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JOSEPH R. DESJARDINS College of Saint Benedict/St. Johns University

Environmental Ethics

An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy

FI FTH E D ITION

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Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy, Fifth Edition

Joseph R. DesJardins

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011941646

ISBN-13: 978-1-133-04997-5

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One summer morning, while driving through the countryside, my four-year-old son asked, Daddy, what are trees good for? Sensing a precious moment of parenthood,

I began gently to explain that as living things they dont need to be good for anything, but that trees do provide homes to many other living things, that they make and

clean the air that we breathe, that they can be majestic and beautiful. But daddy, he said, Im a scientist and I know more than you because you forgot the most

important thing. Trees are good for climbing. I hope that I have not missed too many other such obvious truths in writing

this book, which I dedicate to Michael and Matthew.

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Contents

PREFACE xi

I Basic Concepts 1

1 Science, Politics, and Ethics 3

Discussion: Global Climate Change 3

Discussion Topics 6

1.1 Introduction: Why Philosophy? 6

1.2 Science and Ethics 8

1.3 Philosophy, Politics, and Ethical Relativism 15

1.4 Environmental Ethics: An Overview 16

1.5 Summary 18

Notes 19

Discussion Questions 19

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 20

2 Ethical Theories and the Environment 21

Discussion: Why Protect Endangered Species? 21

Discussion Topics 22

2.1 Introduction 23

2.2 Philosophial Ethics: Getting Comfortable with the Topic 24

2.3 The Natural Law TraditionTeleology and Virtues 27

2.4 Contemporary Perspectives on Teleology 30

2.5 The Utilitarian Tradition 33

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2.6 Contemporary Perspectives on Utilitarianism 36

2.7 Deontology: An Ethics of Duty and Rights 37

2.8 Contemporary Perspectives on Deontological Ethics 38

2.9 Environmental Ethics and Religious Principles 40

The Good of Gods Creation 41

Finding the Divine in Nature 41

The Ultimate Respect for and Value of Life 42

Social Justice Ministries 42

Stewardship 43

2.10 Summary and Conclusions 43

Notes 44

Discussion Questions 44

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 45

II Environmental Ethics as Applied Ethics 47

3 Ethics and Economics: Managing Public Lands 49

Discussion: BPs Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 49

Discussion Topics 50

3.1 Introduction 51

3.2 Conservation or Preservation? 51

3.3 Managing the National Forests 54

3.4 Pollution and Economics 59

3.5 Ethical Issues in Economic Analysis 62

3.6 Cost-Benefit Analysis 64

3.7 Ethical Analysis and Environmental Economics 66

3.8 Summary and Conclusions 71

Notes 71

Discussion Questions 73

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 73

4 Sustainability and Responsibilities to the Future 74

Discussion: Sustainability: Fad or Future? 74

Discussion Topics 76

4.1 Introduction 77

4.2 Do We Have Responsibilities to Future Generations? 78

4.3 What do We Owe Future Generations? 81

4.4 Consumption and Sustainable Development 88

4.5 Summary and Conclusions 92

vi CONTENTS

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Notes 92

Discussion Questions 94

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 94

5 Responsibilities to the Natural World: From Anthropocentric to Nonanthropocentric Ethics 95

Discussion: Industrial Farming: Mass Producing Animals as Food 95

Discussion Topics 97

5.1 Introduction 97

5.2 Moral Standing in the Western Tradition 98

5.3 Early Environmental Ethics 101

5.4 Moral Standing 105

5.5 Do Trees Have Standing? 108

5.6 Peter Singer and the Animal Liberation Movement 110

5.7 Tom Regan and Animal Rights 112

5.8 Ethical Implications of Animal Welfare 114

5.9 Critical Challenges 115

5.10 Summary and Conclusions 119

Notes 119

Discussion Questions 121

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 122

III Theories of Environmental Ethics 123

6 Biocentric Ethics and the Inherent Value of Life 125

Discussion: Synthetic Biology and the Value of Life 125

Discussion Topics 127

6.1 Introduction 127

6.2 Instrumental Value and Intrinsic Value 129

6.3 Biocentric Ethics and the Reverence for Life 132

6.4 Ethics and Character 135

6.5 Taylors Biocentric Ethics 136

6.6 Practical Implications 140

6.7 Challenges and Developments 143

6.8 Summary and Conclusions 145

Notes 146

Discussion Questions 147

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 148

CONTENTS vii

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7 Wilderness, Ecology, and Ethics 149

