Environmental Ethics

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Environmental Ethics

• Chapter 2

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Views of Nature

• Problems of managing interactions between people
  and their environment has been transformed by
  unprecedented increases in the rate, scale, and
  complexity of the interactions.
• Many people believe we have entered an era
  characterized by global change stemming from
  human-environment interdependence.
• Example Stone age vs modern technology

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Environmental Ethics

• Ethics
• Seeks to define fundamentally what is right and
  what is wrong, regardless of cultural
  differences.
• Morals
• Reflect predominant feelings of a culture about
  ethical issues.
• Examples War, Abortion, animal or human
  sacrifice

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Environmental Ethics

• applied ethics that examines the moral basis of
  environmental responsibility.

Focuses on moral foundation and how far such
responsibility extends.
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Theories of Moral Responsibility Anthropocentric

• Responsibility derived from human interests.
  (Human centered)
• Only humans are morally significant.

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Theories of Moral Responsibility Biocentric
All life forms have an inherent right to exist.
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Theories of Moral Responsibility Ecocentrism

• Environment deserves direct moral consideration,
  not one derived from human interests. (GAIA
  hypothesis rev ch 1)

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Ecocentric View

• A thing is right when it tends to preserve the
  integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic
  community. It is wrong when it tends
  otherwise.We abuse land because we regard it as
  a community belonging to us. When we see land as
  a community to which we belong, we may begin to
  use it with love and respect. - Aldo Leopold

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Naturalist philosophers -Henry David Thoreau

• Walden, writer, recluse, live simply off the
  land quotes
• Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the
  sky as well as the earth!
• Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind
  it.
• Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!
  Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify
  your life, the laws of the universe will be
  simpler.
• It is never too late to give up your prejudices.
• My friend is one... who will take me for what I
  am.
• http//www.nndb.com/people/468/000022402/

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Naturalist philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Poet, writer, celebrate nature sexuality
• Quotes
• Colleges hate geniuses, just as convents hate
  saints.
• Do not go where the path may lead, go instead
  where there is no path and leave a trail.
• Finish each day and be done with it. You have
  done what you could.
• Give all to love obey thy heart.
• Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the
  wild air
• http//www.transcendentalists.com/1emerson.html

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Naturalist philosophers John Muir

• naturalist, writer, conservationist, and founder
  of the Sierra Club, convinced Roosevelt to set
  aside land for national parks
• Quotes
• Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places
  to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and
  give strength to body and soul.
• I only went out for a walk and finally concluded
  to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found,
  was really going in.
• The clearest way into the Universe is through a
  forest wilderness.
• Tug on anything at all and you'll find it
  connected to everything else in the universe.
• The gross heathenism of civilization has
  generally destroyed nature, and poetry, and all
  that is spiritual.
• http//www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/

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Naturalist philosophers Aldo Leopold

• Father of Ecology, writer, Sand County Almanac,
  conservationist
• Quotes
• We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity
  belonging to us. When we see land as a community
  to which we belong, we may begin to use it with
  love and respect.
• We shall never achieve harmony with land, any
  more than we shall achieve absolute justice or
  liberty for people. In these higher aspirations,
  the important thing is not to achieve but to
  strive.
• http//www.bigeastern.com/eotp/ep_aldol.htm

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Naturalist Philosophers Rachel Carson

• Chemist, writer, naturalist, convinced JFK to
  start the EPA.
• Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries
  of the earth are never alone or weary of life.
• If I had influence with the good fairy who is
  supposed to preside over the christening of all
  children, I should ask that her gift to each
  child in the world be a sense of wonder so
  indestructible that it would last throughout
  life
• it is the public that is being asked to assume
  the risks...the public must decide whether it
  wishes to continueon the present road and it can
  only do so when in full possession of the
  facts..."
• http//www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/cars-rac.htm

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Environmental Attitudes

• Development
• Preservation
• Conservation
• Societal
• Global
• individual

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Environmental Attitudes - Developmental Ethic

• Assumes human race is, and should be, masters of
  nature.
• All resources exist solely for human benefit.

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Developmental Ethic

• -Based on individualism.
• -Reinforced by work ethic.
• -Humans should always be busy creating change.
• -Bigger, better, and faster represents progress.

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Preservation Ethic

• Nature has intrinsic value apart from human
  appropriation.
• Seen as a refuge from economic activities, not as
  a resource for it.
• Reasons range from aesthetic to scientific.
• Humans dependent on environment.
• Preserve nature for future generations.

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Conservation Ethic

• consideration of whole earth.
• Some resource use
• Stresses finding a balance between total
  development and absolute preservation.
• Rapid, uncontrolled growth is ultimately
  self-defeating.

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Societal Environmental Ethics

• Western societies have long acted as if the earth
  has
• Unlimited reserves of natural resources.
• An unlimited ability to assimilate wastes.
• A limitless ability to accommodate unchecked
  growth.

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Societal Environmental Ethics

• Growth, expansion, and domination remain the
  central sociocultural objectives of most
  advanced societies.
• Economic growth and resource exploitation are
  attitudes shared by developing societies.
• Since the first settlers arrived in North
  America, nature has been considered an enemy
  which needs to be conquered, or subdued.
• Pocohantas video John Smith crew!!

