NATURE AND MORALITY In recent years, people have come to realize that natural resources and animals, plants, and trees are not boundless but are subject to diminishment, destruction, and loss through careless exploitation, pollution, and the general encroachment of civilization. In the past, despite inklings of this realization in cases such as the near extinction of the American buffalo in the old West through wholesale slaughter, people assumed that natural resources would last forever and were there merely to be used and exploited. Water, air, forests, animals, plants, and minerals were considered to exist in abundance and without end. In recent years, however, with the rise of industrialized, technological, producing, and consuming societies, people have discovered that this is just not so. There indeed are limits to the natural resources of the world, and it is possible to eliminate whole species of animals by means of lack of concern for their survival and willful exploitation. At this point one may wish to review the discussion of the four aspects of morality in Chapter 1, and especially the second aspect, nature and morality, which has to do with human beings and their relationship to nature. For most modern, “civilized” people, “nature and morality” was a new category, but in reality it was an ancient idea among primitive human beings who tended to see themselves as being much more closely allied with nature than we do. Even our modern-day concerns are often centered around nature’s destruction as that affects our own lives rather than nature having value in and for itself. In this sense, human relations with nature could be subsumed under the social aspect having to do with people in relationship to other people. However, many people do consider nature as being valuable in and of itself and insist that we have specific moral obligations toward it and all that it contains, especially those animals that are close to us in nature’s order. In this chapter, we will look at both aspects but will concentrate upon nature and morality. ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICAL ISSUES Several environmental ethical issues will be discussed throughout this chapter, and it is important to describe them briefly now. Waste and Destruction of Natural Resources For years we have assumed that our natural resources will last forever, that our water, air, oil, minerals, earth, plants, and trees will always be there for us to use and will never be depleted. However, in recent times we have discovered that there is a limit to everything, including our natural resources. Some believe that we are very close to the end of nature. As we willy-nilly cut down trees for use in wood and paper products, for example, we began to realize that our forests were disappearing. When we had oil shortages in 1973, 1998, 1999, and 2000, and Americans were held hostage by the Arab nations, we began to realize that there was only so much oil in the ground and the sea, and tha.

1. NATURE AND MORALITY
In recent years, people have come to realize that natural
resources and animals, plants, and trees are not boundless but
are subject to diminishment, destruction, and loss through
careless exploitation, pollution, and the general encroachment
of civilization. In the past, despite inklings of this realization in
cases such as the near extinction of the American buffalo in the
old West through wholesale slaughter, people assumed that
natural resources would last forever and were there merely to be
used and exploited. Water, air, forests, animals, plants, and
minerals were considered to exist in abundance and without end.
In recent years, however, with the rise of industrialized,
technological, producing, and consuming societies, people have
discovered that this is just not so. There indeed are limits to the
natural resources of the world, and it is possible to eliminate
whole species of animals by means of lack of concern for their
survival and willful exploitation.
At this point one may wish to review the discussion of the
four aspects of morality in Chapter 1, and especially the second
aspect, nature and morality, which has to do with human beings
and their relationship to nature. For most modern, “civilized”
people, “nature and morality” was a new category, but in reality
it was an ancient idea among primitive human beings who
tended to see themselves as being much more closely allied with
nature than we do. Even our modern-day concerns are often
centered around nature’s destruction as that affects our own
lives rather than nature having value in and for itself. In this
sense, human relations with nature could be subsumed under the
social aspect having to do with people in relationship to other
people.
However, many people do consider nature as being valuable
in and of itself and insist that we have specific moral
obligations toward it and all that it contains, especially those
animals that are close to us in nature’s order. In this chapter, we

