Is global warming a moral dilemma? Is it the public policy problem from hell? In "The Environmental Issue from Hell," Bill McKibben uses many of such phrases en route to arguing for a new approach to global warming. By discussing hell and morals, the reader’s mind is already equating it with two heavily debated issues. Therefore, we begin to question their existence and how we should deal with the subjects. McKibben wisely chooses these disputes to represent his main concerns: the ways in which consumerism affects the global ecosystem, and the impact of humans on the environment. McKibben presents a solution on how to handle each of these environmental issues, utilizing both the people and the government.…
Quite often, environmental issues are discussed in terms of economic, political and/or social implications. Ethical issues, fundamental to the topic, are usually ignored. Failure to consider these issues is often understandable when the nature of pragmatic politics and economics is understood. Ethical positions are most often phrased as questions asking how we, as humans, relate to other humans individually, to other humans as groups, to other humans still to be born, to other forms of life and/or to entire sets ranging from ecosystems to the entire planet. Questions as to humans’ relations with nature are often raised as well as the relationship between technology and progress – for example, are gains from technological innovations mainly accrued by the wealthy and often at the expense of poor or dispossessed peoples? To what extent do technological innovations generate serious social and ecological problems? Is progress in meeting human needs always at the expense of nature? Is the biotechnology revolution in agriculture in the best interest of both humanity and nature? Questions such as these will be dealt with as our course proceeds during the semester.…
Current news and politics is full of concern about the environment, particularly as it is related to oil use and the auto industry. There are a number of ethical considerations that arise out of these issues. Please be sure to answer ALL of the following questions:…
The Los Angeles Basin is a plain that lies between the Pacific Ocean and mountains to the north and east. During the summer, the sunny climate produces a layer of warm, dry air at upper elevations. Southern California counties are where almost 15 million people reside. South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) is a governmental organization established in 1977 to deal with the historically poor air quality in the area surrounding Los Angeles. Air pollution injures organisms, reduces visibility, and attacks and corrodes materials such as metals, plastics, rubber, and fabrics. The respiratory tracts of animals, including humans, are particularly harmed by air pollutants, which worsen existing medical conditions such as chronic lung disease, pneumonia, and cardiovascular problems. Discussed in our paper will be several key points that will highlight very important details in regards to the efforts to reduce ozone in Southern California. Topics to be discussed are; described the historical development of the issue, the stakeholder’s involvement in the issue, and the long term effects of the problem, the responsibilities that arise from the ethical position and try to find a solution to this major problem.…
Hoffman and Derr are both authors who have strong feelings about environmental ethics. They both make pretty strong arguments; however, they disagree on some points. In this essay I will further explain on what basis these authors disagree.…
“…I want to consider whether there might be any reason to reduce one’s personal emissions even if [Sinnott-Armstrong is] right that doing so has no direct consequentialist payoff, that is, even if they are right that a reduction in emissions on one person’s part will result in nonexistent or negligible net change in greenhouse gas emissions overall.” (460, Hourdequin) Integrity is important when it comes to watching the effects of global warming. In order to understand an individual’s obligation to the environment there are two things of integrity; integration and integrality. There is no set…
Current news and politics is full of concern about the environment, particularly as it is related to oil use and the auto industry. There are a number of ethical considerations that arise out of these issues. Please be sure to answer ALL of the following questions:…
A good point brought up today in class is that both conservationism and environmentalism both have an ethical philosophy. The ethical side of conservationism is 'we should use the Earth for human gain, and should not let it go to waste.' On the environmental side, the ethics of 'we should not use the Earth, and should protect it for its beauty.' Conservationists say we should use the Earth for our own benefit and environmentalists say we should not use the Earth to save the Earth and for human benefit.…
He talks about how climate change is an interdisciplinary subject and it’s a problem that crosses boundaries between many subjects, but at the least science, economics, law, and international relations. Gardiner goes onto to cite this as being the issue of climate change, because the stretched boundaries make it easy for people to assume that this is not their problem to solve. However, Gardiner does believe that climate change is an ethical issue and it should be of serious concern to both moral philosophers and humanity at large. Gardiner does see climate change as a serious moral issue, because it leaves an implication on the future and future generations and what they’re inheriting from the past. Gardiner’s sees climate change as a moral issue, and he notes that we should not ignore past emissions as that would take away some of the obligation of developed nations.…
Witcombe, J., & Sanchez, J. (2004). Food systems and security helping the poor cope. Retrieved from http://www.id21.org/health/InsightsHealth5art3.html…
In “Environmental Ethics, Hunting, and the Place of Animals,” Gary Varner examines how two varieties of sentientism, animal rights and animal welfare, “could address the specific ways in which they are alleged to be at odds with sound environmental policy” (Varner 858).Environmental ethics surfaced as a response to claims that anthropocentric thinking in ethics is the “root cause of environmental problems” (Varner 855). Sentiest views such as animal welfare and animal rights were favorable to some environmental ethicists to “counter anthropocentrism” (Varner 855), but many believed “that an adequate environmental ethic had to be holistic; [meaning] it had to attribute intrinsic, noninstrumental value to entities such as species and ecosystems … [unlike] both animal welfare and rights views, [where] only the lives of conscious individuals have intrinsic value” (Varner 855). Furthermore, environmental ethicists “claim that…
This is the United States of America, land of the free. Good health care is a right, not a privilege. Healthcare (including public health) is special because it protects normal functioning, which in turn protects the range of opportunities open to individuals (Daniels N. 2001 pg.2). Currently President Obama has been trying to change the way health care is approached in the United States. He is facing quite a bit of opposition in his ideas that the government should provide health care for all Americans. No matter what your stance is on President Obama 's healthcare plan, we all realize that it is better to have health insurance than not. With prescription-drug costs being so out of control, many people have to choose between food and their prescriptions. Which is just not right, the fact is that health care is out of control.…
Stakeholder, pleasure v. pain, numerical model of Utilitarianism - Utilitarian analysis as per required model (See required Utilitarian model below)…
Environmental ethics: is known as the discipline in philosophy that focuses on studying the moral relationship of human beings and our status of value with the environment and its nonhuman contents. Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including the non-human world. It exerts influence on a large range of disciplines including environmental law, environmental sociology, eco-theology, ecological economics, ecology and environmental geography.…
What defines ethical behavior for a person, for a company, and for a community is based on the people in it and their ideals. These can wrap themselves around religion or the secular world (Merrill, 2011). The effects of the environment can dictate the…