Popular philosophy books
My general reader books combine my experiences as academic, activist, journalist and parent, and bring moral thinking to a wider audience. My agent is Jaime Marshall at JP Marshall Literary Agency.
Parenting on Earth: A Philosopher's Guide to Doing Right by Your Kids - and Everyone Else
(MIT Press, April 2023)
We raise our children in a flawed and fragile world. Climate change, pandemics, superbugs resistant to antibiotics. Extreme inequality, endemic poverty, institutionalised racism and sexism.
What does it mean to be a ‘good parent’, in the face of all this? This book is one woman’s quest for an answer, as a philosopher and a mother. It asks what we owe our kids. Not only a world they can grow and prosper in, but a just one, where their children and grandchildren can flourish too, where all children can lead a decent life, and the amazing ecosystems around them can thrive.
It shows why affluent mums and dads should be activists, should live and raise their kids differently. It acknowledges just how hard this is to do, in the face of social indifference, psychological blocks – and how much parents already have on their plates.
Praise for Parenting on Earth
“How can we parent well when life seems so uncertain? Rousing, rational, and deeply hopeful, this book helped me feel strong enough to face the future—to fight for my children, and for the world.”
Kirsty Sedgman, author of On Being Unreasonable
“Parenting on Earth is a gift for anyone asking big questions about what the changing climate means for our children, and why we must act now. A deeply insightful and timely read.”
Jill Kubit, DearTomorrow and Our Kids' Climate
“Parenting on Earth is a brave, bold call to moral courage for parents who know our kids deserve a livable future. It's the reminder we need of our duty—and our potential—to create a better world.”
Elizabeth Bechard, Senior Policy Analyst, Moms Clean Air Force; author of Parenting in A Changing Climate
“Elizabeth Cripps's new book doesn't presume to tell you how to raise your children. Instead, it offers an intellectual toolkit that will help you understand the ethical choices you face in parenting, and how to discern what choices are right for you. Any parent—or grandparent— would benefit from reading it, both for the wisdom they'll gain and because it is such an enjoyable read."
Harry Brighouse, Mildred Fish Harnack Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison; coauthor of Family Values: The Ethics of Parent-Child Relationships
"[W]hile everyone can gain valuable insights and become better ecological citizens by reading it, parents concerned with climate change should put it at the top of their must-read list."
Craig Stanbury, The Conversation
“How can we parent well when life seems so uncertain? Rousing, rational, and deeply hopeful, this book helped me feel strong enough to face the future—to fight for my children, and for the world.”
Kirsty Sedgman, author of On Being Unreasonable
“Parenting on Earth is a gift for anyone asking big questions about what the changing climate means for our children, and why we must act now. A deeply insightful and timely read.”
Jill Kubit, DearTomorrow and Our Kids' Climate
“Parenting on Earth is a brave, bold call to moral courage for parents who know our kids deserve a livable future. It's the reminder we need of our duty—and our potential—to create a better world.”
Elizabeth Bechard, Senior Policy Analyst, Moms Clean Air Force; author of Parenting in A Changing Climate
“Elizabeth Cripps's new book doesn't presume to tell you how to raise your children. Instead, it offers an intellectual toolkit that will help you understand the ethical choices you face in parenting, and how to discern what choices are right for you. Any parent—or grandparent— would benefit from reading it, both for the wisdom they'll gain and because it is such an enjoyable read."
Harry Brighouse, Mildred Fish Harnack Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison; coauthor of Family Values: The Ethics of Parent-Child Relationships
"[W]hile everyone can gain valuable insights and become better ecological citizens by reading it, parents concerned with climate change should put it at the top of their must-read list."
Craig Stanbury, The Conversation
What Climate Justice Means And Why We Should Care
(Bloomsbury, February 2022)
What is ‘climate justice’? And why should we care? This book has a clear answer. It argues that climate justice is a matter of totally uncontroversial morality. No matter how polarised the debate has become, climate justice should be beyond political orientation.
