Environmental Ethics Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

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- Environmental Ethics

While species have historically been introduced to new areas of the world in order to be used as food sources, many species are now being viewed as food sources subsequent to having been seen as invasive to an ecosystem. One management strategy is to encourage people to eat them. There are, however, also a number of economic, health, and legal concerns associated with eating invasive species.

- by Joey Tuminello
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- Conservation Biology, Environmental Ethics, Ecology, Philosophy of Food
- by Keith Warner
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- Environmental Ethics, Franciscan Spirituality, Eco-Spirituality

A number of scientific writers have proposed manipulating the ecology of Mars in order to make the planet more comfortable for future immigrants from Earth. However, the ethical acceptability of such ‘terraforming’ proposals remains unresolved. In response, in this article I explore some of these scientific proposals through the lens provided by Buddhist environmental ethics that are quantitatively expressed by practitioners in the ethnographic field of the United States. What I find is that contemporary Buddhists combine philosophical notions of interconnectedness with moral considerations not to harm others and then creatively extend this combined sensibility to the protection specifically of abiotic features of Mars. In so doing these Buddhists significantly reject proposals to alter the Martian ecology planet-wide as beyond the ethical right of humans. Along the way these Buddhists also importantly provide an innovative basis for enriching Buddhist environmental ethical protection of abiotic locations, and this strengthening can assist in mitigating climate change on Earth.

- by Daniel Capper
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- Buddhism, Climate Change, Astrobiology, Environmental Ethics

This article discusses the critical remarks and comments that Omer Bartov, Eric Katz and Jessica Rapson offered in response to our articles published in the theme issue of the Journal of Genocide Research on "The Environmental History of the Holocaust." In our response, we clarify our understanding of how an environmental perspective can contribute to Holocaust studies. We focus on three issues; firstly: we position our research in the context of critical Holocaust studies, an emerging field in Poland, in order to draw attention to the geographically conditioned global distribution of knowledge and thus undermine convictions that non-Western humanities are necessarily peripheral. Secondly, we emphasize that the comparative perspective we adopt to address different genocides and ecocides neither seeks to undermine the uniqueness of the Holocaust nor deprive victims and survivors of their individual identity. What we do resembles the “experiments in thinking about the Holocaust” proposed by Alan Milchman and Alan Rosenberg, demonstrating that new approaches to Holocaust studies do not want to compete with dominant modes of research, but rather supplement and complement them. Thirdly, we argue that transcending the anthropocentric perspective in Holocaust studies can expand the spectrum of testimonies and evidence to also include non-human objects, such as trees. What we propose, then, is an analysis of new kinds of sources in an effort towards developing new approaches and methods for exploring this subject. We show how current ecological debates mean that it is crucial to take into account environmental factors when planning sites of Holocaust commemoration. In light of this, we not only ask how an environmental history of the Holocaust can expand knowledge on the relationship between genocides and ecocides, but also how future-oriented thinking about the legacies of the Holocaust can influence strategies and practices of preserving it. We see potential in posing questions relating to how the Holocaust can provide a point of reference for studying other genocides as well as how an environmental (and also indigenous and postcolonial) perspective can further develop and enrich research on the Shoah.

- by Ewa Domańska and +2
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- Environmental History, Colonialism, Environmental Ethics, Ecocide

In order to create a better future in the struggle with climate change, many people are turning to Buddhism and its environmental principles of interconnectedness and compassion. But do Buddhist values really lead to ecological sustainability, and if so, how? Do Buddhists of different types even agree on how we should live ecologically? This seminal book is the first to answer these questions through a comprehensive, critical, and innovative examination of the theories, practices, and real-world results of Buddhist environmental ethics. In synthetically exploring lived ecological experiences across seven Buddhist worlds from ancient India to the contemporary West, this book helps one to discern attitudes and practices that lead to beneficial ecological interactions from alternative orientations that may result in unsatisfying outcomes. Further, the book’s journey clarifies our understanding of crucial contours of Buddhist vegetarianism or meat eating, nature mysticism, as well as cultural speculations about spirituality in nonhuman animals. With its accessible style and personhood ethics orientation this book should appeal to anyone who is concerned with how human beings interact with the nonhuman environment. Representing the definitive analytic treatment of Buddhist environmental ethics, the book also offers great value in university classrooms involving environmental studies, religious studies, cultural studies, or philosophical ethics.

- by Daniel Capper
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- Climate Change, Buddhist Studies, Religion and Ecology, Science and Religion
- by Will Desmond
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- Management, Semiotics, Gnosticism, History

The concept of antinatalism is now becoming popular on the Internet. Many online newspaper articles deal with this topic, and numerous academic papers on antinatalism have been published over the past ten years in the fields of philosophy and ethics. The word “antinatalism” was first used in the current meaning in 2006, when the two books that justify the universal negation of procreation were published: one by David Benatar and the other by Théophile de Giraud. However, we can find various prototypes of antinatalistic thoughts in ancient Greece, ancient India, and modern Europe. You might recall the name Schopenhauer.
In this paper, I briefly summarize the history of antinatalistic thoughts and propose a set of categories on antinatalism and related thoughts.

