5 Ethics and the Environment

Question 1

Ecological Ethics | What do some Utilitarians (eg Peter Singer) state to Animals and Humans?

And what do some Non-Utilitarians state to this?

Answer 1

• that the pain epxerienced by an animal is as evil as a comparable pain experienced by humans
• becuase animals have intrinsic values of their lives, they have certain moral rights, including the right to being treated with respect
• broader versions also include plants: because they live and have an “interest in remaining alive” -> can also be extended to natural structures like lakes rivers etc

Question 2

Environmental problems are market defects: prices of products and services do
not…

This includes…

Answer 2

…. reflect the full cost including that of pollution.

• Misallocaion of resources
• increase in waste
• inefficient distribution of product and services
  -> harm to society at large due to decrease in ecnonomic welfare

Question 3

What is the Definition of…

1. Private Costs?
2. Social Costs?

If we had only private costs, then…

Answer 3

1. the internal costs of an economic activity for an individual or company
2. the internal and external costs of the economy

• Social Costs are higher than Private Costs
• with only private costs, products are underpriced and overproduced and resources are not allocated to maximize utility

Question 4

What are ethical considerations of costs?

1. About the amount of production and demand
2. if there were only private costs
3. external costs for third parties

Answer 4

1. More product is produced as would be demanded at a higher price,
   so we use more of the societies resources and dont allocate them to other products (better use of finite resources)
2. With only private costs: there would be an Inefficient use of “social resources” with no attempt to minimize social costs (e.g. incentives for “cleaner” production technologies)
3. External costs for third parties result in unequal prices for the same products (i.e. those who have to pay the external costs have fewer funds to “afford” the products)

-> violation to the free market (voluntary market exchange – price and cost)

Question 5

Internalizing costs reduces….

1. External costs (due to pollution) usually affect…

Answer 5

…. environmental injustice.

1. usually affect the poor (eg property near polluting industries) -> distributive justice

Question 6

Costs and Justice

1. Distributive Justice
2. Retributive Justice
3. Compensatory Justice

Answer 6

1. external costs (due to pollution) usually affect the poor (e.g. property value near polluting industries, health)
2. Cost of pollution control would be paid by beneficiaries (stock holders/owners through reduced benefit or consumers through higher costs)
3. Benefits of pollution control flow to those who “suffer” most from the consequences

Question 7

Social Accounting | Global Report Index

What are some Problems?
1.
2.
3.

And possible solutions?
1.
2.
3.
4.

Answer 7

Problems
1. QUANTIFYING value of human life
2. LONG TERM EFFECTS: uncertainty concerning (long term) effects (e.g. pollution or regulations)
3. RISK EVALUATION: estimating and evaluationg risk (and attitudes towards risk, complexity of technology)

Solutions
1. treat people if they have given consent to be treated (eg opinion surveys)
2. apply “precautionary principle” if extent of outcomes are unknown
3. identify most vulnerable people and protect them
4. apply “maximum rule”: look for worst case scenarios and choose for the best possible option under those circumstances

Question 8

Basic Idea | Social Ecology

1.
2.
3.

Answer 8

• environmental crises are based on social characteristics like hierarchy and dominance in which one group holds power over another
• success through dominance and control
• The environment and nature are subject to dominance and control by the human.

Question 9

Basic idea | Ecofeminism

1.
2.
3.

Answer 9

• linked to social practices and institutions in which women have been subordinated to men
• “Mother nature” is closely associated with female characteristics and therefore dominanced
• applying ethics of care: Nature can be seen as an “other” that can be cared for with which one has a relationship that must be nurtured

Question 10

Ethics of Conserving Depletable Resources | Why is it difficult to attribute rights in this context to furute generations?

1.
2.
3.

Answer 10

• they do not exist now and may never exist
• unreasonable to sacrifice the present for the future
• interest and needs of future generations are unknown

STILL there are some moral obligations:
- we shouldnt hand over our next generation a world that is not in worse conditions as we have received from ancestors
- we should leave enough for the good of others

Question 11

Environmental sustainability | Definiton

This implies that…
1.
2.
3.

Answer 11

• the capacity of the natural environment to meet the needs of present generations; and future generations also being able to have their needs met from this environment
  ________
  1. Renewable resources should not be used faster than they can be replaced
  2. The emission rate of pollution should not be more than what the environmen can cleanse
  3. Non-renewable resource should not be used faster than the speed of the creation of renewable resources