Chapter 1 : Science, Ethics, and the Environment

Environmental Ethics : Joseph R . Des Jardins

Quote :
" Faced with such a catastrophic future, we are challenged with momentous decisions. But, how
do we start making the right decisions? "

What I expect to learn?

I expect that in this chapter people can realized what they have done with mother nature.

Review

It was mentioned that in1804 the world reached the poputation of 1 billion in just 12 years.
Estimates are that it may take 15 years to add another 1 billion people. The natural resources that
sustain life on this planet -air,water, and soil-are being poppulated or depleted at alarming
rates.The prospects for continued degradation and depletion of natural resources multiply with
this popullation growth. Toxic wastes that will plague future generations continue to accumulate
worldwide. The world's wilderness areas, its forests, wetlands, mountains. and grasslands, are
being developed paved, drained, burned, and overgrazed out of existence.
Amory Lovins, an internationally recognized energy scientist, makes a similar point by reminding
us that the "answers you get depend on the questions you ask. " Lovins uses an example from
energy and need new energy sources. Science can document the facts of resource depletion;
calculate the known reserves the coal, oil, and uranium; compare the technological advantages of
various energy resources; and predict costs and efficiencies of coal,oil, nuclear-powered
generating plants, and so forth. This decision, we can well imagine is based on the objective
neutral facts of science.
Environmental is a systematic account of the moral relations between human beings and their
neutral environment. Environmental ethics assumes that moral norm can and do govern human
behavior toward the neutral world. A theory of environmental ethics, must go on to explain what
these norms are or to whom or to what humans have responsibilities and show how these
responsibilities are justified. Many controversies in the early decades of the environmental
movement, such as air and water pollution, toxic wastes, and the abuse of pesticudes, arouse
because of perspective of anthropocentric ethics. Pesticides-contaminated-food and polluted
drinking water pose direct threats to human well-being. Thus, anthropocentric ethics involves
simply applying standard ethical principles to new social problems.

What I have learned?

I learned that we should not waste our natural resources,prioritize and look forward by taking
care of them.

Integrative Questions.
1.) What is global warming?
2.) What is Anthropocentric ethic?
3.) What is the solutions to environmental problems?
4.) What makes a belief or statement objective?
5.) What is reasoning ethical matters?