Environmental Ethics

About this book

Is the environment purely a resource for meeting human needs, or does it have value in itself? Should it be protected only to the extent that such protection benefits mankind? This text examines issues such as these in order to illuminate a range of environmental and ethical perspectives which are present in everyday life. The text examines 20 environmental issues and presents biographical sketches of key individuals who have explored the values and concerns underlying those issues. A concise chronology of the development of environmental ethics codes adopted as law in the USA, and by the public and private sectors. The A-Z entries address ethical devates in a wide variety of subject areas, including: agriculture, atmospheric pollution, deforestation, ecosystems, energy, future generations, Gaia, genetic engineering, hunting and fishing, marine pollution, nuclear power/weapons, population, poverty, resource depletion, species extinction, tourism, transport, waste, and the wilderness.

Contents

Introduction: what is environmental ethics; the study of environmental ethics - natural law and virtues approaches, deontology, consequentialist approaches, questions about value; analyzing issues in environmental ethics: applying traditional ethical analyses to environmental issues, extending traditional analyses, deep ecology, social ecology, and ecofeminism; the major issues today; environmental ethics and future. Chronology. Biographical sketches: historically important figures in environmental ethics; current contributors to work in environmental ethics. Major issues in environmental ethics: agriculture; atmospheric pollution; biodiversity; climate change; deforestation; ecosystems; energy resources; Gaia; genetic engineering; hunting and fishing; natural resource depletion; nuclear power and weapons; population; sustainable development and future generations; tourism; transportation; waste; water resources; wilderness. Environmental ethics and environmental law: sources of US environmental law; environmental ethics and the law; environmental ethics and key US environmental regulations - Wilderness Act of 1964, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 1970, Endangered Species Act (ESA) 1973 (and amendments); environmental ethics and key US court cases - Sierra Club versus Morton Supreme Court of the United States no 70-34 1972, Peck versus Dunn Supreme Court of Utah 574 p.2d 367 1978, Tennesse Valley Authority versus Hill et al Supreme Court of the United States no 76-1701 1978. Codes of practice in environmental ethics: principles from umbrella/sector organizations - CERES principles, the ICC business charter for sustainable development; further umbrella/sector codes - Volkswagon environmnet policy, IBM corporate environmental policy, university of Edinburgh environmental policy statement; codes of professional ethics - the American Institute of Architects, Institution of Engineers Australia. Annotated directory of organizations: Academic centres for environmental ethics; environmental special interest groups; federal agencies; national professional organizations; international professional organizations. Selected print resources: reference works; books; selected articles; reports proceedings; periodicals. Selected nonprint resources: videos and filsm; CD-ROMs and software; online databases, forums and websites - e-mail forums, Internet resources.

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