Environmental Ethics

Environmental Ethics meaning

Ethics generally focus on what is good or bad, right or wrong, or moral principles; in the Western philosophical tradition, they have been developed around human beings.

Contrary to most Western ethics, environmental ethics extend its questions of morality to future generations of humans, other species and the environment around us.

Environmental ethics in the West developed and were put into practice in the 1960s and the 1970s when "green politics" formally emerged. This is due primarily to the realisation of the increased growth in global population, industry and economic development since these three components affect the environment. Because of these changes, environmental ethics believe that the relationship between humans and the environment must be rethought.

Environmental ethics examples

As we have said above, environmental ethics focus on the relationship between humans and the environment.

This table will trace the primary examples of environmental ethics and principles.

Fig. 1 Environmental ethics explores the relationship between humans and the environment.

Environmental ethical issues

Now that you are familiar with the prominent examples of principles that make up Environmental Ethics, let's delve into two critical discussions that these types of ethics try to address.

Consumerism

Environmental ethics focus on how much the Western world and individuals consume daily. This ranges from food, such as eating large amounts of animal products, to non-necessities such as having more than one car, many clothing items or even travelling by plane.

In particular, environmental ethics oppose the idea that technology and science will find solutions to the current climate issues. Therefore, we should consider how the planet's resources are not infinite on an everyday personal level. Furthermore, boundless consumption of products that are either unnecessary or made with polluting resources such as plastics drives a worsening of climate change.

Animal rights

Another issue that environmental ethics aim at addressing is animal rights.

Those who believe in protecting animal rights see Western society as based on speciesism, or, in other words, the belief that non-human species are a means to sustainment for humans. Moreover, speciesists believe in superior human morality over animal morality. Ecology and ecocentrism, as we have seen before, oppose these beliefs, argue for the centrality of all natural beings, and apply moral values and importance attributed to humans to all species.

These ethics are translated into political views such as political veganism, which believes that we must not consume animal products to mitigate climate change since the meat industry is highly polluting.

Fig. 2 Part of environmentally ethical politics aim at chaining the relationship between humans and animals.

Main types of environmental ethics

Environmental ethics vary enormously. However, this division developed by environmental academic A. Marshall can be helpful to visualise the main articulations of these ethics.

• Libertarian Extension: with extension, Marshall argues for how some environmental ethics extend the rights of humans to all beings (like civil liberties). This is justified by their belief in the intrinsic value of all beings in the environment. This means that all beings are ontologically valuable, or valuable for themselves regardless of what use they have to humans. Animal rights defenders are part of this type of environmental ethics, as they believe all species should have the same rights and moral regard.
• Ecological Extension: these ethics extend not the rights of humans to non-human beings but rather believe that all biological beings are interdependent on one another. The above ethics are articulated in scientific rather than political/legal terms. They see an intrinsic value in ecosystems and, therefore, are based on ecology.
• Conservation Ethics: this set of ethics is anthropocentric despite its environmental consciousness or consciousness of needing to find ways to respect the environment as humans. It refuses to see intrinsic value in non-human beings and sees nature as having extrinsic value since it sees it as a means of human sustainment and growth. An example of this ethics can be found in most governmental articulations of green politics, which aim at saving the planet while still finding ways to exploit its resources.

Therefore, the main divergence comes from whether nature is seen as having intrinsic or extrinsic value.

Environmental ethics importance

Fig. 3 Floods are one of the main consequences of climate change and are rendering parts of our planet hardto inhabit.

Environmental ethics are essential for three main reasons:

1. Environmental ethics go beyond ethics that only theorise about human beings and teach us what morality is in accordance with the environment. This is important because it helps us visualise how we must integrate these ethics into our everyday lives through actions such as recycling. Indeed, recycling is based on the idea that the Earth's resources are not infinite and that we are interdependent with the planet's resources.
2. They drive us to consider how humans are impacting the environment. Environmental ethics help us think of how we relate to non-human beings by rethinking the relationship between different parts of the world and often articulating it in terms of interdependence. Its focus on animal rights has inspired many political struggles to recognise how plant-based diets might be the most impactful change that government can implement. Moreover, statistics show that there are always more people trying out veganism⁴.
3. Environmental ethics, especially in non-western countries such as Bolivia and Ecuador, have inspired governments to take immediate action based on such ethics. Buen Vivir, the indigenous American philosophy we saw before, has been integrated into some policies in these two countries. We could also say that current Climate Change Summits are based on environmental ethics despite not being entirely driven by ecocentrism. In sum, environmental ethics help us see the urgency of developing solutions to the climate change challenge.