- by Masahiro Morioka
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- Japanese Studies, Metaphysics, Environmental Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy
- by Bron R Taylor and +6
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- Indigenous Studies, Indigenous or Aboriginal Studies, Globalization, Climate Change

Indigenous ethics and feminist care ethics offer a range of related ideas and tools for environmental ethics. These ethics delve into deep connections and moral commitments between nonhumans and humans to guide ethical forms of environmental decision making and environmental science. Indigenous and feminist movements such as the Mother Earth Water Walk and the Green Belt Movement are ongoing examples of the effectiveness of on-the-ground environmental care ethics. Indigenous ethics highlight attentive caring for the intertwined needs of humans and nonhumans within interdependent communities. Feminist environmental care ethics emphasize the importance of empowering communities to care for themselves and the social and ecological communities in which their lives and interests are interwoven. The gendered, feminist, historical, and anticolonial dimensions of care ethics, indigenous ethics, and other related approaches provide rich ground for rethinking and reclaiming the nature and depth of diverse relationships as the fabric of social and ecological being.

- by Kyle Whyte and +1
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- Native American Studies, Gender Studies, Philosophy, Ethics

... Urban channels, Erodibility, Allen et al. (2002). Urban channels, Spatial management in relation to hazards, Chin and Gregory (2005). Plunge pools, Act as energy dissipators to increase flow resistance and enhance channel stability,... more

- by Gerardo Benito
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- Geology, Geomorphology, Environmental Ethics, Applied Research

Abstract: This essay considers the ways in which Hegel's theory of ethical life (Sittlichkeit) can provide us with a different understanding of our ethical obligations to animals. I argue that animal abuse and its toleration constitutes a distortion the ethical substance that we as social beings absorb. As a result, the state has a direct duty to protect animals from pain and suffering and to prevent the emergence of institutions and practices that foster such abuse and suffering. Arguing against the rights-based approach to animal welfare, I argue that we can see a more compelling argument in the anthropocentric understanding of our ethical lives and obligations to others. Seeing ethical life as "functionalist" in nature, I therefore argue that the approach I put forth, what I call "reflexive ethics," can provide us with a more rational basis for the legitimacy of legislation that protects animals from abuse, cruelty, and suffering.

- by Michael J. Thompson
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- Political Philosophy, Ethics, Bioethics, Environmental Ethics

Even though anthropogenic climate change is largely caused by industrialized nations, its burden is distributed unevenly with poor developing countries suffering the most. A common response to livelihood insecurities and destruction is migration. Using Peter Singer's ‘historical principle’, this paper argues that a morally just evaluation requires taking causality between climate change and migration under consideration. The historical principle is employed to emphasize shortcomings in commonly made philosophical arguments to oppose immigration. The article concludes that none of these arguments is able to override the moral responsibility of industrialized countries to compensate for harms that their actions have caused.

- by Raphael J Nawrotzki
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- Ethics, Climate Change, Climate change policy, Migration

In the past few decades, it has become clear that the Western world’s relation to nature has led to environmental degradation so wide-ranging that it threatens the existence of human civilizations as we have come to know them. The onset of anthropogenic climate change and the increasing threats of resource depletions are the most obvious signs of an environmental crisis. This book attempts to examine the metaphysical underpinnings of our current environmental crisis, thereby viewing it from a philosophical perspective. Using Martin Heidegger’s writings on the history of being as its lynchpin, it examines how humans have come to view nature as a giant array of mere resources to be maximally exploited. Following Heidegger, Casey Rentmeester argues that this understanding of nature is rooted in the understanding of what it means to be that came about in ancient Greece. Rentmeester then utilizes elements of Heidegger’s post-metaphysical later philosophy and aspects of early philosophical Daoism to create an alternative way to think about the relation between humans and nature that is environmentally sustainable.

- by Stephen Gardiner and +1
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- Environmental Studies, Environmental Ethics
- by David Goodin
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- Philosophy, Applied Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Ecological Applications
- by Jame Schaefer
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- Medieval Theology, Environmental Ethics, Catholic Theology, Interdisciplinary

In view of recent research can we continue to argue for a superiority over other animals that justifies dominating and exploiting them? This question, now “in the center of ethical discussion,” invites us to “radically reconsider the terms of ethical inquiry” (Rolston 1993: 382). Those terms now must include the feelings biophilia and biophobia as well as compassion, sympathy, and empathy. Are we prepared to value not only reason but also emotions that connect us to other animals? If we are to save ourselves and our planet, we need a more interdisciplinary model of ethics that includes “emotive” as well as analytic ethics. Derrida’s “L'Animal que donc je suis (ti suivre)" (1997) combines them, citing literature to demonstrate the role of feelings in situation-specific ethics. Though he does not use E. O Wilson’s terminology, Derrida suggersts that what blocks biophilia is an apparently instinctive, superstitious fear of animals that has expanded into what we now call biophobia. Ultimately, Derrida focuses on a new experience of compassion that can bring about the political change needed to save our planet.

