Ethics

1
Ethics

• a major branch of philosophy
• proper conduct and good living
• the good life
• the life worth living
• the life that is simply satisfying
• considered more important than morals
• applied ethics
• asking right or wrong questions about real-life
  situations
• achieving the greatest good

2
Environmental Ethics

• includes the non-human world
• influences law, sociology, theology, economics,
  ecology, geography, etc.
• influential books, articles, etc.
• Henry David Thoreau Walden (1854)
• Aldo Leopold A Sand County Almanac, "The Land
  Ethic (1949)
• Rachel Carson Silent Spring (1962)
• Lynn White "The Historical Roots of our Ecologic
  Crisis (1967)
• Garrett Hardin "The Tragedy of the Commons"
  (1968)
• Earth Day (founded 1970)
• Al Gore An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

3
Influences on Environmental Ethics
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, 1962
Earth Day, established 1970
The Land Ethic, an essay from A Sand County
Almanac by Aldo Leopold, 1949
4
Difficult Questions

• Should we continue to clear cut forests for the
  sake of human consumption?
• Should we continue to reproduce and spread around
  the world?
• Should we continue to make gasoline powered
  vehicles?
• What environmental obligations should we keep for
  future generations?
• Is it right for humans to cause the extinction of
  a species for the convenience of humanity?

5
The Maldives
6
Flooding
7
Child Labor
8
Coal mining
9
Oil
10
Trash