Environmental Ethics

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Environmental Ethics

• Dr. Bob Lee
• Professor,
• Sociology of Natural Resources

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Forest Health Ethical Questions and Moral
Dilemmas

• Should we allow fires to burn freely in dry
  Western forests?
• Should be thin out crowded trees to give trees
  more growing space?
• Should we use controlled fires to remove crowded
  brush, trees, and dead materials?
• --All ethical, not solely scientific, questions--

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Park-like Ponderosa Pine Stand
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Ponderosa Pine with Understory
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Ponderosa Pine Bark

• Fire-vulnerable Young Tree

• Fire-resistant Old Tee

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Un-thinned Ponderosa Pine
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Crown Fire
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Ponderosa Pine Stand After a Crown Fire
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Thinning Ponderosa Pine Is Cutting Trees Good?
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Prescribed Burning in Ponderosa Is it good to
control fire?
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Managed Ponderosa Pine Stand Is this Natural?
Is this good?
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Questions

• What are environmental ethics?
• What is the origin of ethics?
• What are the most common ethical principles
  governing relations to environment?
• How are environmental choices affected by
  ethnical principles?

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What are environmental ethics?

• Ethics the rules of conduct recognized in
  respect to a particular class of human actions or
  governing a particular group, culture, etc.
  (Websters)
• Environmental ethics rules of conduct or
  principles recognized in respect to treatment of
  our surroundings, especially natural environment.

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How does ethics differ from morality?

• Morality conformity to the rules of right
  conduct moral or virtuous conduct (Websters)
• Morality involves choices by individuals
• Moral behavior never absolute
• Moral dilemmas are common in interacting with the
  environment

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What is the origin of ethics?

• Are there universal rules of conduct governing
  are treatment of the environment?
• Social or cultural groups define what is right
  and wrong conduct
• Ethical principles are parochialvary with time,
  place, and culture

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Common Ethical Principles in Environmental
Relations

• Anthropocentric Ethics
• Human welfare
• Biocentric ethics
• Rights of nature
• Species equivalence (biocentric equality)
• Anthropogenic Ethics
• Humans place value on nature

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Environmental Choices Affected by Ethical
Principles

• Case example Forest Health
• How would decisions about Ponderosa Pine Forests
  be affected by
• Anthropocentric ethics?
• Biocentric ethics?
• Anthropogenic ethics?

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Anthropocentric Principles

• What is best for human welfare in Ponderosa Pine
  Forests?
• Wood products
• Jobs
• Fire-safe environment to work, live, and play
• Reduced costs of fire suppression

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Biocentric Principles

• What is best for nature?
• Humans should not disturb natural processes
• Nature should take her own path
• Wildfires are natural, hence regenerating
• Humans should not make profits from natural
  things (e.g., trees)
• Cutting trees, especially large trees, is wrong
• Trees have the same right to live as humans

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Anthropogenic Principles

• Forests only known through screen (lens)of human
  values
• Humans place value on forestsboth
  anthropocentric and biocentric
• Values are diverse and often conflicting in
  modern/post-modern societies
• Moral pluralism is fundamental to forest policy
  and managementespecially forest health
• Preserving forests costs people jobs, wood, and
  taxes
• Pragmatic choice to cut trees offends those whose
  mission is to protect nature

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Take Home Lessons

• Environmental ethics are constructed by humans,
  not discovered in nature
• Little social consensus on environmental
  ethicscontested viewpoints and positionsmoral
  pluralism
• Moral choices are never absolutealways involve
  moral dilemmas and ambiguity
• Human values are at the center of every attempt
  to apply environmental ethics

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