ENGR 5003 Assignment on Research Paper

Title
Environmental Ethics

Abstract
This research paper starts with the introduction and then the
origin of Environmental ethics as it is concerned with working
out and implement the different laws that should be applicable
to all mankind who deal with the natural world for example like
the duties which are supposed to be performed to stay away
from harming or to protect from harming the environment. Then
the need for Ethics is mentioned and the Environmental Ethics is
explained in detail and then the various theories of
Environmental ethics are explained,then few issues are
discussed and then some facts and effects of not following
Environmental ethics are discussed along with some steps
which can be taken in order to improve our environment are
discussed and at the last the conclusion and references are
available.

Introduction
I start with a beautiful verse from the Holy Bible,”Almighty
God envisioned a world of beauty and harmony, and He created
it, making every part an expression of His freedom, wisdom and
love “( Genesis 1:1-25). As we see around that our modern day
society gives us a lot of comforts which include physical and
psychological comfort. Nowadays there is luxury available
provided by the different modern day technologies such as
appliances in our homes,laptops and computers,the comfort of
indoor heating and cooling,different kinds of automobiles and
the list goes on and on.
The society in which we reside presently is a disposable society
where most of the things or goods are not fixed and are usually
replaced for example the disposable water bottles,cans,
contacts, brushes,plastic and if we see that

every thing is at our convenience. But the most important thing

which we do not see is the other side of the coin. If you see the
other side of the coin ,this luxurious life has slowly created a lot
of devastation and and exploitation to the environment and the
Earth which we live in.
There is a need for the Environmental Ethics which need to
be followed so as to make our future better for the generations
to come because at the current situation we are heading
towards an environmental disaster, and this statement has a lot
of truth in it,its high time that we understand the consequences
and start making efforts. There are few questions which we
need to ask ourselves like have we really destroyed and
polluted our environment enough to cause a serious and a
disaster on a large scale? If we do not agree , then can we
continue on with our daily activities without changing and do
not try to find out our mistakes and learn from them? And if so,
then can we put in more efforts in the present situation so that
we can have a better tomorrow? If we ask these questions to
ourselves and our community then we will realize that they are
very relevant in our current situation.
We will find that there are many people who believe that the
laws regarding the endangered species which was enforced by
United States government is like a obstacle in our economy for
them which is very sad to hear as it is very good for the safety
of the different kinds of species.
There are various reasons behind having tough laws like
these for example if the current situation tough laws should be
imposed upon the companies who tear down forests for their
own profit. By doing this they are not only destroying the forest,
but also wildlife which comprises of the different kind of species
within it. There have been many research team which have
found out that the destruction of habitats, and extinction of the
species are two of the most important environmental issues
globally. To prevent further problems from occurring we must
maintain all biodiversity laws and the main aim of the laws
should be to protect all life, including all human life; and we
have to remember that these are very crucial and important for
present and future generations.

History and Origins of Environmental

Ethics
It is believed by many people that the environmental ethics
was started with the first Earth Day held on April 22, 1970, in
the United States when the organizers around the country
showed the importance and wanted to make the people and
political leaders aware of the importance and the need for
caring and protecting the environment. There were different
advocates of environmentalism started questioning the
philosophers who were along with different groups who had
concern for the environment to do something about the
environment ethics.
In that year, there were different debates which took place
and they were focused mainly on the different topics of
history,theories and even religious but philosophy was not
focused. As there were different philosophers who were present
in that area where the debates were going on,they tried to
figure out what kind of field is environmental ethics as they had
no idea.
Then in the year 1972,the first philosophical conference
was organized by William Blackstone at the University of
Georgia and then in the year 1990s,the first society namely
International Society for Environmental Ethics was formed and
the credit should largely be given to Laura Westra and Holmes
Rolston, III because without of their large efforts and hard work
it would have been very difficult to establish the first society.
Currently it has members all over the world who are actively
participating and giving their views and ideas. In was in the
year 1992, when a philosophy journal was dedicated to
environmental ethics, the different environmental values and it
was initially published in England. In 1996, another journal was
established at the University of Georgia, namely Ethics and the
Environment
This good work was continuing and in the year 1997 after the first
international association,another association was created namely The
International Association for the Environmental Philosophy and there was
major importance given on the different phenomenology in the
environment.

