environmentalethics-150705202715-lva1-app6891.pptx

2. M uslim
a P. Liwlaug
M IB 1
ENVIRONMENTAL
ETHICS

3. Environmental Ethics
⚫Ethics = the studyof good and bad, right and wrong
⚫Ethical standards = criteria that helpdifferentiate
right from wrong
⚫Environmental ethics = the studyof ethical
questionsregarding human interactionswith the
environment

4. Questions
Thereare manyethical decisions that human beings make
with respect to theenvironment:
⚫Should we continue toclearcut forests for the sakeof
human consumption?
⚫Whyshould we continue to propagateourspecies, and life
itself?
⚫Should we continue to makegasoline powered vehicles?
⚫Whatenvironmental obligations dowe need to keep for
futuregenerations?
⚫Is it right for humans to knowingly cause theextinctionof a
species fortheconvenience of humanity?
⚫How should we best useand conserve thespace
environment to secureand expand life?

5. Environmental Ethics
⚫part of environmental philosophy which considers
extending the traditional boundaries of ethics from
solely including humans to including the non-human
world
⚫itexerts influence on a large range of disciplines
including environmental law, environmental
sociology, ecotheology, ecological
economics, ecologyand environmental geography

6. Early Environmental Ethics
• The rootsof environmental ethics areancient.
• The modern urge forenvironmental protection grew
with problemsspawned by the industrial revolution.

8. Worldviews on Ethics
⚫morality is oneof those issueswhich everyworldview
addresses, but which has no empirical basis for its
answers
⚫every worldview has an approach to figuring out what
should beconsidered rightand wrong, but the basis for
understanding it does not come from any kind of
empirically provable foundation (based on the
assumptions of theworldview itself)

9. Environmental worldviews are how
• peoplethink
• theworld works,
• where they fit,
• and ethics

10. What are worldviews
⚫it refers to our personal feelings about issues regarding
theenvironment
⚫this includes our perspective on how the earth and its’
resources should be used
⚫it is heavily influenced by the fundamental vision of
reality we hold, the collection of values, perceptions
and practices thatorganizes our lives
Environmental worldviews can be
• human-centered
• earth-centered
• orsomecombinationof both

11. Basic beliefs of Human-Centered
Worldview
⚫Weare the planet’s most importantspecies and also in
charge of the restof nature
⚫Theearth has an unlimited supplyof resourceseven if
thereare shortages, wecan find substitutes
⚫Wecan solveenvironmental problemswith our
technology
⚫Oursuccesson earth depends upon how well wecan
understand, control and manage earth’s life-
supporting systems
⚫The potential foreconomicgrowth is limitlessand
moreeconomicgrowth is alwaysgood

12. Limits of Human-Centered Views
⚫Wedo not haveenough knowledge about the earth to
become its managers
⚫Weare not awareof the total numberof species on earth
much less the roles the species play in maintaining
ecosystems
⚫Free-market system won’t save the earth because profit
maximization takes precedence over loses of earth’s
capital
⚫Human-centered views focus on short-term economic
benefits regardless of environmental consequences
⚫Spaceship view won’t because human constructs of the
earth areoften oversimplified

13. Life and Earth-centered
Environmental Views
⚫These viewpoints see an intrinsic value in all forms of
life, irrespective of their potential or actual uses for
humans
⚫Nature exists not only for humans but for all the earth’s
species

14. Factors that influence our
worldviews
⚫Beliefsand practicesof our familyand thesociety
⚫Personal experiences
Nature must beexperienced
⚫Education directly tocomplete environmental
education.

15. Dominant Worldviews
Expansionist
Worldview
Ecological
Worldview
Sustainable
Development

16. Expansionist Worldview
⚫expansionism consistsof
expansionist policies of
governmentsand states
•some have linked the term to promoting economic
growth (in contrast to no growth / sustainable policies),
morecommonlyexpansionism refers to thedoctrineof a
nation'sexpanding its territorial baseoreconomic
influence usually, though not necessarily, by meansof
militaryaggression.

17. Ecological Worldview
⚫an all-embracing, coherentworldview that promotes
more harmonious and sustainable practices capable
of satisfying real biological, social, ecological, and
spiritual needs

18. Sustainable Development
⚫developmentcan be achieved withoutcompromising
theenvironment
⚫incorporates partsof the twoworldviews

19. Ethical Perspective
1. Anthropocentric
2. Stewardship
3. Biocentric
4. Animal Rights
5. Ecocentric
6. Ecofeminism

20. Anthropocentric
⚫Humansare placed in domination of natureand have
the right to use resources and abuse nature as we
choose.

21. Stewardship
⚫Humans have the responsibility to manage and care for
nature. Humans and non-human forces must act
together in order to sustain life.
⚫Humans are part of nature rather than masters.

22. Biocentrism
⚫All living organisms have intrinsicvaluesand rights
regardless whethertheyare useful or not.

23. Animal Rights
⚫Each individual organism isof
value not the group

24. Ecocentric
⚫Based on theview thatoneself should doeverything
whatsupport’sone’sown interestand profit
⚫Thewhole is more important than its individual
parts
⚫Onlyoneself has an intrinsicvalue
⚫Other human and nature have instrumental value
⚫Anyaction is based on one’s personal wealth

25. Ecofeminism
⚫A pluralistic, nonhierarchical relationship philosophy
that suggest that humans could reconceive themselves
to nature in a non-dominating way.

27. Where do you
stand?

28. Environmental Justice
⚫Civil rights with environmental protection to
demand a safe, healthy, life-giving environment for
everyone.

29. Issues of Environmental Justice
Environmental
racism
Toxic
Colonialism

30. Environmental Racism
⚫ is placement of low-incomeor
minority communities in
proximityof environmentally
hazardous or
degraded environments, such
as toxic
waste, pollutionand urban
decay
⚫are competing views as to an
exact definition, the interplay
between environmental issues
and social indicators are key to
its understanding

31. Toxic Colonialism
⚫refers to the use of
underdeveloped statesas
inexpensivealternatives for
the export or disposal of
hazardous waste pollution
bydeveloped states

32. a right to what they produce
“People have
themselves, but man has another right,
declared by the fact of his existence—the right
to use of so much of the free gifts of nature as
may be necessary to supply all the wants of
that existence, and which he may use with
interference with the equal rights of anyone
else; and to this he has title against all the
world.”
Henry George, Progress and Poverty, 1874

33. The End.