Some questions in environmental ethics Should the present generation conserve resources for future generations? Are humans justified in driving other species to extinction? Is it OK for some communities to be exposed to more pollution than others? Is is OK to destroy a forest to create jobs for people?

Environmental Worldviews and Ethics

ENVIRONMENTAL WORLDVIEWS AND VALUES Your environmental worldview encompasses: How you think the world works. What you believe your environmental role in the world should be. What you believe is right and wrong environmental behavior.

Environmental Ethics Environmental ethics is the discipline in philosophy that studies the moral relationship of human beings to, and also the value and moral status of, the environment and its nonhuman contents. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Three ethical worldviews

Different Foci of Environmental Ethics 1. Anthropocentric Human centered The environment has value only for what it can provide for us

Value of Environment Instrumental Value The environment has value because it helps people to reach some end Food Shelter Clothing Medicine Entertainment

Ecosystem Services Ecosystem Services are the processes by which the environment produces resources that we often take for granted such as clean water, timber, and habitat for fisheries, and pollination of native and agricultural plants. Ecological Society of America

Ecosystem Services • moderate weather extremes and their impacts • disperse seeds • mitigate drought and floods • protect people from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays • cycle and move nutrients • protect stream and river channels and coastal shores from erosion • detoxify and decompose wastes • control agricultural pests • maintain biodiversity • generate and preserve soils and renew their fertility • contribute to climate stability • purify the air and water • regulate disease carrying organisms • pollinate crops and natural vegetation

Value of Ecosystem Services In the 1990s a group of ecologists attempted to estimate the monetary value of ecosystem services Estimates ranged from 18 – 52 trillion dollars! Mean- 33 trillion Equal to 1.8 times the GDP of the USA

Versions of Anthropocentric Views- Frontier Ethic A frontier ethic assumes that the earth has an unlimited supply of resources. If resources run out in one area, more can be found elsewhere or alternatively human ingenuity will find substitutes. This attitude sees humans as masters who manage the planet. Cnx.org

Versions of Anthropocentric Views- Judeo-Christian Ethic Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

Three ethical worldviews

Different Foci of Environmental Ethics 2. Biocentric ethic - views all life as possessing intrinsic value. Intrinsic value Aspects of the environment have inherent value just because they exist http://www.carroll.edu/msmillie/envethics/biocentric.htm

Biocentric Ethic An individualistic biocentric ethic recognizes intrinsic value in every living thing A holistic biocentric ethic recognizes species or aggregates of living things species are not living, so some argue that it is not possible to have holistic approach because “species” are not living

Biocentric Ethic An egalitarian biocentric ethic accords equal value to all living things A nonegalitarian biocentric ethic would give greater value to certain living things over others. Egalitarian- a society in which all things are equal

Three ethical worldviews

Foci of Environmental Ethics 3. Ecocentric ethic All aspects of the environment, both living and non-living, have inherent value

Land Ethic Developed by American Aldo Leopold Sand County Almanac- 1939 Leopold thought that ethics direct individuals to cooperate with each other for the mutual benefit of all. He argued that this ‘community’ should be enlarged to include non-human elements such as soils, waters, plants, and animals, “or collectively: the land”.

ENVIRONMENTAL WORLDVIEWS AND VALUES Environmental worldviews lie on a continuum. Figure 26-2

HUMAN-CENTERED AND LIFE-CENTERED ENVIRONMENTAL WORLDVIEWS The major difference among environmental worldviews is the emphasis they put on the role of humans dealing with environmental problems. Some view that humans are the planet’s most important species and should become managers or stewards of the earth.

Environmental Worldviews Planetary Management • We are apart from the rest of nature and can manage nature to meet our increasing needs and wants. • Because of our ingenuity and technology we will not run out of resources. • The potential for economic growth is essentially unlimited. • Our success depends on how well we manage the earth's life support systems mostly for our benefit. Stewardship • We have an ethical responsibility to be caring managers, or stewards, of the earth. • We will probably not run out of resources, but they should not be wasted. • We should encourage environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth & discourage environmentally harmful forms. • Our success depends on how well we manage the earth's life support systems for our benefit and for the rest of nature. Environmental Wisdom • We are a part of and totally dependent on nature and nature exists for all species. • Resources are limited, should not be wasted, and are not all for us. • We should encourage earth sustaining forms of economic growth & discourage earth degrading forms. • Our success depends on learning how nature sustains itself and integrating such lessons from nature into the ways we think and act. Figure 26.3 Comparison of three major environmental worldviews. QUESTION: Which of these environmental worldviews come closest to your beliefs? Fig. 26-3, p. 617

Other more recent schools of thought Deep ecology = humans are inseparable from nature; protect all living things as one would protect oneself Ecofeminism = male-dominated societies have degraded women and the environment for similar reasons- believes that women should be given the same rights that men have in our joint quest to develop more environmentally sustainable and socially just societies

Deep Ecology Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of other beings, aside from their utility. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependence of organisms within ecosystems and that of ecosystems with each other within the biosphere. Norwegian Arne Naes- 1970s Wikipedia

Deep Ecology Deep ecology describes itself as "deep" because it persists in asking deeper questions concerning "why" and "how" and thus is concerned with the fundamental philosophical questions about the impacts of human life as one part of the ecosphere, rather than with a narrow view of ecology as a branch of biological science.

Ecofeminism Ecofeminism is a social and political movement which points to the existence of considerable common ground between environmentalism and  feminism with some currents linking deep ecology and feminism. Wikipedia

Shifts in Environmental Values and Worldviews: Some Encouraging Trends Global and national polls reveal a shift towards the stewardship, environmental wisdom, and deep ecology worldviews.

Environmental justice (EJ) Poor people and minorities suffer more than their share of environmental problems, EJ advocates say. The EJ movement began with a protest against a toxic waste dump in an African-American community in North Carolina.

Environmental justice (EJ) http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/watch/trump-budget-would-defund-environmental-justice-at-epa-901527107928

How Would You Vote? Which one of the following comes closest to your environmental worldview: a. Planetary management b. Stewardship c. Environmental wisdom d. Deep ecology e. Ecofeminist

How Would You Vote? Do you believe there are physical and biological limits to human economic growth? a. No. I have faith in human ingenuity and creativity. b. Depends. Some (but not all) aspects of economic growth are limited. c. Yes. Ecological economists are generally correct.