Environmental Ethics

Starter – What do you think? An number of statements will appear on the board about environmental ethics. You need to decide what you think. If you agree with them hold up your green card. Disagree hold up your red card. If you are use hold up your amber card.

Should we continue to cut down the rain forest for the sake of human consumption?

Should we continue to manufacture petrol driven cars when we have the technology to make cars which do not pollute the environment?

Should we knowingly cause the extinction of other species?

What are our environmental obligations to future generations?

Should humans be forced to live a simpler lifestyle in order to protect and preserve the environment?

Learning Gaols In this section of work we will be learning about: Different ethical approaches to the environment and business, both religious and secular. An understanding of the underlying principles and implications of these different approaches for making decisions about the environment. How to assess the different approaches and to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. The approaches of different ethical theories to the environment and to business ethics

Climate change 4 wheel car Media global warming

Tasks Do you think it is acceptable to ignore environmental crisis? Many different responses Conservationism (shallow ecology) Libertarianism (aka deep ecology) The Gaia Hypothesis Religious (Christian) views

Environmental ethics Conservationism(shallow ecology) the theory that the environment’s importance is related to its usefulness to humanity Instrumental value belief that something is only valuable because of its importance to something else Anthropocentric belief that humanity is central and more inportant Intrinsic value belief that something is valuable in itself

Conservationism This theory looks at value that environment has to us as humans and how its welfare will affect us. (reducing/reusing/recycle in order for humanity to survive is conservationism) Plants and animals have instrumental value so their usefulness only lies in usefulness to humanity. Means to an end. If what it produces has importance for humans it must be protected and preserved. It is a shallow ecology approach and is anthropocentric. Humans have intrinsic value and their interests should be protected at the expense of other non-human entities. This approach also believes that only humans have true moral worth and standing.

Conservationism Michael La Bossiere (1966- ) suggest that anthropocentric approach can be justified as part of the natural order of evolution. I.E If an animal becomes extinct due to human activities, this can be deemed as nature taking its course. La Bossiere is not suggesting that humans should try and wipe out specific species, however, if it becomes extinct naturally as a consequence of humanity’s actions, this is acceptable.

Conservationism Problems arise as humans desire to advance technologically. If nuclear power possibly the solution to our energy needs disasters such as Chernobyl (meltdown 1986 immense impact on surrounding environment and people) need to be taken into account. The impact of the disaster on non-human entities could have an important impact on human prosperity in the future. So, according to the climate change environmental lobby, people need to become more environmentally aware and responsible.

Libertarianism Libertarianism/deep ecology the belief that all life forms have intrinsic value Speciesist discrimination in favour of one species, usually the human species, over another Ecosophy the idea that all living things, whether humans, animals or plants, have rights

LIBERTARIAN EXTENSION – DEEP ECOLOGY Started in 1949, Aldo Leopold’s ‘Sand County Almanac’. Was a mixture of natural history and philosophy. Called for a new approach to the environment. “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the bionic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise”. Leopold said it was wrong to see the world in terms of its economic worth to humans. We need to think about our relationship with the land, animals and plants.

Aarne Naess

AARNE NAESS’ INPUT 1973 – ‘The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement’. There are 2 ecology movements: 1.Concerned with pollution, depletion of natural resources, and usefulness of Earth for humans. 2.Concerned with the richness, diversity and intrinsic value of all the natural world (deep ecology).

NAESS... The intrinsic value and inherent worth of the environment is important. Every being, whether human, animal or vegetable, has an equal right to live and blossom = ECOSOPHY. “By an Ecosophy I mean a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium”. Definition = literally means ‘ecological philosophy’. It refers to philosophies which have an ecocentric or biocentric perspective such as deep ecology.

NAESS... Didn’t agree that humans were more important because they have a soul. Nature does not exist to serve humans. This requires a change in how humans relate to the natural world. Thinks the Christian view on stewardship is arrogant.

NAESS & SESSIONS... Naess joined forces with the American philosopher George Sessions. They listed an eight-fold deep ecology platform: 1.All life has value, independently of its usefulness to humans. 2.Richness and diversity contribute to life’s well being. 3.Humans have no right to reduce this richness. 4.The impact of humans in the world is excessive and is getting worse. 5.Humans lifestyles and population are key to this impact. 6.The diversity of life can only flourish with reduced human impact. 7.Basic ideological, political, economic and technological structures must change. 8.If you agree with these points then you have an obligation to implement changes, and do so peacefully and democratically.

NAESS’ CONCLUSION... Humans should: 1.Radically reduce the Earth’s population. 2.Abandon all goals of economic growth. 3.Conserve diversity of species. 4.Live in small, self-reliant communities. 5.“Touch the Earth lightly”.

THINK ABOUT IT... Put this theory into practice. What evidence can you see in the world around you that would support Naess’ observations? What would need to happen in the UK if we were to put Naess’ theory into practice? What would the global implications be?

Gaia Hypothesis

Ecological extension (eco-holism) the belief that all ecosystems and living things are dependant Gaia Hypothesis the hypothesis that suggests that the world ‘s physical properties and the biosphere join together to form a complex interacting system. Gaia the idea of Gaia comes from the Greek goddess of the earth, who was believed to be intrinsically part of the planet Symbiosis the mutually beneficial relationship between two things where they are dependent on each other

Eco-Holism Focus not on the rights of humans but the interdependence of all the ecosystem and sees the environment as a whole entity, valuable in itself. Challenges the view that humans are the most important species. The word Gaia is a Greek word for the goddess of the earth. Lovelock stated that looking at the earth from space you see a self-regulating living system ; it is almost a living being.

