Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

The main ingredients of an environmental ethic are caringabout the planet and all of its inhabitants, allowing unselfishnessto control the immediate self-interest that harms others,and living each day so as to leave the lightest possible footprintson the planet.ROBERT CAHNThis chapter involves discussions of values, beliefsand ethics—subjects on which people disagree. Yetsolving environmental problems requires grapplingwith our values and beliefs, implementing them inour lives, discussing them with one another, andworking to agree on courses of action for solvingproblems.This chapter addresses the following questions:■ What human-centered environmental worldviewsguide most industrial societies?■ What are some life-centered and earth-centeredenvironmental worldviews?■ What ethical guidelines might be used to help uswork with the earth?■ How can we live more sustainably?28-1 ENVIRONMENTAL WORLDVIEWSIN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIESWhat Is an Environmental Worldview?Beliefs and ValuesYour environmental worldview is how you thinkthe world works, what you believe your role in itshould be, and what you believe is right and wrongin terms of environmental behavior.People disagree about how serious our environmentalproblems are and what we should do about them. Theconflicts arise mostly out of differing environmentalworldviews: how people think the world works, whatthey believe their role in it should be, and what theybelieve is right and wrong in terms of environmentalbehavior (environmental ethics).People with widely differing environmentalworldviews can take the same data, be logically consistent,and arrive at quite different conclusions becausethey start with different assumptions, beliefs,and values.Figure 28-2 (p. 632) shows some different types ofenvironmental worldviews. Most can be characterizedas human-centered, earth-centered, or some combinationof both. As you move from the center of Figure 28-2to the outside rings, the worldviews become lesshuman-centered and more earth-centered and devotedto sustaining the earth’s natural systems (ecosystems),life-forms (biodiversity), and life-support system (biosphere)for the benefit of humans and other forms oflife.How Do We Decide What Is Right and WrongEnvironmental Behavior? A Search for EthicalPrinciplesSeveral philosophies can help us decide what is rightand wrong environmental behavior.There are several major moral philosophical systemsthat deal with the concepts of what constitutes rightand wrong environmental (or other) behavior.One is universalism, developed by philosopherssuch as Plato (427–347 B.C.E.) and Immanuel Kant(1724–1804). According to this view, there are basicprinciples of ethics, or rules of right and wrong, thatare universal and unchanging. Some believe that Godor other sources of wisdom have provided ethicalguidelines. Others believe that these rules can be discoveredthrough reason, experience, and knowledge.Another philosophy is utilitarianism, developedby Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill(1806–1873). It says that an action is right if it producesthe greatest satisfaction or pleasure for the greatestnumber of people. Critics contend that this assumesthat we can somehow quantitatively measure happinessand compare it among different people.A related moral philosophy is consequentialism,which proposes that whether an act is morally right orwrong depends on its consequences. In effect, we determinecorrect moral conduct solely by conducting a costbenefitanalysis of the consequences of our actions.Thus an action is morally right if its consequences as awhole are more favorable than unfavorable.Another philosophy of right and wrong is relativism,promoted by ancient Greek teachers calledSophists who disagreed with Plato’s universalistethics. It asserts that moral values of right and wrongare relative to cultures, eras, or situations and there areno absolute principles of right and wrong.According to the philosophy of rationalism, we candevelop principles of right and wrong by using logic toanalyze ideas and arguments. This philosophy basedon the power of reason was developed by philosopherssuch as René Descartes (1596–1650), BenedictDe Spinoza (1632–1677), and Gottfried W. Leibniz(1646–1716).According to nihilism, often associated withFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900 ), the concepts of valuesand moral beliefs are useless because nothing canbe known or communicated. There is no purpose ormeaning to life except the struggle to survive in which“might is right.”Because this is not a philosophy textbook, the briefsummaries of several moral philosophies just givenhttp://biology.brookscole.com/miller14631