When the environmental values are concerned,they are

usually with the justification of environmental policy and they
aim to bring together the different contributions from various
fields like philosophy, law, economics and other disciplines.
They usually are connected to the present and future
environment of human beings and different kind of other
species.

Ethics and the Need for Ethics

In simple words ethics can be basically defined as
something which differentiates between right and wrong ,it can
also be referred as the standards of behavior which show us
how humans have to behave in different kinds of situations.
The different situations might include when they are with their
friends, parents, citizens and professionals as they contain the
standards of behavior which a society usually accepts.
Ethics is a like a requirement for human life which is the
means of how we decide any action,without it the actions which
we perform would be random without any aim. There would
have been no way to work towards a goal as there would have
been no way to pick between an infinite number of goals . But
there are cases that even with an ethical standard, we may not
be able to pursue our goals with the possibility of success. One
important thing to remember is that if there is any flaw or
defect in our ethics ,there it will reduce our ability to be
successful in achieving our goal.

Environmental Ethics
The beginning of the field of environmental ethics was
mainly due to the awareness which was starting to increase in
the late1960s. The main issues were the adverse effects and
the impact the technology, industry, economic expansion and
growth of the population were having on the environment. If we
consider the present scenario it is very important as we can
notice that most of the environmental problems are the result
of the unethical actions which are taken by the individuals or
the big organizations.

For example in India the water quality degradation in the

Yamuna river(which is one of the prominent rivers in India)
where some polluting sources were discharging effluent which
were highly polluted in drains and the result was it was mixing
with the river. Another river named Mithi always receives
waste water and waste materials which are mixed with water
from local areas like Sakinaka , Chunabhati and the Nahim.
Nowadays if the high gas prices are a concern for the local
American public; then the politicians will address the issue and
if offshore drilling is bothering the local Americans,even then
the politicians will pay attention to how they feel about it. Even
in the case of health care in America, or Social Security, or the
recent Wall Street collapse,these issues are relevant and should
be addressed by our nations’ leaders, but the most important
question and the issue which should be raised is how much
damage is being done to our planet.
Environmental Ethics shows us the different and new ways to
consider and understand the various environmental issues, as
an environment is nothing the surroundings wherein all plants
and animals live,and they are affected by various physical
factors like the temperature, water, sunlight, and various
sources of food
Environmental ethics is a new discipline which analyzes the
issues and concerns relating to the general moral obligations
and responsibilities for the coming generations in terms of the
environment. It is the small part of environmental philosophy
which beliefs that the normal boundaries of ethics which have
both human beings and the non-human world and it has a
large impact on various range of disciplines which include the
different laws, theologies, economics, ecologies and
geography.
It can also be referred as a collection of beliefs, various
values, and norms which are in connection with how human
beings should interact with the environment and a position of
philosophy which deals with the relation between humans and
nature.

Different categories of Environmental Ethics

Lately there have been a quite a few scholars who tried to
categorize different ways in which our environment has its
importance. Alan Marshall is one of the well known scholars who
has three general ethical approaches that he has in the last 40
years. He uses the following terms to describe them: Libertarian
extensionists,Ecological extensionists and Conservationists
Libertarian extensionists:
In simple words this explains that everyone in the world
should be given rights .It is can also be an approach which is
basically a promise to extend equal rights to every member of
a community). In the case of environmentalism, the general
thinking is that the community is considered to have both non-
humans and humans.
Ecological extensionists:
In ecological extensionists,the ecosystem should be given
importance. In this category, Marshall gives more importance
not only on human rights but also on recognition of the basic
dependence of all biological and non biological entities,when
compared to as libertarian extensionists it can be assumed as
flowing from political image of the world. Therefore ecological
extensionists can be regarded as the best thought of as a
scientific reflection of the natural world.
Conservationists:
The main aim of this theory is that it is only interested in
conserving the environment as the main goal is that it will
benefit the mankind. This theory of Marshall can be the increase
of use-value into the non-human biological world. The main
emphasis is only on the worth of environment as only the
usefulness to human beings is considered as the top priority. It
is also called as the 'shallow ecology' as there is contrast in the
intrinsic values of the deep ecology. The common argument is
that the protection of environment is always considered on
condition that the mankind is benefited. There fore we can say
that conservation is a way to an end and which is purely
concerned with the humans.

