The document discusses environmental ethics as a philosophical discipline examining the moral relationship between humans and the environment, highlighting the various challenges such as pollution and resource depletion. It emphasizes the need for sustainable development in engineering and corporate practices, advocating for environmentally responsible approaches and the enforcement of regulations to mitigate ecological damage. Furthermore, it points out the role of communities and social activism in addressing environmental issues and promoting ecological awareness.

1. Environmental Ethics
Engineering, Ecology and Economics
Atiq ur Rehman

2. Environment 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 non-human contents”
Environmental challenges include global warming myriad forms of pollution,
human-population growth, extinction of species, destruction of ecosystems,
depletion of natural resources, and nuclear waste.
Environmental ethics can have several meanings.
1. The study of moral issues concerning the environment.
2. Moral perspectives on those issues.

3. The Invisible Hand and Commons
These two powerful metaphors have dominated thinking about the environment, they
highlight unintentional impacts of the marketplace on the environment.
According to invisible hand, businesspersons think only of their own self-interest.
Although he intends only his own gain yet he is led by an invisible hand to promote an end
which was no part of his intention.
The invisible hand metaphor does not adequately take account of damage to the
environment like pollution, destruction of natural habitats, depletion of shared resources,
and other unintended and often unappreciated damage to common resources.
“According to Commons perspective we tend to be thoughtless about things we do not
own individually and which seem to be in unlimited supply”
Simplicity of this perspective fails to justify complexity of issues concerning ecosystem
(systems of living organisms interacting with their environment e.g. within deserts, oceans,
rivers, and forests) and biosphere (entirety of the land, water, and atmosphere in which
organisms live).

4. Engineers
Ali Ansari, a scholar in India, suggests that there is a “standard engineering worldview that
of a mechanical universe, which is at odds with mainstream organic environmental thought.
Techno think assumes that things can be understood by analyzing them and, if something
goes wrong, can be fixed. In contrast, green philosophy demands humility, respect, and
sensitivity towards the natural world.
How engineers can contribute to green philosophy?
They should work in an organizational context in which an eco-friendly approach is valued.
They must work in a market that rewards sustainable products and processes and
environmental protection.
They can help ensure that corporations obey applicable laws.
Engineering codes of ethics explicitly refer to environmental responsibilities under the
heading of “sustainable development.”

5. Engineers: Sustainable Development
This term became famous in the publication in 1987 of Our Common Future,
produced by the United Nations in its World Commission on Environment and
Development.
Negatively, the term was invented to underscore how current patterns of economic
activity and growth cannot be sustained as populations grow, technologies are
extended to developing countries, and the environment is increasingly harmed.
Positively, the term implies the crucial need for new economic patterns and products
that are sustainable, that is, compatible with both ongoing technological
development and protection of the environment.
In Our Common Future, sustainable development is defined as “development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”

6. Corporations: Environmental Leadership
Corporation is a large company or group of companies authorized to act as a single entity
and recognized as such in law.
In the present climate, it is good business for any corporation to be perceived by the public
as environmentally responsible.
General Electric (GE) in USA is a good example which believed that in today’s business
climate ecology is good economics. It invested heavily in wind turbine business of Enron
intensified its research and development in biofuels and other renewable energy resources
under a program known as Ecomagination.
Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), which provides solar energy in developing countries,
beginning with rural areas in South Africa and China.
These big giants knew that marketing environmentally friendly sources of power was
crucial now, not only because of enormous demand but also because the first system in
place could shape the future trend. Considering the financing as an obstacle, solar
technology, combined with reasonable financing plans, proved realistic.

7. Government
Government laws and regulations are understandably the lightning rod in
environmental controversies. Government and international agreements among
governments are essential in tackling global warming.
1. Establish standards and requirements for energy efficiency in vehicles and new
buildings, and to ban incandescent light bulbs.
2. Tax CO2 emissions.
3. Establish a “cap-and-trade system,” of the sort adopted in Europe following the
Kyoto Treaty. This option allows carbon emission, or rather documented
noncarbon emission, to be bought and sold as a commodity.
The drawback has been the strong fluctuations in the market that create uncertainties
for business.

8. Market Mechanisms
One way to control market mechanisms is to internalize costs of harm to the
environment.
For example, when we are told how efficient and cheap many of our products and
processes are from agriculture to the manufacture of
plastics, the figures usually include only the direct costs of labor,
raw materials, and the use of facilities.
The true cost would have to include many indirect factors such as the effects
of pollution, the depletion of energy and raw materials, disposal, and social costs.
Benefiters of environmental degradation should be charged with internalized costs.
A working example is the tax imposed by governments in Europe on products and
packaging that impose
a burden on public garbage disposal or recycling facilities.

9. Communities
Communities at the local and even state have special responsibility for preventing
natural events: such as hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes from becoming
disasters.
There are four sets of measures communities can take to avert or mitigate disasters.
1. Restrictions or requirements imposed on human habitat.
2. Strengthening the lifelines for essential utilities such as water (fire fighters)
and electricity.
3. Special purpose defensive structures that would include dams, dikes,
breakwaters, and avalanche barriers etc.
4. Ensuring safe exits in the form of roads and passages designed as escape routes,
structures designated as emergency shelters, adequate clinical facilities, and
agreements with neighboring communities for sharing resources in emergencies.

10. Social Activism
Social activism occurs at many levels, the micro as well as macro.
Examples:
Carson made a compelling case that pesticides such as
dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), were killing creatures beyond their
intended target, insects.
Professor Sherwood Rowland coauthored with Mario Molina, identifying the
depletion of the ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).