Catastrophe Ethics: How to Be Good in a World Gone Bad

by Travis Rieder

An urgent, thought-provoking answer to the question we are all individually, how should we act in the face of the climate emergency? Humankind has never faced challenges of the scale and complexity of today. In a hyperglobalised world hurtling towards environmental destruction, how do we determine the right actions? Do our individual efforts to avoid plastic or air travel, or to drive electric, make any real difference? We urgently need to expand our ethical toolkit. The mental tools most of us rely on to ‘do the right thing’ just don’t work when it comes to reasoning about large collective problems. From the small stuff like single-use plastics to major decisions like whether to have children, Rieder defines exactly how we can change our thinking and lead a decent, meaningful life in a scary, complicated world. ‘Smart, splendid, and brave. A crash course in ethics from an expert philosopher that gave me hope for the future. A must-read for anyone who cares about doing good in the world’ Anne Lembke, bestselling author of Dopamine Nation

'With an open mind and a firm grasp of the issues, Rieder brings the question of living a decent life into the modern era' Kirkus

'Eloquent, incisive and highly engaging, Catastrophe Ethics is an indispensable exploration of the choices we can make in a complex and challenging time' Ben Goldsmith, environmentalist and financier

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Philosophy

336 pages, Hardcover

Published March 7, 2024

About the author

Travis Rieder was born and raised in Indiana, after which he has slowly and steadily moved eastward. After completing his BA at Hanover College in southern Indiana, he moved to South Carolina to do an MA in philosophy. He then did a PhD in philosophy at Georgetown University before taking a faculty position at Johns Hopkins, where he currently teaches.

Travis’s writing is wide-ranging, but took a sharp turn in 2015 after a motorcycle accident and a traumatic experience with pain and pain management that resulted. Since that experience, he has worked to turn his intimate struggle with opioid painkillers into a research program and a mission to reduce harm from irresponsible prescribing. IN PAIN, published by HarperCollins in June 2019, combines his personal story with fascinating and disturbing facts about the history of pain and opioid use, the American healthcare system, and suggestions for how the tide can be turned on the interlocking epidemics of pain, opioids, and addiction.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fantastic introduction that really sets the scene well, but sadly Rieder loses his way a little as the book progresses. For instance trying to tie abortion ethics to the Climate Change debate.

Additionally, the conclusions drawn are rather obvious. We don’t have a duty to cut our footprints [well duh], but we’re morally obligated to not make no change. The changes we make - whether personal or community-oriented - must also depend on our individual circumstances.
So ultimately from start to finish the book takes you absolutely nowhere.

[Siân-Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I have to justify this rating so here goes:
if my father EVER debated my life as a moral quandary and then WROTE ABOUT AND PUBLISHED THAT I would be profoundly ashamed and concerned.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering how difficult reading philosophy can be, this book does a good job at making it an easy read and easy enough to follow along. It raises very interesting points for the middle class climate-anxious white citizen, though covers only a limited scope of issues (whether we should be concerned about our individual actions) considering the size of the book. It might leave the average reader wanting more, asking how exactly one might approach alternative ways to combat climate change as an individual. If one is looking for reassurance about the innoffensiveness of their personal climate emissions, then this book will give it to you (for better or worse). I enjoyed it a lot overall, though skipped a few areas of repetitiveness and straying from the central subject (e.g., a whole section on abortion ethics seemed a little beside the point though ofc interesting in its own merit)

[Tiana Nairn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book opened with a relatable reflection on the quandaries we face as contemporary consumers and had a very readable style with an interesting introduction to key philosophical concepts. The author’s approach of examining his family’s choices to exemplify these concepts were well-explained and interesting. However, ultimately, for those of us not particularly concerned with philosophical theory and academia vs real world application, its practical conclusions were reasonably obvious vs incredibly helpful. It’s key takeaways become:
- an understanding of why no person has no duty to take/avoid particular actions but it is still morally wrong to make no changes
- be informed and thoughtful on important issues
- observe that ‘purity’ in our own actions cannot remove our participation in these complex issues - especially in structurally harmful developed economies - so weigh up the opportunity costs involved relative to your other moral reasons for an action or alternatively taking additional social or structural action instead
- we will typically have competing reasons to do or not do something - we can frame and examine these to help establish rules of thumb for our actions/choices and to explore where we may do better given our own individual talents, resources and limitations. A useful framework for this is provided in Chapter 12.

[Francis Tapon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an outstanding book for those who want to learn the theory about ethics.
Rieder goes into the great debates, which he calls a "the puzzle."
He spends most of the book discussing what the puzzle is and what are some proposed ways of solving it.

He spends about 10% of the book digressing into the topic of abortion, even though this book is supposed to be about climate change.

Although he tries to link the two issues, it feels like a distraction or a way to get something off his chest.

If you're hoping to get practical tips on what you should do to minimize climate change, you'll be disappointed.

This book is full of nuance, which is nice, but it feels like a nothing-burger.

He rightly points out that having kids is perhaps the most profound, ethical question we face. Each child has enormous impact. Yet few environmentalists bring up the elephant in the room.

He has one child.

He is mostly a vegan, but not militant.

You can see his perspective from these two data points: his point is we must do our best but not be purists because being a purist is a fool's errand.

This would have been a great article.
For a book, it's a bit too long unless you enjoy learning about how he reached his conclusions.

[Sheetal Varade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Travis Rieder, Duckworth and NetGalley for this ARC Copy!

Catastrophe Ethics is a great introduction to the study of ethics, where people have the feeling that they are never doing the right thing. As he writes in the book: "modern life is 'morally exhausting,' where everything we do 'seems to matter,' and yet 'nothing we do seems to matter.'"

The book excels in making complex philosophical and academic theories accessible for the everyday individual who has a general understanding of some of the topics that are discussed, like abortion, climate change and exploitation from the establishment, etc. The main point of the book is to encourage readers to act according to their moral code and values, not because doing that simply will change the world presently, but for their integrity.

However, some of the later chapters feel muddled as the book tries to connect vastly different issues that don’t always seem meaningfully related. That being said, the topics covered are familiar to most readers, which makes the book relatively easy to move through.

[Emma]

DNF @ 32%

I don’t really know what I expected, but it wasn’t a very basic introduction to how to make good, ethical decisions - and when it started getting into discussions of religion and morality I realised this probably wasn’t ever going to come around to being a book aimed at me. I feel like I’m being taught to suck eggs. My critical thinking skills, understanding of the scientific method, lack of religion or dogmatic political ideology, etc etc mean this book is just enraging me that it is even required!

The chances are if you’re reading this you are probably not in DIRE need of this book… but you only have to take a look around you to realise this book and the teaching of critical thinking skills, philosophy and ecosystems is badly needed by many. However, can’t recommend this book to anyone with without insulting them in the process.