- by Jerome Bump
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- Emotional intelligence, Animal Studies, Environmental Ethics, Jacques Derrida
- by Lucas Briola
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- Liberation Theology, Catholic Social Teaching, Environmental Ethics, Ecology
- by Virgolino Jorge
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- Art History, Social Identity, Cultural Heritage, Heritage Studies
- by Peter Olen
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- Emotion, Environmental Philosophy, Expertise, Environmental Ethics

An Ape Ethic makes the case that great apes are moral individuals because they engage in a land ethic as ecosystem engineers to generate ecologically sustainable biomes for themselves and other species. We need to recognize apes as eco-engineers in order to save them, their habitats, and in so doing, we will ultimately save earth’s biosphere. The book draws on extensive empirical research from the ecology and behavior of great apes and synthesizes past and current understanding of the similarities in cognition, social behavior, and culture found in apes. Importantly, this book proposes that differences between humans and apes provide the foundation for the call to recognize forest personhood in the great apes. While all ape species are alike in terms of cognition, intelligence, and behaviors, there is a vital contrast: great apes are the efficient ecological engineers, not humans. Simian forest sovereignty is, therefore, critical to conservation efforts in controlling global warming, and so apes should be granted dominion over their tropical forests. Weaving together philosophy, biology, socioecology, and elements from eco-psychology, this book provides a glimmer of hope for future acknowledgment of the inherent ethic ape species embody in their eco-centered existence on this planet.

- by Gregory F Tague
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- Animal Studies, Environmental Ethics, Great Apes
- by John Voelpel
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- Environmental Ethics, Skepticism
- by Dana Chou
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- Environmental Ethics, Ecopolitics, Biodiversity, Environmental Sustainability

Review of R. Sedjo _Surviving Global Warming: Why Eliminating GHGs Isn't Enough_ (Prometheus, 2019)

- by Julio Gutiérez
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- Sociology, Applied Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Science and Society

Environmental bioethics, which at once addresses the environmental impact of the medical industry, and climate change health hazards, is a dynamic discipline. Simultaneously, thematic elements such as interconnectedness of planetary health and human health, dedication to living in harmony with nature – of which humans are part – and emphasis on systems and symbiosis remains unchanged. This issue of The New Bioethics is not only a celebration of nearly a century of environmental bioethics, but also a reiteration of its necessity today.

- by Cristina Richie
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- Ethics, Applied Ethics, Bioethics, Health Care
- by Stephen Gardiner
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- Climate Change, Environmental Studies, Virtue Ethics, Environmental Ethics

In order to solve environmental problems, it is thought that education should be connected with values. For this reason, it is emphasized that environmental issues should be integrated with ethical and aesthetic values. In this study, 6th, 7th and 8th grade science and technology curriculum and textbooks were investigated to find out how much environmental ethics and environmental aesthetics were mentioned in the topics related to environmental education. In the study, a descriptive methodology had been followed; the data were gathered through document analysis and analyzed in line with the determined themes. The themes related to environmental ethics are respect, value, responsibility, participation and compensation. For environmental aesthetics the aesthetic aspects of the visuals, the emphasis on the beauty of nature and the harmony between pictures and the topic were assessed. At the end of the study, it was found that both in the curriculum and in the textbooks environmental to...

- by Canan Lacin Simsek
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- Aesthetics, Ethics, Technology, Environmental Education
- by Muhammad Talha
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- Business Ethics, Civil Engineering, Ethics, Architecture

This paper addresses an apparent dilemma that must be resolved in order to respond ethically to global climate change. The dilemma can be presented as follows. Responding ethically to global climate change requires technological innovation that is accessible to everyone, including inhabitants of the least developed countries. Technological innovation, according to many, requires strong intellectual property protection, but strong intellectual property protection makes it highly unlikely that patent-protected technologies will be accessible to developing countries at affordable prices. Given this, responding ethically to global climate change is highly unlikely. I argue that this apparent dilemma – which I call " the patent dilemma in global climate change " – should be taken seriously. I discuss a number of possibilities for resolving it, and I argue that any acceptable strategy must satisfy the criteria of near-term feasibility and non-paternalism. Finally, I propose a multi-pronged, multi-tiered strategy that meets these conditions.

