambiental no direito brasileiro. / This study aims to analyze the application possibility concerning the mediation procedure for ecological conflicts in order to promote the environment protection in Brazil. The study approaches the examination of the ecological crisis and the human changing posture in front of environmental matters. It parts from the historical review concerning the environmental protection legal affirmation process. The aim is to examine the development of environment legal protection in brazilian law, as well as to examine the social intention concerning the environment protection - as a fundamental right for quality of life. The analysis involves political ecology theories in order to analyze the political action on the current changes in the human condition in relation to nature. In this context, it built an analyses concerning the legal instruments for the environmental protection in Brazil. However the focus was also the extra-legal instruments: mediation. The research structure presents the mediation process as an alternative way for solving some environmental matters. The methodology applied is deductive method, begging from a literature review concerning legal regulation for environment in Brazil as well as legal regulations concerning mediation process. The research, therefore, is in harmony to the research lines of this Program.

[pt] Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar a crise ecológica de nosso tempo à luz da obra do filósofo e antropólogo francês Bruno Latour, considerando especialmente seus estudos sobre a modernidade e seu conceito de guerra dos mundos. Em trabalhos recentes, Latour ampliou a noção de guerra dos mundos, apresentada originalmente em seu livro War of the Worlds: What about Peace?, de 2002, para se referir à disputa ontológica entre dois povos – os Humanos e os Terranos – que deve ser declarada para fazer frente à situação de grave desequilíbrio de diversos parâmetros ambientais que permitiram o florescimento das formas de vida existentes e que vinham se mantendo estáveis havia milhares de anos. Tal desequilíbrio, asseguram inúmeros cientistas, é causado pelo impacto da ação humana sobre a Terra, e acarretou a entrada do planeta em uma nova época geológica, o Antropoceno. Latour insiste que esta guerra precisa ser declarada para que se possa pensar a paz, entendida como a construção, por meio de um trabalho de diplomacia, de um mundo comum no qual diversas ontologias e cosmologias possam conviver. Este acordo de paz é exequível? Eis a pergunta que este trabalho se propõe a responder. / [en] This dissertation aims to analyze the ecological crisis of our time in the light of the oeuvre of French philosopher and anthropologist Bruno Latour, considering especially his writings on modernity and his concept of war of the worlds. In recent works, Latour has expanded the notion of war of the worlds, presented for the first time in his book War of the Worlds: What about Peace? (2002), referring to the ontological dispute between two people – the Human and the Earthbound – that must be declared for confronting the situation of deep unbalance of the planet environmental parameters that allowed the flourishing of the current forms of life, and that had been relatively steady for thousands of years. Such unbalance, most of scientists assure, is caused by the impact of human action upon the Earth, and brought about its entry in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Latour insists that this war must be declared in order to think about the peace, understood as the composition, through a diplomatic work, of a common world in which diverse ontologies and cosmologies can coexist. Is this peace agreement feasible? That is the question this work seeks to answer.

