Disaster Resilience and Normalization: Facing Facts explores the normative and factual dimensions of a Climate Change Paradigm, in a global scope. Apart from who is responsible and who should pay for mitigation, the facts of Rising Average Earth Temperatures and More Intense and Frequent Disasters must still be faced. That is so far voluntary for signatories to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and participants in the 2022 US Inflation Reduction Act––there is no world climate government and nested national and local governments have varyingly effective public policies.  Zack distinguishes between rising earth temperatures and their effects that scientists predict will worsen and continue for many years. Topics include: limits to resilience, obstacles to preparation, liability, practical responsibility, and disaster trauma.  The poor and vulnerable will suffer and die most, already evident in Africa, South Asia, and small island nations. But eventually, everyone will be affected.  Without united effective will to face climate change, not facing it becomes part of this disaster. This book provides needed assessment of our shared normative and factual realities of climate change.

Naomi Zack, PhD, Columbia University, is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Lehman College, CUNY and has taught at SUNY, Albany, and the University of Oregon. Her most recent book is Multiplicity, Belonging, and Free Speech in US Higher Education: Thriving through Current Crises (Rowman and Littlefield, 2024-5). Recent are: Intersectionality: A Philosophical Framework (Oxford University Press, Phi Beta Kappa Romanell lectures), Democracy: a Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press 2023); 2nd editions of Philosophy of Race, an Introduction (Palgrave, 2023) and Ethics for Disaster (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023); The American Tragedy of COVID-19: Social and Political Crises of 2020 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), Progressive Anonymity: From Identity Politics to Evidence-Based Government (Rowman & Littlefield 2020). Earlier books include: Reviving the Social Compact: Inclusive Citizenship in an Age of Extreme Politics (2018), her edited 51-essay Oxford Handbook on Philosophy and Race (2017) Still earlier books include: The Theory of Applicative Justice: An Empirical Pragmatic Approach to Correcting Racial Injustice (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016);  White Privilege and Black Rights: The Injustice of US Police Racial Profiling and Homicide (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015); The Ethics and Mores of Race: Equality after the History of Philosophy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011/2015), Inclusive Feminism: A Third Wave Theory of Women’s Commonality (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), Philosophy of Science and Race (Routledge, 2002); Bachelors of Science: Seventeenth Century Identity, Then and Now (Temple University Press, 1996); Race; and Mixed Race (Temple University Press,1992).

Professor Zack has consistently brought rigor and clarity to some of the most critically important issues we face, both now and as we prepare for an uncertain future. Her work on issues surrounding disaster continues to be among the most important available. This, her most recent book, promises not only to advance ongoing debates, but also to open up important philosophical vistas for the issues facing humanity. 

J. Jeremy Wisnewski, Professor of Philosophy, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY 

Naomi Zack makes an important contribution to discussions about climate change and what the world can and should do about it. Zack’s knowledge of the ethical issues and insightful philosophical analysis are combined with a clear presentation of the scientific and regulatory dimensions of this complex issue. She explores this topic through two lens: the factual, scientific aspects and the normative aspects. She is brutally honest in pointing to the inadequacies of current efforts and the need for alternative approaches. 

Dónal O’Mathúna, Professor, College of Nursing and Center for Bioethics, The Ohio State University, USA

A pioneer of the philosophy of disaster, Naomi Zack now turns her attention to the increasing threat of climate-related disasters. This book is a timely contribution in an era of polarization and controversy. As always, Zack’s writing is eminently accessible also to others than academic philosophers, and we can look forward to a lively, and urgently needed, discussion.

Per Sandin, Associate Professor, Bioethics and Environmental Ethics, SLU (SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET)