Environmental Ethics

Question 1

Roger H Crook

Answer 1

-observes that technological advancement and scientific investigation following the industrial revolution has been seen as positive human activity,perhaps paving the way towards a better society:
• e.g. coal, gas, oil
• but there is now a view that this activity is threatening humanity’s long term survival

Question 2

Environmental Ethics

Answer 2

• concerned with our attitudes towards and our impact on the biological and geological dimensions of our planet, in terms of how that impact affects humanity
• whether it enhances or diminishes the well being and diversity of other forms of life on Earth
• and whether humanity maintains or disturbs the balance between the planet’s different life forms and geological systems
• in addition, Christians and other religious believers have a particular view of their duty and responsibility towards creation

Question 3

Types of value

Answer 3

• instrumental value: value based on importance to something else

• anthropocentric belief: that humanity is central and most important

• intrinsic value: belief that something is valuable in itself

Question 4

Shallow Ecology (Conservationism)

Answer 4

• fundamentally anthropocentric, claiming the environment matters only for its instrumental value, it is a means to an end, that end being human survival

• would encourage conservation and values biodiversity, but doesn’t see biodiversity as a valuable principle in itself, only good for our benefit

• relies heavily on calculations of what is and is not environmentally beneficial to people, leading to a utilitarian approach to the environment which is criticised for being difficult to assess

• shallow ecologists pushed for National Parks, although influx of tourists damages the ecosystem that national parks are designed to save, causing erosion, pollution, etc

• raises question of whether the environment should be restored, and some argue it would be moral to do so, others that it is not cost effective and that change in nature is natural

• principle of conservation for our benefit led to agreements reached in Rio in 1992 and Kyoto in 1997

• believes humans are of intrinsic value

Question 5

Michael La Bossiere

Answer 5

(Philosopher’s Magazine issue 15)

species should be allowed to die out if their natural habitat ceases to exist
• it is impossible and detrimental to stop change
• animals will either adapt or die out,
• humans are natural, so our activities and their consequences are a part of evolution

Question 6

Problems with Shallow Ecology

Answer 6

• ignoring issues that do not directly impact humans may cause problems for humans later on
• we want to advance technology, which can have negative indirect consequences

Question 7

Deep Ecology (Libertarianism)

Answer 7

the belief that all life forms have intrinsic value
-Speciesist: discrimination in favour of one species, usually the human species, over another
-Ecosophy: the idea that all living things, whether humans, animals or plants, have rights

Question 8

Arne Naess 1

Answer 8

Deep Ecologist

(1887-1948): it is time for humanity to stop being fixated upon itself and should focus on relationship with the environment.
• the social conscience of humans must extend beyond humanity, we need to deal with man’s relationship to land, animals and plants
• we shouldn’t view ourselves as the ‘dominators’ of the land, but should view our existence as part of a moral community
• “A thing is right when it ends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise” (Round River, 1949)

Question 9

Arne Naess 2

Answer 9

first user of the phrase ‘deep ecology’, 1973 paper ‘The Shallow and the Deep, Long range Ecology Movement’: “By an ecosophy I mean a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium”
• inherent worth and intrinsic value should be attributed to the environment and referred to the approach as ecosophy
• this approach tries to “preserve the integrity of the biosphere for its own sake” and not just for humans
• whole environment is interconnected and interdependent, no species has the right to dominate
• critical of Christian ideas of stewardship, “unnecessary arrogance”
• we are just another part of nature
-his solution for the planet:
• significantly reduce the population
• abandon any goals for economic growth
• preserve and conserve diversity of species
• live in small, self-reliant communities
• “touch the earth lightly”

Question 10

Criticisms of Arne Naess

Answer 10

• too radical and unrealistic in light of the significant growth of populations
• Richard Sylvan: alternate approach, respect the environment but don’t necessarily revere it

Question 11

Arne Naess and George Sessions’ eightfold deep-ecology platform

Answer 11

• all life is intrinsically valuable
• richness and diversity contribute to life’s well-being and are intrinsically valuable
• humans have no right to reduce richness and diversity expect to satisfy vital needs
• the impact of humans is excessive
• human lifestyles and population are key to this impact
• the diversity of life can flourish only with reduced human impact
• ideological, political, economic and technological structures must change
• those who accept the previous points have an obligation to help implement the necessary changes

Question 12

James Lovelock and Gai Hypothesis (AKA eco holism)

Answer 12

• Gaia: named after ancient Greek goddess, used to described the greater entity of which all nature is a part, includes plants, animals, humans, etc
-this view of the earth comes from Plato: in ‘Timeaeus’ the world is a body made of the elements earth, wind, fire, water. These are in balance meaning that the earth is “complete and free from age and sickness”
-supported by Aquinas, Augustine and Aristotle
• anthropomorphic view of the earth like that of Francis Bacon
• the earth “behaves as a single, self-regulating system” (Lovelock, ‘Reflections on Gaia’ 2004)
• fossil evidence suggests the earth self regulates using climate change to maintain life
• opposes Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’
• if we abuse Gaia we risk only our own existence
• life has continued to flourish even in places like Chernobyl and Bikini Atoll

Question 13

Weak Gaia theory

Answer 13

developed by those who saw the logic of Lovelock’s view but rejected its spiritual nature

Question 14

Lovelock quotes

Answer 14

Lovelock on fixing the climate: “renewable energy sounds good, but so far it is inefficient and expensive. It has a future, but we have no time now to experiment with visionary energy sources: civilisation is in imminent danger and has to use nuclear energy”

Lovelock in ‘The Ages of Gaia’: “Gaia is a religious as well as a scientific concept, and in both spheres it is manageable…God and Gaia…are not separate, but a single way of thought”

Question 15

Symbiotic

Answer 15

the mutually beneficial relationship between two things where they both depend on each other

Question 16

Challenges of Gaia Hypothesis

Answer 16

-Richard Dawkins:
• that all life works together is inconceivable because of evolutionary theory
• survival of the fittest means that species adapt in response to altered conditions, the world does not accommodate for animals and plants but they adapt to it
-However, Lynn Margulis suggests Dawkins’ view and Lovelock’s are compatible
• symbiosis: organisms do sometimes cooperate for survival
• e.g. pilot fish that clean the teeth of sharks in return for their protection

Question 17

Climate Change

Answer 17

• the trend of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere is identical to that of global temperatures, clear evidence that human activities are causing an increase in temperature

• predicted that by the end of the century average global temperatures could rise by 4 degrees celsius

• estimated that by 2035 some glaciers might disappear, arctic sea ice has thinned by 65 percent since 1975 and was at an all time low at 2014

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): average sea level has risen between 10 and 20 cm in the past 100 years

• 65 species nested an average of 9 days earlier in the mid 1990s than in the 1970s

• has caused stronger tropical storms and increased risk of natural hazards, such as the droughts of the African horn

• agriculture in lower latitudes will suffer while middle latitudes will be able to grow crops native to warmer climates

Question 18

Managing and adapting to climate change

Answer 18

-burning of fossil fuels contributes 87% of all human produced CO2 emissions

-other contributions include deforestation and making cement
-instead, we can use:
• hydro-electricity
• nuclear power
• solar, wind and tides

-trees act as carbon sinks, removing CO2 from the atmosphere via photosynthesis

-Sustainable water supply: collecting and recycling water, using as little as possible

-Freiberg, Germany: burns waste to provide energy for homes (rather than fossil fuels). recycles more than 88% of packing waste, uses green roofs to harvest rainwater, 40% of the city is forested.

Question 19

Sustainability

Answer 19

-actions that meet the needs of the present without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs
-Sustainable energy supply: energy that can potentially be used well into the future without harming future generations
-Sustainable food supply: food production that avoids damaging natural resources, providing good quality produce and social and economic benefits to local communities
-Sustainable water supply: meeting present-day need for safe, reliable and affordable water without reducing supply for future generations

Question 20

Waste Management

Answer 20

• waste includes items that aren’t needed and so are discarded

• some countries, since the industrial revolution, have produced lots of waste

• Europe creates over 1.8 billion tonnes of waste each year

• in 2010, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled or composted 85 million tons

Question 21

Aquinas and Descartes on animals

Answer 21

• believe animals do not have souls, so the suffering of animals is unimportant, however most people would argue that we shouldn’t inflict unnecessary harm

• Stewardship and Dominion: humans have a right to control the environment and should preserve the human species over any other, justifying killing animals to feed humans

Aquinas:
“Hereby is refuted the error of those who said it is sinful for a man to kill dumb animals: for by divine providence they are intended for man’s use”

Question 22

Christian views on animal welfare

Answer 22

-some argue environment has intrinsic value
• stewardship and dominion means a responsibility to preserve the environment, environment is an end in itself
• those who subscribe to environmental approaches such as deep ecology and Gaia see that humans benefit from what benefits the environment too

• Genesis 1:26: “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

•	being made in God’s image may lead some to conclude that human life is sacred above all, whilst others apply the sanctity of life principle to all creatures

Question 23

Peter Singer

Answer 23

Australian moral philosopher, professor of bioethics at Princeton, defended animal rights in 1975 book ‘Animal Liberation’
• animals have intrinsic value and, feeling pleasure and pain, should be of moral concern
• we don’t eat or experiment on babies or adults in comas, so to do so with animals is inconsistent
• that humans have more rights for being able to reason and speak is speciesist
-“If a being suffers, there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering into consideration…If a being is not capable of suffering or of experiencing enjoyment or happiness, there is nothing to be taken into account”
-“if we do not change our dietary habits, how can we censure those slaveholders who would not change their own way of living?”

Question 24

Chernobyl

Answer 24

• 26 April 1986, error during a test in nuclear power station led to explosion, releasing radioactive material
• forest has since taken over farmland
• radiation has affected the population growth rates of birds, negative effects on sex chromosomes
• the radiation caused cancer in those living there at the time, still impacting people today

Question 25

Religious approaches to the environment (general)

Answer 25

-Dominion: God has given humankind authority over the plants and animals on earth Genesis 1:26
-Stewardship: God has given humanity a responsibility to care and look after the planet
-Fundamentalists: believe you can take text at literal value

Question 26

(Religious approaches) Dominion

Answer 26

Dominion: belief that God has given human kind authority over the Earth and all its animals and plants, anthropocentric
• Bible is unclear about what our responsibility is (Genesis 1:26)
• Aristotle ‘Politics’: “She [nature] has made all animals for the sake of man” - influence Aquinas and seems to promote negative and forceful
• domination, puts humans at the top of the hierarchy of life
CAs
• however, ‘be fruitful and multiply’ seems to be directed at all of creation, suggesting it has intrinsic value
• Singer: “Nature itself is of no intrinsic value…Harsh as this tradition is, it does not rule out concern for the preservation of nature”

Question 27

(Religious approaches) Creation and Spirituality

Answer 27

a religious approach that emphasises that human kind is part of creation and that God can be found in all creation
• Francis of Assisi (1182-1226): god can be seen and found in all creation, nature conveys understanding so to destroy or harm them is a sin as God entrusted their well-being to us
• this was a form of creation spirituality similar to that of other writers such as Julian of Norwich
• has been compared to the Gaia hypothesis
• all creatures had the ability and the duty to worship God, all are part of the same creation with the same intrinsic value
• Genesis 1:10: “God saw that is was good”- shows value

Question 28

(Religious approaches) Stewardship

Answer 28

a way of interpreting the use of dominion, which sees humans as caretakers of the natural world
• responsibility without domination
• second creation narrative emphasises protecting and preserving god’s creation
• Matthew 25 parable of the talents shows how we are judged according to how we treat the things God gives us
• Adolpho Materanti: people have a duty to be “courteous, tolerant, humble, just and in awe of the creation that God has entrusted to their care”
• Pope John Paul II ‘Centesimus Annus’ 1991: “man sets himself up in place of God and thus ends up in provoking a rebellion on the part of nature, which is more tyrannised than governed by him”

Question 29

(Religious approaches) Consequences of Sin

Answer 29

negative effect on relationship with God, neglected responsibility for the earth
• after the fall (Genesis 3), we came poor stewards of creation
• Isaiah 24:5: “The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant”
• the environment must be protected and past mistakes must be rectified
• our bad treatment of the world damages our relationship with God

Question 30

(Religious approaches) Rapture and End time Theology

Answer 30

man is superior and concern for the earth is irrelevant
• prominent among American right wing fundamentalists
• accept that humans have dominion and authority over the earth
• concern for the Earth and the natural world is not important because these are temporary
• destruction of the environment is connected to the Apocalypse and the Second Coming
• Revelation 6:14: “The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place”
• Pastor John Hagee from Texas: “All over the earth, graves will explode as the occupants soar into the heavens”
• non-believers will have seven years of suffering which culminates in the rise of the antichrist and the final battle of Armageddon
• after Armageddon, Christ will send non-believers to hell and bring his followers to a re-greened earth

Question 31

Arguments in favour of Stewardship rather than Dominion

Answer 31

• Evangelical Churches: Christians must care for the environment, The Evangelical Environmental Network refers to ‘creation-care’ which is caring for God’s world
• CofE: God has entrusted the world to us so we are responsible for it, we are the Stewards and the Earth is not ours to exploit
• Catholic Church: we are created in the image of God, implying that, just as God maintains existence, we should maintain the earth

Question 32

Lynn Townsend Qhite

Answer 32

(1907-87) in a 1967 lecture published in ‘Science’:
• Christianity is to blame for the environmental crisis by asserting man’s dominion and creating an anthropocentric world view that sees nature as subservient to us
• man made in God’s image implies the inferiority of other species
• “God planned all of this explicitly for man’s benefit”
• doesn’t suggest that a secular approach is necessarily better, but that Christianity is compatible with ecology

Question 33

The Cornwall Alliance/Ronald Nash

Answer 33

• prominent critics of environmentalism, calling it the Green Dragon
• critical of ideological link between some evangelical churches and supposedly ‘extremist’ environmental groups such as Greenpeace and Earth First
• understands stewardship as a God given duty of responsibility but disagrees with social environmentalist movements and their claim that we have a duty to protect entire species and ecosystems
• environmentalist policies prevent developing nations from using the fossil fuels they need to develop
• particularly critical of what it calls radical environmentalism: that all beings have intrinsic value, blames influence of deep ecology
• Nash criticises pantheism; nature is not God, pantheism is anti-Christian. Humans have greater value than other beings, advocates apolitical and non-radical stewardship