- by Justin Biddle
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- Intellectual Property, Climate Change, Environmental Ethics, Social Epistemology
- by Meliha N U R D A N Taskiran
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- Business, Medical Sciences, Environmental Ethics, Social Media
- by Adam Plachciak
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- Political Science, Environmental Ethics, Justice, Natural Environment

This chapter highlights several criticisms of zoos, then provides a vision for new zoos: “nooz.” Offering a new name to these institutions makes a clear break from the old model, which is fundamentally exploitative. The common denominator between zoos and nooz is that both foster nonhumans who are neither domestic pets nor farmed animals—they keep “wild” animals. Nooz are nonexploitative, benevolent, and are designed for nonhumans, to provide safe-haven for those individuals who have been misused by zoos or science, or injured by humans. This essay also explores “benevolent” reasons for keeping nonhuman animals in zoos, such as captive breeding programs and injured wildlife, and acceptable parameters for nooz, including such topics as retribution for previous exploitation and the problem of carnivory.

- by Lisa Kemmerer
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- Human-Animal Relations, Animal Studies, Animal Ethics, Critical Animal Studies

This essay criticizes the arguments provided by S.O. Hansson in favor of
a transformation of risk analysis. Hansson offers a critique of the prevailing
analytical framework in risk analysis, reformulates the problem that risk analysis
is supposed to solve, and provides an alternative solution to this problem. In a
nutshell, Hansson argues that risk analysis should no longer be concerned with the
potential risks and benefits of a particular technology, but with the way in which
these risks and benefits add up to a social system where risks and benefits can be
distributed among all persons. Consequently, risk analysis should not be carried out by
economists, but rather by professional ethicists. However, serious difficulties arise
in the constructive part of this argument. Hansson’s disregards intergenerational
justice, which is a symptom of the more general difficulty to assess the resilience of
the globalization process. I identify the problem of Hansson’s account as a dilemma
where either one faces paralysis in the assessment of technology-induced risks, or
otherwise risks collapsing technological acceptability into mere acceptance. Then I
go on to examine how the phenomenon of moral habituation introduces a socio-
psychical dimension to the aforementioned problem. As an immediate conclusion, Hansson’s criterion turns out to be either impractical or meaningless, since debates on the present sustainability of globalization show that we are seemingly unable to make
precise estimations of the distribution of risks and benefits in most societies –or in
global society. From this key result, two more implications can be drawn which
leave the discussion open for further investigation.

- by Gregory S. McElwain
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- Environmental Philosophy, Animal Studies, Animal Ethics, Environmental Ethics

Spirituality is central to the great challenge presented to us in Laudato Si'. Without a profound renewal of our spiritual lives, Pope Francis suggests, we will have little hope of cultivating the kind of deep and sustained ethical response the crisis of global climate change is asking of us. This chapter examines the particular contribution contemplative practice can make to this work.

Energy poverty remains a challenged concept without firm establishment in public policy on a national and international level. This paper addresses those still skeptical about the very idea of energy poverty and provides arguments to defend the concept against fundamental criticism. First, it is shown why energy poverty should be conceptualized, measured and tackled as a specific form of poverty. Secondly, conceptual confusions surrounding the concept are clarified, in particular the relation to fuel poverty and the difference between energy poverty definitions, measures and indicators. Further, a needs-based understanding of energy poverty is outlined.

- by Philipp Kanschik
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- Environmental Science, Poverty, Energy Policy, Environmental Ethics

TOC to the Revised First Edition (2020) of this reader, which now includes chapters on the ethics of artificial intelligence and the ethics of human enhancement. The reader now covers a more fulsome range of topics that undergraduate and graduate students in a range of disciplines will find useful, from international relations to global aid to environmental protection.

- by Marco Annoni
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- Genetics, Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Biology

The essential difficulty about Computer Ethics’ (CE) philosophical status is a methodological problem: standard ethical theories cannot easily be adapted to deal with CE-problems, which appear to strain their conceptual resources, and CE requires a conceptual foundation as an ethical theory. Information Ethics (IE), the philosophical foundational counterpart of CE, can be seen as a particular case of ‘environmental’ ethics or ethics of the infosphere. What is good for an information entity and the infosphere in general? This is the ethical question asked by IE. The answer is provided by a minimalist theory of deserts: IE argues that there is something more elementary and fundamental than life and pain, namely being, understood as information, and entropy, and that any information entity is to be recognised as the centre of a minimal moral claim, which deserves recognition and should help to regulate the implementation of any information process involving it. IE can provide a valuable perspective from which to approach, with insight and adequate discernment, not only moral problems in CE, but also the whole range of conceptual and moral phenomena that form the ethical discourse.

- by Luciano Floridi
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- Information Systems, Business Ethics, Computer Science, Information Technology