Views of Nature

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• Views of Nature
• Control nature, or we are wasting resources.
•  
• All living things have value.
•  
• Problems now arise because of rate, scale and
  complexity of human interactions with the
  environment.
  
•  
• Management of earth for future generations may be
  one of our greatest challenges.

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• Ethics Versus Morals 
• Ethics - what is right and what is wrong.
•  
• Morals - predominant feeling of a culture about
  ethical issues.
  
• War
• Energy
• Number of children
•  
• Ethical questions are complex and require
  exploration from several points of view.

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• Anthropocentrismhuman Centered
• Biocentrismall forms of life
• Ecocentrismenvironment
• Where do your views fit?

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• Aldo LeopoldA Sand County Almanac
• a thing is right when it tends to preserve the
  integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic
  community. It is wrong when it tends other
  wiseWe abuse land because we regard it as a
  commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a
  community to which we belong, we may begin to use
  it with love and respect.
• Eco-centrism
• Pioneered concept of game management and stated
  that regulating hunting could maintain balance.

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• 3 Primary Attitudes (Ethics) Towards the
  Environment
  
• 1. Development Ethic 
• Humans should be the master of nature. Resources
  exist for our benefit.
  
•  
• Work ethic falls into this category.
• Bigger, better, faster progress

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• 2. Preservation Ethic
• Humans should work to preserve nature in its most
  natural form.
  
• One group holds that all creatures have right to
  live no matter what the social and economic cost
  to humans.
  
•  
• Another group holds that nature should be
  preserved because humans depend on it and have
  much to learn from nature.

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• 3. Conservation or Management Ethic 
• Recognizes desirability of decent standard of
  living, but works toward balance of use.
  
•  
• Humans should seek to balance between total
  development and absolute preservation.
  
•  
• Stresses that rapid, uncontrolled growth in
  population and economics is self-defeating in the
  long run.
  

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• Western Societys View
• Unlimited reserves of resources.
•  
• GROWTH PRODUCTIVITY
•  
• Pioneers considered nature as an enemy to
  conquer.
  
•  
• Religious beliefs justified exploitation.
•  
• To leave land idle is a sin.

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• Corporate Views 
• Industry in general must use resources and
  dispose of wastes.
  
• Corporations
• legal entities designed to make a profit.
• Corporations do not have ethics, but those who
  run them do.

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• Profitability
• the cost to produce a product determines
  profit.
  
•  
• Disposing of wastes is a cost of production.
• Aim towards short term profits, rather than long
  term benefits to society.
  
•  
• Profits allow expansion--cycle.

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Profits allow expansion
Lawmakers create more favorable conditions for
profits
Expansion enhanced through Marketing
Large corporations have influence over lawmakers
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•  
• Technology allows intensive harvesting of
  resources.
  
• Legal and political structure support private
  enterprise.
  
• Individual property rights have priority over
  social and environmental issues.

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•  
• Corporations may be starting to show a concern.
•  
• People are accepting the cost associated with
  protecting the environment.
  
•  
• Lots of folks at the extreme poles of this issue.
  
  
• Stopped here 1/14/2002
• Industrial Ecologygood ecology is good
  economics
  
• Waste as resource---Scarab vs Scarab

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• Two points to consider
• 1Cannot protect environment to point that you
  collapse economy
  
• 2Cannot maintain economy at cost of essential
  resources like air and water

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• Environmental Justice
• Laws designed to protect the environment (and
  human health) should be impartially applied.
  
•  
• Discriminatory practices in locating
  undesirable industries.
  
•  
• Dangerous jobs often go to non-whites.
• Some groups eat more foods that bio-accumulate
  toxins and other contaminants.
  

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• Individual And Global Ethics 
• Do cars or drivers pollute?
• Does a coal fired power plant or electricity
  consumption cause pollution? 
  
• Can everyone in the world have the same standard
  of living as you and I do?