Essay About Environmental Ethics And Different Cultures

Notes for Science
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Chapter 1: Notes
Ethics: the study of good and bad, right and wrong
-The set of moral principles or values held by a person or society that tells us how we ought to behave
-People use criteria, standards, or rules when making judgments
-Different cultures or worldviews lead to different values, which lead to different actions
Relativists: ethics vary with social context
Universalists: Right and wrong remains the same across cultures and situations
Ethical standards: criteria that help differentiate right from wrong
-Classical standard = virtue
-The golden rule: treat others as you want to be treated
-Environmental ethics: application of ethical standards to relationships between human and non-human entities.
-Hard to resolve; depends on the persons ethical standards
-Depends on the persons domain of ethical concern.
Three ethical perspectives
Anthropocentrism: Only humans have rights
-Gifford Pinchot
Biocentrism: certain living things also have value
Eco centrism: whole ecological systems have value
Sustainability: a guiding principle of environmental science
Living within our planets means
-The earth can sustain humans AND organisms
-we are increasing our burden on the planet each year. Population growth, affluence, consumption.
Sustainable development: using resources to satisfy current needs without compromising future availability of resources.
Sustainability involves:
Renewable energy resources
Soil conservation, high efficiency irrigation, organic agriculture
Pollution reduction
Habitat and species protection
Recycling
Fighting global climate change
Conclusion
Finding ways to live sustainly on Earth
Chapter 2 notes
Economics: studies how people use resources to provide goods