2. will look at both aspects but will concentrate upon nature and
morality.
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICAL ISSUES
Several environmental ethical issues will be discussed
throughout this chapter, and it is important to describe them
briefly now.
Waste and Destruction of Natural Resources
For years we have assumed that our natural resources will
last forever, that our water, air, oil, minerals, earth, plants, and
trees will always be there for us to use and will never be
depleted. However, in recent times we have discovered that
there is a limit to everything, including our natural resources.
Some believe that we are very close to the end of nature. As we
willy-nilly cut down trees for use in wood and paper products,
for example, we began to realize that our forests were
disappearing. When we had oil shortages in 1973, 1998, 1999,
and 2000, and Americans were held hostage by the Arab
nations, we began to realize that there was only so much oil in
the ground and the sea, and that our pumps would not bring up
oil forever. As our rainfall diminished along with our water
supply, we began to realize that there was a limit to our water
as well, and we simply could not overwater our lawns or let
water flow down the drains of our sinks, bathtubs, and toilets or
we would actually run out of it.
As each of these realizations hit us, we were shocked that
the earth’s bounty would not last unless we stopped destroying
without rebuilding or replanting and unless we began to
conserve our precious natural resources. We simply could not
continue cutting down trees without planting new ones to take
their place. We also had to recycle paper so that not as many
trees would be used up to make it. We had to be careful not
merely 352353to let water flow but to restrict our use of it. We
couldn’t just use and misuse our land by destroying it in digging
for oil, coal, and other minerals, and we had to be careful not to
exhaust its fertility by continuing to plant in the same soil
without protecting it and letting it lie fallow.

3. Exploiting, Misusing, and Polluting the Environment
We also discovered, probably with what first happened to
the air in Los Angeles, California, that heavy industrialization
and a tremendous proliferation of automobiles polluted the
environment so badly that we found it difficult to breathe, grow
things, or even to see on particularly smoggy days. We further
discovered that such heavy pollution also destroyed the ozone
layer that protects the earth against excessive rays of the sun.
Additionally we found that we could not continue to dump
our waste in the ground and in the rivers, lakes, and oceans
without dire effects on those bodies of water and their
inhabitants. If we drilled for oil in the ocean and sprung a leak
or had a spill, we could adversely affect the natural and
recreational environments surrounding them, including the
plants, animals, or fish within them. As our industrialization
and technology increased, so did the toxicity of the waste, and
we found ourselves burying in the land or dumping in bodies of
water very dangerous and poisonous materials, such as strong
chemicals, atomic waste, and other dangerous materials that
seriously affected our whole environment as well as us its
inhabitants.
Exploiting, Abusing, and Destroying Animals
One of the most controversial ethical issues concerning the
environment is the question of animal rights and whether we
have moral obligations toward animals. These issues encompass
destroying animals for food or for parts of their bodies (e.g.,
furs, skins, or tusks); hunting them for sport; and using them for
scientific and other experimentation.
HUNTING AND DESTROYING ANIMALS FOR FOOD AND
BODY PARTS.
Since human beings are basically carnivores—that is, meat
eaters—and have been throughout history, destroying animals
for food has been and is quite common. In the past, we hunted
animals for food and often used their skins or other parts of
their bodies for clothes. Primitive people seemed, however, to
use only what they needed and did not destroy whole herds of

4. animals just for the sake of killing them. Hunting for food and
other necessities is an ancient activity. Hunting and acquiring
food and other items were combined, but early human beings
seemed to have more respect for animals and the environment
than modern ones do.
Several changes have occurred, however, which some
people see as eliminating the necessity of using animals for
these purposes. First, we have created wonderful synthetic
materials—even furs—that eliminate the need for killing
animals for their skins. We no longer need whale blubber in
order to operate oil lamps because we now have electricity. We
no longer need to hunt animals for food because we now raise
animals specifically for the food that we eat (creating another
ethical issue that we will discuss later). Killing wild animals,
then, has become a sport that many enjoy and many others decry
because they feel it amounts to murdering animals for
excitement and also threatens to cause certain wild animals to
become extinct.
RAISING ANIMALS FOR FOOD.
Ethical issues also have arisen with regard to the raising,
slaughtering, and eating of animals for food. The demands of
modern humans for tastier meats and other animal products,
such as eggs, butter, and milk, have caused the food
353354industry to resort to different ways of raising animals for
food, some of which cause animals to suffer until they are
slaughtered. For example, in the past, animals were raised in the
open plains and were allowed to graze, roam, and live in the
open air until such time as they were to be slaughtered for food.
Nowadays, many animals are raised inside, cooped up in narrow
pens, and never allowed outside to graze normally. Some
animals never see the sun or breathe the open air, and they are
fed food and chemicals that will make them the fattest the
soonest without regard for their own likes or dislikes or any
concern for their comfort or the pain such conditions or diets
may bring.
Some people argue that given what we know about the way