It unpicks objections. It unravels the legacy of colonialism and entrenched racism, the unique, intersectional cost paid by women of colour. It highlights failure of recognition, denial of political voice. It discusses what we owe non-humans, species and ecosystems: the starving polar bear, the devastated Amazon. It holds up a mirror to global society – and presents a grim reflection.
Then it looks forward, to what it takes to achieve climate justice. Who should pay, in a world where no-one wants to? States, corporations and individuals with the highest carbon footprint? The very rich, because they can? And where do we go if not towards full justice? Because, in practice, international negotiations come nowhere near. How much should individuals do? We have a voice as citizens, as consumers, as voters. If this book is right, it’s a moral duty – not just a political choice – to use it.
(Bloomsbury, February 2022)
What is ‘climate justice’? And why should we care? This book has a clear answer. It argues that climate justice is a matter of totally uncontroversial morality. No matter how polarised the debate has become, climate justice should be beyond political orientation.
It unpicks objections. It unravels the legacy of colonialism and entrenched racism, the unique, intersectional cost paid by women of colour. It highlights failure of recognition, denial of political voice. It discusses what we owe non-humans, species and ecosystems: the starving polar bear, the devastated Amazon. It holds up a mirror to global society – and presents a grim reflection.
Then it looks forward, to what it takes to achieve climate justice. Who should pay, in a world where no-one wants to? States, corporations and individuals with the highest carbon footprint? The very rich, because they can? And where do we go if not towards full justice? Because, in practice, international negotiations come nowhere near. How much should individuals do? We have a voice as citizens, as consumers, as voters. If this book is right, it’s a moral duty – not just a political choice – to use it.
Praise for What Climate Justice Means
"Insightful and timely.'climate justice' is essential if we are to deal with climate change. Compelling."
Professor Mark Maslin, author of How to Save Our Planet
"The iron law of global warming is: the less you did to cause it, the sooner and harder you suffer its effects. As this book makes clear, that raises very deep questions about justice, which we will be grappling with for the forseeable future. If you read this, you'll have a good headstart on a crucial debate."
Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
"An essential primer. Elizabeth Cripps deftly explains the complexity of wicked problems without ever losing sight of the fundamental truth that, before it is a technical or political issue, climate injustice is a moral one."
Professor David Farrier, Chair in Literature and the Environment, University of Edinburgh
"This book is a short and direct conversation with a philosopher carefully thinking through our duties now toward other people given the scary changes we all may face. While it may be painful reading at times, you will gain insights not available in any other book about climate change. The subtle analysis does not stifle the passion, and the deep feeling does not cloud the arguments. A moving philosophical plea for immediate radical action with the reasons distilled to their essence. If you wonder where to begin to tackle the worsening climate, start here."
Professor Henry Shue, Merton College, Oxford. Senior Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies, DPIR
"We live in a world increasingly impacted not only by climate change, but also its unjust impacts on both human and nonhuman communities. Elizabeth Cripps offers a lucid, comprehensive, and pertinent overview of a range of ideas and realities of climate justice in all its complexity. She offers the crucial argument that, in everyday political and personal practice, climate change is a choice to violate the rights of the most vulnerable. As inequitable as climate change can be, Cripps insists that it is possible, and straightforward, to choose climate justice instead."
David Schlosberg, Professor of Environmental Politics and Director, Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney
"The concept of climate justice is increasingly being invoked. But what is climate justice? In her brilliant book, Elizabeth Cripps gives us a definitive answer. What Climate Justice Means shows why climate change is a matter of justice, who bears responsibility for this and what citizens and governments ought to do. It vividly conveys the realities of climate injustices and makes a compelling moral case for action. "
Simon Caney, Professor of Political Theory, University of Warwick
"Sincere and substantial, this offers bountiful insight into the movement for climate justice."
Publishers Weekly
"There are complex moral quandaries in What Climate Justice Means, but it's written for everybody. And this is not philosophy as some kind of intellectual luxury. It's a matter of life and death, of how we live with integrity in the face of a global catastrophe which we did not create, but in which we are complicit."
