Outline & Shallow and Deep Ecology

Outline of environmental ethics What is environmental ethics? The field of environmental ethics concerns human beings’ ethical relationship with the natural environment Developed into a specific discipline as late as the 1970s Coinciding with the acceptance of man made climate change in the 1960s through to the 1980s

Some influencing minds and books Rachel Carson - Silent Spring (1962): Alerted readers to how the widespread use of chemical pesticides was posing a serious threat to public health and leading to the destruction of wildlife Paul Ehrlich - The Population Bomb (1968): Warned of the devastating effects the spiralling human population has on the planet’s resources

What else does it include? Developed from just pollution and depletion of resources to all environmental issues such as: - Dwindling plant diversity - Dwindling animal biodiversity - The loss of wilderness - The degradation of ecosystems - Climate change

Fundamental Questions What duties do humans have with respect to the environment? Do we have environmental obligations for the sake of human beings living in the world today? For humans living in the future, or for the sake of entities within the environment itself? Should we just be concerned about the quality of human life now? Does the environment have rights?

Deep ecology & Shallow ecology

Definitions Deep Ecology: Shallow Ecology: - an environmental movement and philosophy which regards human life as just one of many equal components of a global ecosystem stating that the environment should be protected for its own sake due to its intrinsic value Shallow Ecology: - Suggests we should care for the environment because it will benefit society. The environment has extrinsic value.

Arne Naess - Background Norwegian and lived from 1912 to 2009 Influenced by Spinoza, Ghandi (his non-violence) and the Buddha Asserts that the earth does not belong to human beings Humans could only attain "realisation of the Self" as part of an entire ecosphere Was an activist He was the first chairman of Greenpeace Norway when it was founded in 1988 and was also a Green party candidate First outlined this shallow-deep split in environmentalism

Arne Naess “The smaller we come to feel ourselves compared to the mountain, the nearer we come to participation in its greatness. I do not know why this is so.”- Arne Næss Links to the atman as being part of the ultimate which he ties to the environment and humanity simply being a part of creation

Deep Ecology Emerged from the rejection of anthropocentrism (Human-centredness) Arne Naess “By an ecosophy I mean a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium” The view nature has intrinsic value Aldo Leopold “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community” All organisms are of equal moral worth, each being an expression of the goodness of nature Has been used as a radical form of protest to justify violent and extreme action

Naess and George Sessions Came up with a series of interconnected beliefs: All life has intrinsic value Diversity of life contributes to the planets welfare No single life has a right to destroy the earths diversity and richness Human beings are the cause of the destruction of this diversity Growth of the worlds human population is the primary cause to this destruction Change is urgently needed to prevent further damage Change requires peaceful protest

Key Goals Wilderness preservation: Linked to the ideas of David Thoreau Population control: Called for a substantial decrease in the human population Simple Living: Humans have no right to reduce the richness and diversity of nature except to satisfy vital needs Bioregionalism: Both nature and human society should be reconfigured in line with naturally defined regions

Evaluation Debate about the topic has outweighed its practical importance within the Green movement Deep ecology was attacked as "eco-la-la" by Murray Bookchin Has been used as a radical form of protest to justify violent and extreme action Luc Ferry referred to some deep ecologists as ecofascists Absolute approach would mean killing for food or using the environment for human need would be wrong

Shallow Ecology Sometimes called social environmentalism Anthropocentric – environment matters because of benefits it provides for society Conservation at the heart of shallow ecology Maintaining biodiversity is not a virtuous principle in itself Human beings come first in the chain of existence and therefore should have priority Relies on calculations about what will benefit society – Very utilitarian Naess says is more influential than the deep ecology movement

Evaluation Shallow ecologists led the movement for National Parks – increased tourism may cause more damage to the environment Some argue it is important morally to restore the habitat to its natural state however others say that nature is forever changing Michael LaBossiere argues that species should be allowed to die out if their natural habitat ceases to exist Impossible and possibly detrimental to stop changes occurring - Adaptability (Darwinian belief) is important

Key Point Shallow ecologists take an anthropocentric approach to conservation. Nature should be conserved for the sake of human welfare. Deep ecologists take an ecocentric view. Human’s control of the environment, they argue, is the problem not the solution

Blockbusters Game

Questions asked with the answer starting with a letter on one of the hexagons. If the blue team answer first then the hexagon is coloured blue. If a team guess wrong then the question is offered to the next team to answer, but if they don’t get it either, then the hexagon will turn black. Whoever answers the question then gets to pick the next letter. The aim is to have the most hexagons coloured in your teams colour after the last question is answered.

C A EE MB SS AN IV PE DE R A SE E SE EV NP A A U S Restart C A EE MB SS AN IV PE DE R A SE E SE EV NP A A U S