1. environmental ethics

1. Environmental Ethics
1400-1600 12 December 2008

2. Agenda
• Environmental Ethics
• Environmental Issues
• Some audio-visual resources
• Some concepts and theories
• Some suggestions for teaching planning

3. Environmental Ethics
• A branch of applied ethics that deals with the
ethical relationship between human beings
and the natural environment
• Key Questions:
• How to value the environment?
• What is the aesthetic value of nature?

4. Value of Nature

5. Environmental Ethics
• Key Questions:
• What are the moral status of animals and
plants?
• What, if there is any, environmental
obligations do we need to keep for future
generations?

6. Arne Naess’ Ecosophy
• ‘I mean a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium. A
philosophy as a kind of sofia (or) wisdom, is openly
normative, it contains both norms, rules, postulates, value
priority announcements and hypotheses concerning the state
of affairs in our universe. Wisdom is policy wisdom,
prescription, not only scientific description and prediction.
The details of an ecosophy will show many variations due to
significant differences concerning not only the ‘facts’ of
pollution, resources, population, etc. but also value priorities.’

7. Aldo Leopold and his Land Ethic
• Without benefit of philosophy and education
conservation would be futile
• Calls for a new ethic dealing with man’s
relation to land and to the animals and plants
which grow upon it

8. Aldo Leopold and his Land Ethic
• ‘The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries
of the community to include soils, waters,
plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.’
• ‘That land is a community is the basic concept
of ecology, but that land is to be loved and
respected is an extension of ethics.’

9. Aldo Leopold and his Land Ethic
• ‘A land ethic, then, reflects the existence of an
ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects
a conviction of individual responsibility for the
health of land.’
• ‘We can be ethical only in relation to
something we can see, feel, understand, love
or otherwise have faith in.’

10. Environmental Issues
• Climate Change
– Global Warming, Fossil Fuels, Sea Level Rise,
Greenhouse Gas
• Conservation
– Habitat Destruction, Species Extinction, Whaling,
Invasive Species
• Energy
– Energy Conservation, Renewable Energy, Efficient
Energy Use

11. Environmental Issues
• Genetic Engineering
– Human Genetic Engineering, Reproductive
Cloning, Genetically Modified Food
• Intensive farming
– Overgrazing, Desertification, Environmental
Effects of Meat Production, Cruelty to Animals
• Pollution
– Air, Light, Noise, Water

12. Environmental Issues
• Resource depletion
– Consumerism, Fishing, Logging, Mining
• Toxins
– CFC, DDT, Heavy Metals, Pesticides, Toxic Waste
• Waste
– Littering, landfills, recycling, incineration

13. Chicken Run
• 2000 British stop-
motion animation film
• A band of chickens
escapes from their coop
before their owners
turn them all into
chicken pies
• Useful for intensive
farming and animal
rights

14. Animal Rights
• What is the moral status of animals?
• Do animals have rights?
• Tom Regan
– The Case for Animal Rights 1983
– Defending Animal Rights 2001
• Peter Singer
– Animal Liberation 1975
– Animal Factories 1980

15. Animal Rights
• Regan: Non-human animals are ‘subjects-of-a-life’
just as human are
• We must ascribe value to animals just as we ascribe
value to all human beings regardless of their ability
to be rational agents
• Animals are thus the bearers of moral rights
• Consistency
• Life over rationality

16. Animal Rights
• Singer: ‘there are obviously important
differences between human and other
animals, and these differences must give rise
to some differences in the rights that each
have.’
• Vegetarian diet is the most practical solution
to the problem of cruelty to animals.

17. Bird Flu and SARS
• The first outbreak of bird flu in 1997 took the
lives of 6. It claimed 3 more lives in 2003.
• The SARS outbreak in 2003 infected 1755
people and killed 299.
• Is it morally justifiable to kill chickens to
prevent the spread of bird flu?

18. The Simpsons Movie
• Released in 2007
• Homer accidentally pollutes
Springfield’s water supply after
Grampa predicts the doom of the
town. The government encloses
the town in a large dome. The
Simpsons are declared fugitives
and they flee to Alasaka where
Homer realizes that he must save
the town in order to save his
family.
• Useful for waste, pollution and
toxins

19. Microcosmos
• 1996 French nature
documentary film on
detailed insect
interactions
• A poetic journey to the
microcosoms
• Useful for the aesthetic
value of nature

20. March of the Penguins
• aka The Emperor’s Journey
• 2005 French nature documentary
film, co-produced by the National
Geographic Society
• Won the 78th Academy Award
for Best Documentary Feature
• Tells the yearly journeys of the
emperor penguins from the
ocean, their normal habitat, to
the inland for courtship and
breeding
• Useful for climate change

21. Arctic Tale
• 2007 National
Geographic Society
documentary film
• Life cycle of a polar bear
and her cubs, a walrus
and her calf
• Useful for climate
change

22. Anthropomorphism
• Should we use animal behavior as an example
for human behavior?
• Is using animal behavior as an example for
human behavior a mistake?

23. The Day After Tomorrow
• 2004 Hollywood
apocalyptic science-
fiction production that
depicts the catastrophic
effects of global
warming as well as
global cooling.
• Useful for climate
change

24. An Inconvenient Truth
• 2006 American
documentary film on
global warming
presented by Al Gore
• Won the 79th Academy
Award for Best
Documentary Feature
• Useful for climate
change

25. The Truth about Climate Change
• 2006 BBC documentary
about global warming
presented by David
Attenborough
• Useful for climate
change

26. Anthropocentrism
• ‘This is our planet: planet Earth. It contains an
astonishing variety of landscapes and climates.
Since life began, around 4,000 million years ago,
it has gone through extraordinary changes in its
climate and in the species that live on it. But now
it seems that our planet is being transformed —
not by natural events, but by the actions of one
species: mankind.
• – David Attenborough's opening narration in The Truth about
Climate Change (2006)

27. Anthropocentrism
• The view that places humans at the centre of
the universe; evaluates everything else in
terms of its utility for humans; the human race
must always be its own primary concern
• Dominant in the Western tradition

28. Goals
• Promote students’ awareness of
environmental issues and problems
• Encourage student’s empathy with nature
• Help students cultivate ethical responsibility
towards nature

29. Teaching Planning
• Part to Whole
• Environmental issues are related to each
other e.g. climate change and energy
• Pick an issue or problem as entry point
• Gradually move to other environmental issues

30. Teaching Planning
• Local to Global
• The purpose of using audio-visual resources
• Emotional engagement as an important factor
for the cultivation of moral responsibility to
nature

31. Teaching Planning
• Facts to Reflection
• Basic knowledge of the issues and problems
• Reflection on the issues and problems
• The ability to draw on theories and concepts
for more sophisticated and intellectual
discussion

32. Learning Activites
• Audio-visual materials
• Field Trips
• Pets and Animals
• Role Play
• Discussion
• Debate
• Student Presentation