Megan Blomfield (she/her)
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy
Full contact details
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
45 Victoria Street
Sheffield
S3 7QB
- Profile
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Megan was born and raised in Sheffield. She studied philosophy at the Universities of Bristol (BA, PhD) and Toronto (MA), and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Stanford Center for Ethics in Society. She then lectured at the University of Bristol for a few years before returning to her hometown as a Lecturer in Political Philosophy in 2018.
Megan's research concerns global justice and the environment, focusing on the political philosophy of climate change. Climate change can be understood as a problem stemming from human exploitation of certain natural resources: in particular, fossil fuels and greenhouse gas sinks such as the world’s atmosphere, forests, soils, and ocean. In her 2019 book – Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change – Megan argues that by considering what the world would look like if natural resources were shared fairly, we can better understand the problem of climate change and some of the ethical challenges that it raises. Since finishing the book, Megan has turned her attention to the topic of land rights in a changing climate.
Megan is also interested in questions of global justice more broadly speaking. In other work, she examines reparations for historical injustice; fair governance of climate engineering; epistemic injustice in the treatment of asylum seekers; and the connections between climate change and injustices such as colonialism.
- Research interests
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Megan’s research interests include:
- Climate Justice
- Global Environmental Justice
- Natural Resource Rights
- Land Rights and Justice
- Territorial Rights
- Indigenous Rights
- Colonialism
- Historical Injustice and Reparations
- Global Egalitarianism
- The Ethics of Climate Engineering
- Environmental Activism and Civil Disobedience
- Responsibility for Global Justice
- Structural Injustice
- Justice in Migration
- Epistemic Injustice
She is happy to hear from MA and PhD students who are interested in working on these topics.
- Publications
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Books
- Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Journal articles
- V - Who is responsible for the climate change problem?. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 123(2), 126-149. View this article in WRRO
- Reconsidering Reparations, by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. x + 261.. Mind, 131(524), 1321-1330. View this article in WRRO
- Land as a global commons?. Journal of Applied Philosophy.
- Reparations and egalitarianism. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 24(5), 1177-1195. View this article in WRRO
- Historical Use of the Climate Sink. Res Publica, 22(1), 67-81.
- Global Common Resources and the Just Distribution of Emission Shares*. Journal of Political Philosophy, 21(3), 283-304.
- Ethics in economics: lessons from human subjects research. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 5(1), 24-24.
Chapters
- Against Equal Division of Natural Resources, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 62-86). Oxford University Press
- Sharing the Global Emissions Budget, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 27-42). Oxford University Press
- Introduction: Global Justice and Climate Change, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 3-26). Oxford University Press
- Global Justice and Natural Resources, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 45-61). Oxford University Press
- Contractualist Common Ownership and the Basic Needs Principle, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 87-105). Oxford University Press
- Revisiting the Global Emissions Budget, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 159-177). Oxford University Press
- Limited Territorial Jurisdiction over Natural Resources, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 128-156). Oxford University Press
- Collective Self-Determination without Resource Sovereignty, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 106-127). Oxford University Press
- Historical Emissions Debt, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 178-192). Oxford University Press
- The Significance of Historical Injustice Concerning Natural Resources, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 193-219). Oxford University Press
- Conclusion: Natural Resource Justice and Climate Change, Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change (pp. 220-226). Oxford University Press
- Geoengineering in a climate of uncertainty In Moss J (Ed.), Climate Change and Justice (pp. 39-58). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Climate change and the moral significance of historical injustice in natural resource governance In Maltais A & McKinnon C (Ed.), The ethics of climate governance (pp. 3-22). Rowman & Littlefield International, Ltd.
Book reviews
- The Global Climate Regime and Transitional Justice, by Sonja Klinsky and Jasmina Brankovic (New York: Routledge, 2018). Ethics and International Affairs, 33(2), 245-247.
- Dominic Roser and Christian Seidel, Climate Justice: An Introduction (translated by Ciaran Cronin). Environmental Values, 27(2), 203-205.
- Book Review: Political Theory: A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change. Political Studies Review, 11(1), 85-85.
Website content
- Should land be reclassified as a global commons?.
- Environmental direct action and civil disobedience.
- Climate Justice in Global Perspective.
- The ethics of teaching climate ethics.
- Fairness(es) and the INDCs.
- Global Justice, Natural Resources, and Climate Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Teaching activities
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PHI229: Environmental Justice
This module introduces students to contemporary philosophical discussions of environmental justice at the global level. Topics to be covered may include: the nature of global environmental injustices; responsibility for global environmental problems; the relationship between global environmental challenges and other historical and contemporary injustices; fair international sharing of the costs of environmental action; the justifiability of environmental activism; environmental justice for indigenous peoples; fairness in global environmental decision-making; and the politics of ‘geoengineering’ the planet.
PHI350/PHI6009: Global Justice
What are the demands of justice at the global level? This module starts by looking at debates about the nature of global justice, such as that concerning whether there exist any principles of egalitarian justice with global scope. We then turn to various questions of justice that arise at the global level, potentially including: how jurisdiction over territory might be justified; whether states have a right to exclude would-be immigrants; how to understand the wrong of colonialism; whether reparations are owed for past international injustices; and how to identify responsibilities for remedying global injustice.
- Postgraduate Supervision
A list of topics for which Megan is happy to provide postgraduate supervision can be found under ‘Research Interests'.
Current PhD Students:
- Elliott Woodhouse (First Supervisor): Environmental Ethics and Climate Engineering
- Carien Smith (Second Supervisor): Climate Change and Epistemic Injustice
- Rubaia Refat (First Supervisor): Environmental Injustices in Developing Countries: Reasons and Remedies
- Shova Tahmina (Second Supervisor): Postcolonial Multiculturalism: The Politics of Group Rights and Identity
Completed PhD Students:
- Anton Eriksson (Second Supervisor): Moral Duties to Reduce Emissions in Global Supply Chains
- Ji-Young Lee (Second Supervisor, University of Bristol): A Feminist Multidimensional Account of Autonomy
- Barney Riggs (Second Supervisor): Kierkegaard's Critique of Modern Society
- Richard Hassall (Second Supervisor): Psychiatric Diagnosis and Epistemic Injustice