6. Social and political movements

Large contributions have been made to environmental ethics by social and political movements, such as Deep Ecology, ecofeminism, Social Ecology, the Environmental Justice Movement, and Green political movements. ‘Social and political movements’ considers these in turn. Social Ecology and the Environmental Justice Movement serve as correctives to Deep Ecology in foregrounding social structures in which environmental problems are often found. But Deep Ecology and ecofeminism serve as counter-correctives to these movements, with their concern for non-human species, habitats, and ecosystems. Green movements (and Deep Ecology too) emphasize our obligations to future generations and to the non-human world. Tensions can arise between environmentalism and liberalism, but they are not always insuperable.

3. Future generations

Concern about future generations stretches as far back as the Ten Commandments, but the belief that present people can significantly change the future originated as recently as the Enlightenment, along with the belief that our generation may be judged by posterity. ‘Future generations’ considers the moral standing of future generations; the fundamental objection to that belief—‘the Non-Identity Problem’; and the discounting of future interests. If it is agreed that future people and their interests matter, it is still widely held that their interests count for less than current interests. Future preferences and needs are discussed with some of the harmful practices that are detrimental to human and non-human health.

5. Sustainability and preservation

Sustainable development was defined in the 1987 Brundtland Report as development that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. It envisaged social, ecological, and economic needs, favouring not just leaving future generations with options for satisfying their needs, but also introducing policies that would make the meeting of those needs more feasible. ‘Sustainability and preservation’ discusses the Millennium Development Goals set in 2000 and the Sustainable Development Goals set in 2015. It explains why biodiversity loss is a major global problem, and why its preservation warrants inclusion in these goals. The forms and limits of preservation are also considered.

4. Principles for right action

Environmental ethics cannot escape from considering what ought or ought not to be done, and how this is to be decided or discovered. ‘Principles for right action’ reflects on how to understand moral principles. It considers different contract theories of ethics, concluding that they continue to fail to ensure equity between generations and between species. Virtue ethics may be a more promising approach, but well-chosen, justifiable moral rules are essential. Rules and duties, and beneficial practices, traits, and actions are also discussed. The approach that is the more consistent, most fruitful, and best serves the needs of future generations seems to be consequentialism, allied to a broad theory of value.

7. Environmental ethics and religion

‘Environmental ethics and religion’ focuses on the impact of theistic religions and the related tradition of stewardship on environmental ethics. It is widely believed that Western forms of religion have fostered an anthropocentric attitude to nature, and with it a despotic and domineering approach. Lynn White’s (1967) influential attack on Judaeo-Christian attitudes to nature is discussed, which finds in them the roots of our ecological problems, and proceeds to expound and defend the stance of stewardship adopted by Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The striking contributions of other religions of the world—including Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism—to the care of the environment are also considered.

1. Origins

For centuries we have been changing the natural world around us, through hunting and farming; building, mining, and engineering; and travelling and trading. But we can no longer take it for granted. ‘Origins’ outlines the rise of ecological science in the 20th century and the new awareness of the unexpected side-effects of human impacts on the environment raised by Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac (1949) and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). It also describes the emergence of environmental ethics with the work of philosophers Richard Routley, Arne Naess, and Holmes Rolston III. One common feature of their contributions was their rejection of a human-interests-only or ‘anthropocentric’ approach to ethics.

8. The ethics of climate change

Climate change in the form of global warming is a serious ecological problem. ‘The ethics of climate change’ explains that the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is ‘anthropogenic’. This belief is reflected in reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. There is therefore a strong ethical case for vigorous and concerted action to mitigate climate change, and, given that some climate change is already irreversible, to adapt to its effects. The policies of mitigation, adaptation, and compensation are considered along with the different defensible approaches to these issues, including the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, reducing greenhouse gas (and other) emissions, and climate engineering.

2. Some key concepts

‘Some key concepts’ focuses on the key concepts widely held and pivotal to thinking about environmental ethics. It begins with the concept of nature, ways in which people seek to relate nature to human behaviour, and attitudes both to the nature that surrounds us and to our inner nature too. Are human beings apart from nature or simply part of nature? It then discusses the concept of the environment. Only through the concept of the environment as an objective natural system can we make sense of environmental problems in the first place. The next key concepts considered are moral standing and value, which introduce the ethics of biocentrism and ecocentrism.