Issues relating to Environmental ethics and

Environment in general:
The society which we live in is a very huge and flourishing
society,but in that process we remove forest in order to acquire
huge sections of land for to stay and livestock grazing.
Some issues relating to the Environmental ethics that can
be discussed are like the kind of importance that should be
given to the natural environment, to the things other than
humans like the living and nonliving which are a part of this
world along with us. The question here which might arise is
whether should we value them and be watchful while treating
them only as they are useful to us or they are independent of
our interests or of no concern to us. So emphasis should be
given to valuing things for what they can do for us or to value
them for what they are. Another issue
is that how we being humans should have a relationship with
the nature,one should think that we are a part of the nature not
different from it and never think that we are superior than
nature and misuse it or spoil it. One of the most valuable thing
to the humans is a good and appropriate foundation of ethics of
respect to the nature. If CEO’s of big corporations had it their
way, there would be no compromise to preserve our
environment, because it has yet to be seen if there can be the
same amount of profit by conforming to help save the
environment as we have seen in the Video “The Corporation”
The environment is a vast and largely growing issue if we
intentionally or non intentionally,many human activities have
caused the natural environment to become a very bad place to
survive and there are many species which have been extincted.
The pollutants are one of the biggest hazard to each and every
living organisms and humans on the earth. They have the
capability to cause serious climate changes and deplete our
resources and also change the society and the results can be
noticed easily and they are almost everywhere.
The situation is becoming from bad to worse and is expected to
worsen even more by the end of this century when the earth is
expected to have a approximately 30 billion people. It is a real
big issue to think and just imagine of all the many issues that
the Earth might face at that time,but there are thousands of
people and organizations who are making effort to

try and resolve some of these problems and the results can be
noticed as they achieving some success bu the thing is it has to
be continued.
 The thing is that we do not exactly have the best track
record for environmental protection and preservation. Through
the time Humans have exploited nature and its creatures for
their own benefit and we have made technological advances,but
the problem is that they threaten and disrupt the environment
and cause a lot of problems .It is the nature of Humans to take
the short cuts but these short cuts are proving to be a problem
now and it is very difficult to think of any alternatives which are
available which can or will be a solution to the problem as soon
as possible.
Another thing is that we human beings view nature simply
as a pleasant surrounding for our leisure time or sometimes as a
resource for economic activity. This is a very dangerous point of
view since this results and leads to destruction of natural
habitats by over-using, different kinds of pollutions, depletion of
resources, and extinction of wild flora and fauna.
Facts & Effects of not following
Environmental Ethics
Some of the effects of not following the ethics are global
warming, ozone depletion, acid rains, different kinds of energy
and water deficits are all problems that are challenging
humanity and literally halting its progress in many aspects.
Global warming results in loss of fertile land, loss of snow cover,
increase in the sea level, depletion of ozone (which leads to
even cancer). The effects of global warming are very dangerous
and difficult to control in some areas. Ozone depletion is
another serious environmental issue.
There is a huge value of protecting the human environment
and it appears insignificant to most individuals when it is
compared with the value of protecting financial health,it is high
time people understand this fact.
The Earth has suffered a lot from the influence of humans, and
it is time to give it some rest and time should be given so that
it heals from the damage which is caused by humans. I also
believe that each individual bears personal responsibility for
preservation and protection of nature and that this responsibility
is part of everyone's duty to society.
There are some facts which one must know like
• Every year around 14.6 million hectares of natural forest
land is being cleared.
• There is more than 20% of the world's carbon emission is
produced by 5% of the world's population.
• Due to Global warming,different species of snails have
completely disappeared and many rabbit species are slowly
disappearing.
• Air pollution from smoke and various chemicals kills more
than 3 million people a year (According to Cornell Study).
• With more than One billion people require clean water,the
waterborne infections result in 80% of all diseases.