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Corporate Environmental Ethics
Corporations are legal entities designed to
operate at a profit, and are not intrinsically
harmful.
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Corporate Environmental Ethics
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Corporate Environmental Ethics

• Profit margin determines expansion, and more
  expansion leads to more production (and more
  waste).
• More expansion means more power is attained.
• The more power attained, the more influence is
  gained over decision makers who can create
  conditions favorable for expansion.
• Never-ending spiral.

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Corporate Environmental Ethics

• Practicing an environmental ethic should not
  interfere with corporate responsibilities.
• It makes little sense to preserve the environment
  if preservation causes economic collapse.
• Nor does it make sense to maintain industrial
  productivity at the cost of breathable air, clean
  water, wildlife, parks, and wilderness.

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Corporate Environmental Ethics

• Why are corporations becoming green?
• Profitability
• Image consumer driven
• Long term planning finally
• Laws EPA regulations

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Industrial Ecology

• Argues that good ecology is also good economics,
  and alternatives exist for corporations to
  provide goods and services in ways that do not
  destroy the environment.
• Accounts for waste a useless or worthless
  material.
• Waste should be viewed as residue our economy has
  not yet learned to use efficiently.

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Environmental Justice
In 1998, the EPA defined environmental justice as
fair treatment, meaning
No group of people, including racial, ethnic, or
socioeconomic groups should bear a
disproportionate share of the negative
environmental consequences resulting from
industrial, municipal, and commercial operations
of the execution of federal, state, local, and
tribal programs and policies.
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Environmental Justice

• In the United States, waste generation is
  directly correlated with per capita income, but
  few toxic waste sites are located in affluent
  suburbs.

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NIMBY Not In My BackYard
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Environmental Justice

• -What should be the basic standard of living for
  all humans?
• -NIMBY not in my backyard
• landfills, incinerators, prisons, power plants

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Individual Environmental Ethics

• Recognition of individual responsibility must
  lead to changes in individual behavior.
• Recent opinion polls have indicated Americans
  think environmental problems can often have a
  quick technological fix.
• Many individuals want the environment cleaned up,
  but do not want to make the necessary lifestyle
  changes.

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Consumption

• Ecologist Paul Ehrlich argues the American
  lifestyle is driving the global ecosystem to the
  brink of collapse.
• Economist Julian Simon argues human ingenuity,
  not resources, limits economic growth and
  lifestyles.

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Consumption

• Food
• Fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yield crops,
  have more than doubled world food production in
  the past 40 years.
• Third world development
• As more people around the world achieve the
  American dream, they will consume more resources,
  and generate more pollution.

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Consumption

• Oil
• At current rates of consumption, the worlds
  known oil reserves would not last through the
  current century.
• Experts predict new technologies will avert a
  global energy crisis.
• Fuel Cells

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Consumption

• Water
• Currently humans use about half the planets
  accessible supply of renewable, fresh water.
• More than any other resources, water may limit
  expansion of consumerism in the next century.

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How big is your footprint?
Earth Day Footprint Quiz
Go to site, take your own quiz after class
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Global Environmental Ethics

• Ecological degradation in any nation inevitably
  impinges quality of life in others.
• Much of current environmental crisis is rooted in
  widening wealth gap between rich and poor
  nations.
• Rapid industrialization will cause intense
  production of pollution, which in turn will lead
  to increased localized environmental destruction
  and greater poverty.

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Fur seal Case Study
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Fur seal Case Study

• 1. What do you think the future of the seal hunt
  should be? Is this a conservation, preservation
  or development approach?
• 2. Should the seals be spared at the possible
  expense of the Aleuts? Why or why not?
• 3. What do you think would happen if the seal
  population were left alone with no human
  intervention?
• 4. Do you think there would be any controversy
  at all if the mammals in question were not fur
  seals but rats? Why?
• 5. Compare attitudes using this case study.
• Development Preservation
• Conservation Global

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Waterfowl lead shot Case Study
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Waterfowl lead shot Case Study

• 1. Should hunters be required to use steel shot?
  Why or why not?
• 2. Why does lead shot cause a problem whereas
  steel shot does not?
• 3. Why doesnt lead shot just disappear?
• 4. Apply each of the following terms to the
  problem
• Development Preservation
• Conservation Global

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Environmental Activists

• Greenpeace International
• http//www.greenpeace.org/international/
• ELF
• http//www.earthliberationfront.com/index.htm
• Sierra Club
• http//www.sierraclub.org/
• ALF
• http//www.animalliberationfront.com/
• PETA
• http//www.peta.org/

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Environmental Activists PETA Case Study

• Dead Dog case
• 2 PETA volunteers took dogs from Human Society
  killed them
• Told ASPCA they would find homes
• Claimed quiet, calm, ethical death for dogs.
• Nation outraged
• Which is worse, gas or lethal injections?
• Moral objections by US?
• Are your pets neutered?

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Review

• Views of Nature
• Environmental Ethics
• Environmental Attitudes
• Societal Environmental Ethics
• Corporate Environmental Ethics
• Global Environmental Ethics
• Individual Environmental Ethics
• Consumption
• Environmental Justice
• Environmental Activism