Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics EJAIB

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14Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 18 (January 2008)review of all policies it will analyze the ethical frameworksinherent in the documents to draw up a model ethicalframework.11 Educational frameworks for environmental ethicsThis working group will link to ongoing efforts to developand test environmental ethics education materials andstrategies with pilot trials. The topics link to the coverage of allthe above working groups.12 Nuclear dialoguesThis group will look at the particular sensitivities of thenuclear energy debates from an ethical perspective.13 Energy flow, environment, and ethical implications of meatproductionMeat, as a food, is a form of energy for humans, but inorder to produce enough meat to satisfy global demand hugereserves of energy are required in the form of feed, fertilizers,pharmaceutical production, transport and refrigeration. Thisgroup will examine the consumption of energy, particularlyfossil fuels, in the meat production industry, and ethicalimplications for humans and the environment.14 Water ethics and water resource managementThe ethical issues associated with water resourcemanagement, including its uses in energy and other domainsare a priority area in many countries. There are also issuesover equity of access, ways to conserve water, andprivatization of what many consider to be a commonresource.Follow-upInvitations to join the working groups are being forwardedto other interested parties across the region unable to attendthe conference. UNESCO Bangkok continues to welcomecollaboration on this project. Individuals, institutions andothers interested in joining this project should write to DarrylMacer, d.macer@unesco.org for more information.There is a yahoo group, unesco_eet@yahoogroups.comInvitation to Join Working Groups onEthics of Energy Technologiesin Asia and the PacificUNESCO Bangkok, on behalf of project partners(including the Ministry for Science and technology and theMinistry of Energy, of Thailand), invites interested individualsand organizations to participate in working groups for theEthics of Energy Technologies in Asia and the Pacific project.Energy is intimately related to our environment and useof its resources, as well as to almost every sphere ofeconomic activity. As policy makers around the world grapplewith climate change, choices about energy generation andconsumption will have a significant impact on levels ofgreenhouse gas emissions and on environmental health, aswell as people’s ability to access energy to heat and cool theirhomes, travel, work and enjoy leisure time.This project is not intended to duplicate the numerousmeetings being held on energy and environment, but to openup ethical and value questions that have often beenneglected. It aims to depoliticize discussions onenvironmental ethics to produce substantive cross-culturaland multidisciplinary outputs that will be relevant for long-termpolicy making.The Asia Pacific region is experiencing the fastest annualgrowth in energy demand in the world and meeting thisdemand over the next two decades will be a tremendouschallenge. As oil prices continue to climb, countries faceincreasing pressure to articulate their energy policies andachieve energy security. The ethics of all energy choices,including fossil fuels, biofuels, nuclear energy, fuel cells,renewables, etc., need be considered holistically. How willenergy production affect the environment and other livingorganisms? How will rising energy prices affect the poor?What are our ethical obligations for consultation with localpeople? What are our ethical obligations to future generationsand what vision for the future do we hold? Do environmentalvalues held in Asian philosophical and religious traditionsaffect the sustainability of our relationships with ourenvironment?The project was launched in September 2007 with athree day conference at the Imperial Tara Hotel, Bangkok.Hosted by UNESCO Bangkok in collaboration with theMinistry of Science and Technology and the Ministry ofEnergy, Thailand, it was attended by a hundred people fromabout 20 countries, from many sectors and backgrounds, witha range of views on these issues.About the working groupsFollowing on from the conference fourteen provisionalworking groups have been formed on the following topics(more details below):• Universalism and environmental values• Ethical worldviews of nature• Visions and hopes of the future• Representation and who decides• Community engagement• Stakeholder responsibilities• Energy equity and human security• Cost-benefit analysis and economic constructions• Adoption & development of energy technologies(state of the art review)• Ethical frameworks for research agendas and policy• Educational frameworks for environmental ethics• Nuclear dialogues• Energy flow, environment, and ethical implications ofmeat production• Water ethics and water resource managementThe aim of the working groups is to develop dialoguearound these particular issues with a focus on environmentalethics and human security. Each group will produce a reportthat can be used by policy makers, scientists and researchersto consider the ethical dimensions of energy policy.Who are we looking for?We are looking for people interested in participating inthe working groups with a diverse range of experience inenergy and environmental ethics, from fields including but notlimited to engineering, government, institutional advisorybodies, civil society organizations, energy-related industries,education, and academia. The people participate asindividuals in the highest standards of intellectual vigor andintegrity, and the reports will be subject to peer review, andwill not represent the views of partner organizations.We are also looking for organizations with an interest inthis project to help support the process of deliberation,consultations and dialogue.Working group members are not paid for their timealthough there may be funds available through UNESCOBangkok and project partners for physical and virtualmeetings and other resources.Want to know more?For further information on the project please contact Dr.Darryl Macer, Regional Unit in Social and Human Sciences inAsia and the Pacific (RUSHSAP) at UNESCO Bangkok on+66(0) 2391 0577, extension 147 or emaild.macer@unescobkk.org.There is a yahoo group, unesco_eet@yahoogroups.com
Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 18 (January 2008) 15Evolutionary Thinking,Global Warming, andEnvironmental Ethics- Arthur SaniotisDiscipline of Anthropology, School of Social SciencesThe University of Adelaide, Australia (2 Morgan Street, WestHindmarsh, Adelaide, South Australia, 5007, Australia)E-mail: saniotis@yahoo.co.ukIntroductionGlobal warming will prove to be the most significantphenomenon which will inform the planet’s evolution in theforthcoming centuries. Not since the mass extinctions at theend of the Cretaceous period has the earth witnessed such athreat to biodiversity (Laszlo 1994:xiii). Ervin Laszlo calls thepresent period a grave threat to the biosphere by a terrestrialspecies. While the critical output of scientific analyses onglobal warming has only recently been acknowledged bysocial power brokers, there has been no “sustainableframework for the management of global warming” (Held2005:96). This is concerning due to the natural developmentswhich are currently taking place such as widespread droughtsin Australia, recent heat waves in Northern Europe, meltingice caps in the North and South Poles, and diminishingglaciers in Africa, North India, and Northern Europe. Thesheer volume of scientific studies done on climate changemakes it untenable to suggest that the earth is not undergoingglobal warming. The information confirms otherwise. Thequestion which now faces humanity is whether the kind ofintelligence that it had evolved for is sufficient to guide it intothe future (Laszlo 1994:97). This is both an ethical and anecessary question due to humanity’s rapacious treatment ofthe planet. While human cognition has been an evolutionaryhallmark, its continuous failure to live synergistically withecology is perhaps due to the biological default of Homosapiens (Ehrlich 2000). Whether humans lack the basicbehavioural skills to exist in a non-parasitic manner withnature is a point in question. The social collapses of theEaster Island people, the Maya, and the Mohanjo Daro in theIndus valley point to widespread ecological degradation.Moreover, millennia of fire burning of the Australian habitatand the probable extinction of ancient mega fauna byAboriginal Australians effaced the landscape. For thebiologist Paul Ehrlich, human beings seemingly have apenchant for degrading the environment which otherwiseopposes the plethora of ecological worldviews.Anthropogenic climate change is a continuation of Homosapiens’ ill legacy. This paper will outline a need forevolutionary thinking in response to global warming and itsethical issues. I will argue that global warming is anincreasing ethical issue which demands a new way ofunderstanding earth’s ecology and humanity’s place in itsscheme.Changing Paradigms: Evolutionary ThinkingFor Bateson (2000, 2002), Laszlo (1996), and Capra(2002), human beings have been informed by negativecognitive maps (mental representations) in relation to theenvironment. Bateson refers to negative cognitive maps as“internal incoherence” (2000:173), a process which obviatesfrom internal critique and “external reality” (2000:208). Theprocess of critical awareness is a creative exercise or anevolutionary way of learning as it foregrounds co-operationand networking (Montuori 1993).Here Maslow and Honingmann’s analysis of societies isinstructive. Both authors categorise societies into dominatorand gylanic societies. Dominator societies have low synergybetween individuals, exploit nature, encourage competition,and are not mutually reinforcing. The oeuvre of dominatorsocieties is cognate with Jung’s description of the “OdinArchetype” − the image of cruelty, conquest (Laszlo et al1996:52). Moreover, learning patterns in dominator societiessustain practices for the generation of conflict, therebymitigating conflict resolution strategies (Montuori 1993). Inthis way, learning patterns amplify negative feedback loopsthereby repeating non-corrective mechanisms (Montuori1993). Gylanic societies have high synergy betweenindividuals, view nature as organismic, and have mutuallyreinforcing behaviours (Maslow and Honingmann 1970:324).This categorical schema corresponds with Gert Hofstede’shigh/low masculine cultures (Hofstede 2001). High masculinecultures such as the United States, Japan, China, UnitedKingdom, Australia, and Canada are characterized bymaterial and value achievement, control, and social power(Dysart-Gale 2006). Low masculine cultures found inScandinavian countries are typified by co-operation, lessemphasis on gender roles, and importance of inter-personalrelationships (Dysart-Gale 2006).Laszlo et al’s (1996) analysis of cognitive maps furtherlocate internal incoherence to the mitigation of internal moralstructures. Their tri-partite model categorises three kinds ofmoral maps; pre-conventional morality, conventional morality,and post-conventional morality. The pre-conventional moralstage is characterized by a self serving attitude; the individualis ruled by the dictum, “If it feels good, do it.” In theconventional moral stage individuals comply with groupethical standards and recognize the moral authority of lawand dogma. The top end of this stage is typified by a“legalistic orientation” where individuals may challenge groupauthority via engaging in “citizenly activities” (Laszlo et al1996:46). At the post-conventional moral stage individualsare deeply morally conscious, encourage universalism, andadvocate critical learning skills which are often at odds withother social members (Laszlo 1996:47). The degree ofdivergence between the three cognitive moral maps reflectsthe inability of individuals to work in partnership to solveglobal problems. For this reason Laszlo et al advocate for thedevelopment of new societal and individual cognitive maps fortackling pan-human issues such as global warming(1996:105). A fundamental shift is needed based on learningfrom nature, and not dominating nature (Benyus 1997:2).In relation to global warming Laszlo (1994) Laszlo et al(1996), and Capra (2002) support the emergence ofecoliteracy and sustainability. Capra notes that the changingperceptions of sustainability are a significant ethicaldevelopment (2002:229). Ecoliteracy entails:1. Understanding principles of nature’s organisationalprinciples. In systems theory ecosystems are viewed asbeing autopoiec (self creating), inter-related, and withincreasing complexity. Eco-systems are based on cooperation,co-evolution, and networking. As Capra (2002:232)points out, nascent life on earth originated by networking notcombating.2. Ecosystems have evolved to sustain life andpossess multiple feedback loops in a dynamic balance.The process of ecoliteracy would entail the application ofnature’s organisational principles for the development of newsocietal and individual cognitive maps, and applying these inthe creation of new, sustainable technologies and socioeconomicsystems. Thus, human purposes would work interdependentlywith natural systems. Laszlo et al suggest threeareas in which ecoliteracy can be developed which comprisesocial and ethical dimensions.1. Male/Female RelationshipsProblems such as global warming will necessitate thepartnership of men and women in all social domains. This will
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