For me, Gaia is a religious as well as a scientific concept, and in both spheres it is manageable....God and Gaia, theology and science, even physics and biology are not separate but a single way of thought. Lovelock, The Ages of Gaia

Gaia Hypothesis The essential idea of the Gaia Hypothesis is analogous to the thermostat in your home, or the thermostat in your brain. You set the thermostat in your home to 65 °F in order to keep a comfortable living environment. When the temperature falls below this, the furnace is switched on. When the temperature in the house reaches the target, the furnace is switched off. Something more complicated, but with similar effect, goes on in our bodies. Everyone of us is a comfy 98.6 °F now, and almost always. If our body temperature deviates very far from a narrow range, we die. The human body has a number of self-regulatory, or homeostatic, mechanisms.

Humans and Gaia According to Lovelock life could not be destroyed. He believed this by evidence of fossils that showed that even with extreme changes in weather in the past, life in some form has always survived. Human life may be wiped out, but humans are just part of Gaia, and Gaia herself would survive without our presence. This theory challenges their perceptions and see themselves as a part of a whole. If we abuse Gaia we risk our own survival, as Gaia owes us nothing and we owe her our very existence.

Challenges to Gaia hypothesis Richard Dawkins (1941- ) claims that Lovelock’s theory that all life ‘clubs together’ for some sort of mutual advantage or benefit is inconceivable. Claimed that basic evolutionary theory disproves this almost completely. The scientific idea of ‘survival of the fittest’ means that species that adapt and develop in response to altered conditions will survive.

Challenges to Gaia hypothesis Lynn Margulis (1938- )suggests that Dawkin’s perspective and the Gaia hypothesis are compatible if ideas of a symbosis are accepted. She believes that organisms, will, at times, combine with other organisms in a symbiotic relationship in order to survive, whilst remaining individual organisms.I.E pilot fish cleaning the teeth of sharks in return for their protection! The idea of symbosis suggests that living organisms will work together to ensure mutual survival, therefore bringing some of the ideas of Darwinism closer to the ideas of the Gaia hypothesis.

How should humans relate to the environment? The God said ‘Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life – the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals.’ Genesis 1:26 Does believing this provide a helpful approach to the environment?

What do Christians believe about the environment? Dominion – belief that God has given human kind authority over the Earth and all its animals and plants Stewardship – a way of interpreting the use of dominion, which sees humans as caretakers of the natural world. Creation Spirituality – a religious approach that emphasises that human kind is part of creation and that God can be found in all creation. Consequences of Sin

Dominion The bible is not always clear about what human responsibility towards the environment should be. Humankind is given dominion because humans are created in the image of God and have a special relationship with him. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that have moved along the ground. Genesis 1:28

The extract suggest a very anthropocentric approach (belief that humanity is central and more important) and one that has its roots in the teaching of Aristotle: She (nature) has made all animals for the sake of man. Aristotle, Politics. The idea of dominion presented here seems to have negative ideas behind it – ideas of domination and force. However, it seems that this usage is more about putting humankind at the top of the hierarchy of life on the planet. The biblical story of creation offers a different interpretation of the word dominion. When God creates the things, he says that they are ‘good’, and to all of creation he says ‘be fruitful and multiply’. This wording would seem to suggest that it isn’t just humanity that God is concerned with, but rather that all creation has an intrinsic value. This reading of the creation story is difficult to reconcile with the traditional idea.

Stewardship The idea of stewardship is one that seems to bring a sense of responsibility without the ideal of domination. In the second creation story the emphasis is upon protecting and preserving God’s creation. The analogy of being caretakers of the plant is made; it suggests that we are merely caring for the planet on behalf of the owner, God the creator. Humankind is responsible for the use of the earth. The parable of the Talents Mt25:14-30 Christians believe that they are the pinnacle of God’s creation, with the ability to reason and to be moral. Therefore they have a duty to be: Courteous, tolerant, humble just and in awe of the creation that God has entrusted to us. Adolpho Masteranti

Creation Spirituality St Francis of Assisi believed that God can be seen and found in all creation. Animals and birds convey to us the understanding of God’s purpose and plan; to destroy or harm them is a sin as God entrusted their well-being to us. His approach was one that is viewed as a form of creation spirituality similar to other Christian mystical writers, like Mother Julian of Norwich. This has been compared to the Gaia approach – humanity is part of the whole of creation rather than separate to it.

Consequences of Sin Roman Catholics believe that the original sin that humans committed has had a negative effect on the relationship between God and humankind, as well as human’s attitude towards the environment. As a consequence of disobedience in the Garden of Eden, humans have neglected their responsibility and ownership of the environment and this has therefore damaged their relationship with God. To rectify the situation a return to the principles of stewardship is vital.

DominionStewardshipCreation SpiritualityConsequence of Sin

Tasks Read Oliphant pgs Complete Thought Point on pg 216 as an individual. Make sure you read ALL extracts but you only need to comment on one. Complete Review Questions on pg 219..you don’t need to do the chart question. Essay question

Is protection of the Environment only for the good and benefit of humankind? AO2 An Anthropocentric view

Does the planet deserve respect in it’s own right? (AO2) The Gaia Hypothesis Deep Ecology