Discussion: Wilderness Management: Fighting Fires in Yellowstone 149

Discussion Topics 151

7.1 Introduction 151

7.2 The Wilderness Ideal 153

7.3 The Wilderness Myth: The Contemporary Debate 157

7.4 From Ecology to Philosophy 163

7.5 From Ecology to Ethics 169

7.6 Varieties of Holism 171

7.7 Summary and Conclusions 173

Notes 173

Discussion Questions 175

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 176

8 The Land Ethic 177

Discussion: Hunting, Ethics, and the Environment 177

Discussion Topics 178

8.1 Introduction 179

8.2 The Land Ethic 180

8.3 Leopolds Holism 183

8.4 Criticisms of the Land Ethic: Facts and Values 185

8.5 Criticisms of the Land Ethic: Holistic Ethics 189

8.6 Callicotts Revisions 195

8.7 Summary and Conclusions 199

Notes 200

Discussion Questions 201

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 202

9 Radical Environmental Philosophy: Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism 203

Discussion: Environmental Activism or Ecoterrorism? 203

Discussion Topics 205

9.1 Introduction 205

9.2 Deep Ecology 207

9.3 The Deep Ecology Platform 208

9.4 Metaphysical Ecology 209

9.5 From Metaphysics to Ethics 212

9.6 Self-Realization And Biocentric Equality 216

viii CONTENTS

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9.7 Criticisms of Deep Ecology 218

9.8 Ecofeminism: Making Connections 221

9.9 Ecofeminism: Recent Developments 224

9.10 Summary and Conclusions 227

Notes 228

Discussion Questions 231

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 231

10 Environmental Justice and Social Ecology 232

Discussion: Environmental Refugees 232

Discussion Topics 233

10.1 Introduction 233

10.2 Property Rights and Libertarian Justice 234

10.3 Justice as Fairness 238

10.4 Environmental Justice and Environmental Racism 240

10.5 Murray Bookchins Social Ecology 243

10.6 Critical Reflections 246

10.7 Summary and Conclusions 248

Notes 249

Discussion Questions 251

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 252

11 Pluralism, Pragmatism, and Sustainability 253

Discussion: Carbon Mitigation and Stabilization Wedges 253

Discussion Topics 254

11.1 Introduction: Agreement and Disagreement in Environmental Ethics 255

11.2 Moral Pluralism and Moral Monism 256

11.3 Environmental Pragmatism 259

11.4 Conclusion: Sustainability Revisited 263

Notes 265

Global Environmental Ethics Watch 265

GLOSSARY 267

INDEX 271

CONTENTS ix

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Preface

One winter evening some years ago, I reread Aldo Leopolds A Sand CountyAlmanac. This occurred a few months after I had moved to rural Minnesota from suburban Philadelphia. I came upon Leopolds entry for February:

There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace. To avoid the first danger, one should plant a garden, preferably where there is no grocer to confuse the issue. To avoid the second, he should lay a split of good oak on the andirons, preferably where there is no furnace.

This passage struck me in a way that it never could have had I still been living in a metropolitan area. The fact that it was 27 degrees below zero outside, and I was sitting in front of a roaring oak fire might have had something to do with this. I recognized that there are more than just two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm; one other concerns divorcing your life from your work. That evening, I realized that teaching courses on environmental and ecological issues would mean more to me now, personally and professionally, than it could have in the city. This book grows out of a commitment to integrate more fully my life with my work.

The primary aim of this book is simple: to provide a clear, systematic, and comprehensive introduction to the philosophical issues underlying environmen- tal and ecological controversies. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is fair to say that human beings face environmental challenges unprecedented in the history of this planet. Largely through human activity, the very climate of the Earth is changing, and life on Earth faces the greatest mass extinctions since the end of the dinosaur age sixty-five million years ago. The natural resources that sustain life on this planetair, water, and soilare being polluted or depleted at alarming rates. Human population growth is increasing exponentially. When the first edition of this book was begun in 1990, the world population was 5.5 billion people.

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By 2012 it will have grown to 7 billion, a 27 percent increase in just over twenty years. The prospects for continued degradation and depletion of natural resources multiply with this population growth. Toxic wastes that will plague future genera- tions continue to accumulate worldwide. The worlds wilderness areasits forests, wetlands, mountains, and grasslandsare being developed, paved, drained, burned, and overgrazed out of existence.

The tendency in our culture is to treat such issues as simply scientific, techno- logical, or political problems. But they are much more than that. These environ- mental and ecological controversies raise fundamental questions about what we as human beings value, about the kind of beings we are, the kinds of lives we should live, our place in nature, and the kind of world in which we might flourish. In short, environmental problems raise fundamental questions of ethics and philosophy. This book seeks to provide a systematic introduction to these philosophical issues.