5. animals are raised and about what foods really are good for us,
we should stop eating meat at all, thus making the need to raise
and slaughter animals for food obsolete. Such people state
further that even if we continue to eat meat, we ought to do so
sparingly, and, at any rate, we should not use cruel and
inhumane methods as we raise animals for this purpose.
USING ANIMALS FOR SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTATION.
One of the oldest controversies concerning our moral
obligations toward animals is whether they should be
experimented upon for scientific or medical advancement. Since
the antivivisection movement of the nineteenth century
protested the cutting into live animals for purposes of scientific
research, these protests have expanded to include any
experimentation on animals “for the good of humanity.” There
are strong laws concerning experimenting on human beings, and
thus animals must be used, according to science, to test drugs
and scientific or medical procedures. Without the use of
animals, many of our greatest scientific advancements and cures
for diseases (e.g., heart disease, kidney disease, and diabetes)
would never have been made. Opponents of animal
experimentation argue that often it is totally unnecessary as
well as harmful and fatal to the animals being experimented on.
They argue that research should be conducted without the use of
either humans or animals.
ENDANGERMENT, DECIMATION, AND EXTINCTION OF
ANIMAL SPECIES.
Because of the encroachment of civilization, as when forests
are cut down and towns are built, the natural habitats of animals
have shrunk significantly or been destroyed. In addition,
because of the continuing demand for animal skins, parts, and
trophies, whole species have been slaughtered to the point of
extreme endangerment or extinction. Animal rights supporters
deplore such activities and have called for an end of the hunting
of all animals, especially endangered species, and also for the
restriction of any activities that will destroy the environments
in which animals live and thrive. They argue that every effort

6. must be made to stop all activities that threaten any animal
species, and that attempts should be made to restore such
environments to their natural states.
Many issues have arisen in our century that deal with the
proper stance people should be taking toward the natural
environment and all of its inhabitants. The first important
question we should address concerning these issues is what lies
behind the attitudes that brought the issues to a head. What
caused us to see nature as something to be controlled and
manipulated for our own use, regardless of the effects on it and
all it contains? Why have we arrived at such a state that we
have to be concerned about our relationship with the
environment and animals?
OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD NATURE AND WHAT LIES
BEHIND IT
Attitudes toward nature have not developed overnight;
however, we cannot say that they always have been nor that
they always are present in every culture. In the Native American
culture, for example, there exists a kind of monistic (oneness)
or wholistic view of nature and humanness as being one, not as
separate from each other. Native 354355Americans historically
and currently see themselves as a part of nature, as closely
related to everything natural rather than as something or
someone separate from it. They believe that spirits inhabit
everything, not just them, and they relate to nature and animals
as if they were family. They take only what they need and have
a deep respect for all aspects of nature and animals.
Eastern religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism,
also see nature and humans as being one unified whole instead
of seeing nature as subordinate to humans or as something to be
manipulated and controlled by them. Here again, unlike Western
religions, if spirituality is accepted by the religion, it tends to
permeate everyone and everything, not just human beings. The
whole universe is spiritual, not just humans and God. The
Western view, however, has tended to see humans and nature in
a dualistic relationship that is sometimes almost adversarial.

7. There are two major sources in Western culture from which this
dualism emerged.