Jeremy Williams, The Earthbound Report
"... serves to stiffen the moral sinew."
Big Issue in the North
"[Cripps] presents clear and compelling evidence of the burden borne by disadvantaged populations, maintaining that climate change is, above all, "about privilege."
Science Magazine
"[Cripps] makes you care about climate change's most vulnerable victims and in the process offers advice on how we all can help . Cripps argues powerfully that climate justice goes beyond political polarization. Climate activism is a moral duty, not a political choice."
The Revelator
"Cripps successfully argues her central point: Climate policies won't succeed if climate justice isn't at their forefront . Cripps' argument, a timely update to former President of Ireland Mary Robinson's earlier linking together of climate justice and human rights . makes fine, inspirational reading."
NPR.com
"Insightful and timely.'climate justice' is essential if we are to deal with climate change. Compelling."
Professor Mark Maslin, author of How to Save Our Planet
"The iron law of global warming is: the less you did to cause it, the sooner and harder you suffer its effects. As this book makes clear, that raises very deep questions about justice, which we will be grappling with for the forseeable future. If you read this, you'll have a good headstart on a crucial debate."
Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
"An essential primer. Elizabeth Cripps deftly explains the complexity of wicked problems without ever losing sight of the fundamental truth that, before it is a technical or political issue, climate injustice is a moral one."
Professor David Farrier, Chair in Literature and the Environment, University of Edinburgh
"This book is a short and direct conversation with a philosopher carefully thinking through our duties now toward other people given the scary changes we all may face. While it may be painful reading at times, you will gain insights not available in any other book about climate change. The subtle analysis does not stifle the passion, and the deep feeling does not cloud the arguments. A moving philosophical plea for immediate radical action with the reasons distilled to their essence. If you wonder where to begin to tackle the worsening climate, start here."
Professor Henry Shue, Merton College, Oxford. Senior Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies, DPIR
"We live in a world increasingly impacted not only by climate change, but also its unjust impacts on both human and nonhuman communities. Elizabeth Cripps offers a lucid, comprehensive, and pertinent overview of a range of ideas and realities of climate justice in all its complexity. She offers the crucial argument that, in everyday political and personal practice, climate change is a choice to violate the rights of the most vulnerable. As inequitable as climate change can be, Cripps insists that it is possible, and straightforward, to choose climate justice instead."
David Schlosberg, Professor of Environmental Politics and Director, Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney
"The concept of climate justice is increasingly being invoked. But what is climate justice? In her brilliant book, Elizabeth Cripps gives us a definitive answer. What Climate Justice Means shows why climate change is a matter of justice, who bears responsibility for this and what citizens and governments ought to do. It vividly conveys the realities of climate injustices and makes a compelling moral case for action. "
Simon Caney, Professor of Political Theory, University of Warwick
"Sincere and substantial, this offers bountiful insight into the movement for climate justice."
Publishers Weekly
"There are complex moral quandaries in What Climate Justice Means, but it's written for everybody. And this is not philosophy as some kind of intellectual luxury. It's a matter of life and death, of how we live with integrity in the face of a global catastrophe which we did not create, but in which we are complicit."
Jeremy Williams, The Earthbound Report
"... serves to stiffen the moral sinew."
Big Issue in the North
"[Cripps] presents clear and compelling evidence of the burden borne by disadvantaged populations, maintaining that climate change is, above all, "about privilege."
Science Magazine
"[Cripps] makes you care about climate change's most vulnerable victims and in the process offers advice on how we all can help . Cripps argues powerfully that climate justice goes beyond political polarization. Climate activism is a moral duty, not a political choice."
The Revelator
"Cripps successfully argues her central point: Climate policies won't succeed if climate justice isn't at their forefront . Cripps' argument, a timely update to former President of Ireland Mary Robinson's earlier linking together of climate justice and human rights . makes fine, inspirational reading."
NPR.com