A crise ecológica contemporânea gera pressões para a reorganização da sociedade. Com a eliminação contínua da biodiversidade uma das características para tal reorganização seria sua conservação. Parte das propostas visa incorporar tais elementos na economia, com a criação de mercados que sustentem a manutenção de tais espécies e com isso amenizem a crise ecológica. Essa dissertação realizou uma investigação sobre a criação de mercadorias baseadas na biodiversidade através do uso do cambuci (Campomanesia phaea). Partimos da perspectiva de totalidade histórica, onde compreendemos nosso objeto enquanto parte constituinte e relacionada com o todo. Assim, buscamos evidenciar a estrutura e a dinâmica da produção do fruto, e discutimos as tendências do desenvolvimento de produtos da biodiversidade para o mercado capitalista. Através do conceito de circuito espacial produtivo podemos identificar os agentes que monopolizam e acumulam o excedente de capital no circuito. Para compreender tal dinâmica procedemos a uma análise de quatro casos distintos dentro do território produtor de cambuci, sendo eles: os comerciantes da Vila de Paranapiacaba - Santo André (SP), a Cooper Cambucy da Serra - Rio Grande da Serra (SP), o Sítio do Belo - Paraibúna (SP) e a Casa Angelina - Natividade da Serra (SP). Com isso pudemos identificar a execução da renda de monopólio e as tendências na organização do território, por meio da monopolização do território e territorialização do monopólio. As mercadorias baseadas na biodiversidade surgem geralmente de modo alternativo ao hegemônico, por processos artesanais executados por camponeses, pequenos agricultores, quilombolas e indígenas. Entretanto uma vez destacadas sua qualidades e características como mercadorias, empresários capitalistas tendem a se apropriar desse conhecimento, incorporando a biodiversidade em novos mercados. / The contemporary ecological crisis generates pressures for the reorganization of society. With the continuous elimination of biodiversity one of the characteristics for such reorganization would be your conservation. Of the proposals aims to incorporate such elements in the economy, with the creation of markets to support the maintenance of such species and thereby ease the ecological crisis. This dissertation conducted an investigation into the creation of commodity based on biodiversity through the use of cambuci (Campomanesia phaea). We start from the perspective of historical totality, where we understand our object as part of constitutional and related to the whole. Thus, we seek to highlight the structure and dynamics of production of the fruit, and discuss development trends of biodiversity products for the capitalist market. Through the concept of productive space circuit we can identify agents who monopolize and accumulate capital surplus in the circuit. To understand such dynamics we examined four different cases within the territory producer cambuci, namely: the merchants of Vila de Paranapiacaba - Santo André (SP), the Cooper Cambucy da Serra - Rio Grande da Serra (SP), the Sítio do Belo - Paraibúna (SP) and the Casa Angelina - Natividade da Serra (SP). Thus we identified the implementation of the monopoly rent and trends in the organization of the territory, through the monopolization of the territory and territorial monopoly. The commodities based on biodiversity generally arise alternatively to the hegemonic, by artisanal processes run by peasants, small farmers, indigenous and quilombolas. However once highlighted his qualities and characteristics as commodities, capitalist entrepreneurs tend to take ownership of this knowledge by incorporating biodiversity into new markets.

O presente trabalho busca analisar a possibilidade de aplicação da mediação aos conflitos ecológicos com a finalidade de promover a proteção do meio ambiente de forma eficaz e inclusiva no Brasil. Como base deste estudo está o exame da crise ecológica e da mudança de postura do ser humano em relação às questões ambientais. A partir da compreensão desse processo histórico e social, procura-se verificar a evolução da proteção legal ao meio ambiente no direito brasileiro e a afirmação da intenção da sociedade de proteger o meio ambiente como parte do direito fundamental à qualidade de vida. Propõe-se uma análise que também envolve questões de ecologia política no sentido de examinar a ação política da indagação sobre as mudanças mais recentes da condição do ser humano em relação à natureza. Neste aspecto, constrói-se uma análise legislativa sobre os instrumentos de proteção ambiental no direito brasileiro, incluindose o questionamento sobre os instrumentos extrajudiciais de proteção ambiental. A estrutura apresentada se mostra como fundamento ao exame da mediação como alternativa ao enfrentamento dos conflitos ambientais no Brasil. Esta análise desenvolve-se a partir do método dedutivo, uma vez que, por meio da revisão de literatura, partiu-se de noções gerais sobre a concepção do ser humano frente à natureza e da forma com que as diferentes concepções alteraram o tratamento jurídico da proteção à natureza. A pesquisa, portanto, mostra-se adequada à linha de pesquisa à qual está vinculado, pois busca uma análise dos fundamentos teórico-filosóficos da mediação aplicada à questão ambiental no direito brasileiro. / This study aims to analyze the application possibility concerning the mediation procedure for ecological conflicts in order to promote the environment protection in Brazil. The study approaches the examination of the ecological crisis and the human changing posture in front of environmental matters. It parts from the historical review concerning the environmental protection legal affirmation process. The aim is to examine the development of environment legal protection in brazilian law, as well as to examine the social intention concerning the environment protection - as a fundamental right for quality of life. The analysis involves political ecology theories in order to analyze the political action on the current changes in the human condition in relation to nature. In this context, it built an analyses concerning the legal instruments for the environmental protection in Brazil. However the focus was also the extra-legal instruments: mediation. The research structure presents the mediation process as an alternative way for solving some environmental matters. The methodology applied is deductive method, begging from a literature review concerning legal regulation for environment in Brazil as well as legal regulations concerning mediation process. The research, therefore, is in harmony to the research lines of this Program.