Steps to be taken
The first and the foremost thing that everyone must do is to
follow the Environmental ethics so that everything will start
becoming better. However, there are other steps which are to
be taken so as to reduce a lot of problems which are currently
faced by everyone, like many of these problems can be
prevented through education, awareness and action.
All the communities must have aware their residents about
the various recycling programs, water harvesting and
conservation projects, and other waste management and
disposable policies which will surely help and solve the
concerns of the people living in and around the community.
In some communities, people can also be fined for not obeying
the environmental laws so that they can scare them a little bit
as well as create an awareness, but the problem is not everyone
in these communities have the equal amount of concern and
care for the environment. There are a lot of multi national big
companies here in the U.S. Who were forced to modify their
waste management and disposal techniques,as their main
reason was to stay out of any contradiction with the
Environmental Protection Agency and to follow the law and
order simultaneously making the local people also happy
otherwise they will create a lot of issues and problems to the
company.

The large oil companies can start and advertise,thereby

promoting that they are interested in obtaining any alternative
resources for oil, and in this way they can have plans on
various other ways on how they can improve the environment.
In this way they can have the support of the people and the
government and in this way , ethics in the business world can
mix with the ethics of the environment. People should be aware
of the value of prayer and we must implore God who is the
Creator to enlighten people everywhere regarding the duty to
respect and carefully guard his creation.
There are many ethical decisions that human beings make with
respect to the environment. For example:
• Should they continue to clear and cut the forests for the sake
of human consumption?
• Do they have to continue to make vehicles with petrol and
diesel ,thereby depleting fossil fuel resources while the
technology exists to create zero-emission vehicles?
•Are they allowed to destroy and deplete the Ozone layer due to
the various human-created chemicals?
• What environmental obligations and responsibilities do we
need to have for our future generations?
• Or Is it ethical for humans to wantedly cause the extinction of
a species for the convenience of humanity?

We should, therefore, invite all men and women who have

good intentions who will realize the importance of the following
ethical goals thereby using science and technology in a full and
constructive way. There is a need of Environment Legislation
who should control the exploitation of nature and natural
resources and every industry should be forced to submit a
Environmental audit report wherein all the safety factors are
checked and it should be signed by the industry rather than the
auditor.

Conclusions
An ethical approach should be sensible and realistic and we
have to belief that we must recognize the rights which the
nature has it by itself and let natural systems to survive and be
in their original form.
As it is said in the Holy Bible :
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the earth, and over
everything that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said
upon them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth,
and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and
over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth
upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28)
All the believers must think they have a very important role to
play by teaching the moral values and in educating people
about the ecological awareness, which is none other than
responsibility towards our-self and , towards others that is God's
creation. One must understand that Environmental ethics is not
in need of a concept of value like a quality which is independent
of human judgments or any interests.
 We have been making decisions, taking actions, and assigning
values that are leading us away from the world as it should be,
away from the design of God for creation, away from all that is
essential for a healthy planet and a healthy commonwealth of
people. A new approach and a new culture are needed, based
on the centrality of the human person within creation and
inspired by environmentally ethical behavior stemming from our
triple relationship to God, to self, and to creation.
Humans are a part of the natural world and as such we must
strive to connect with it. The continued loss of natural habitat
disconnects us from this world and decreases out awareness of
nature. We should believe that are the guardians of this world
and all of its natural beauty; and so, we must protect it at all
costs and remember that as long as we do not overuse the
environment, everything will be fine and as long as we replace
what we take, the world will survive.

References
http://www.cep.unt.edu/novice.htm

The Holy Bible

J.R.Des Jardins,Environmental Ethics:An introduction to Environmental

Philosophy (Wardsworth,2nd edition,1997)

John Benson,Environmental Ethics:An introduction with readings

http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/environmental_issues/

http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/sites/0070294267/student_view0/glossary_e-l.html

http://environment.nelson.com/0176169040/glossary.html

http://www.slideshare.net/skambalu/environmental-ethics-3-presentation

Environmental news from Wikipedia

A. Marshall, 2002, The Unity of Nature, Imperial College Press: London

http://www.scienceclarified.com/El-Ex/Environmental-Ethics.html