Environmental Ethics

Environmental Ethics “Environmental ethics is the discipline in philosophy that studies the moral relationship of human beings to, and also the value and moral status of, the environment and its nonhuman contents” (Brennan, 1). We as human beings depend on our surrounding environments in order thrive, and so it is necessary to make choices on how to keep our environment healthy. With the advancement of technology and the global economy, our lifestyles have shifted from a purely agricultural society and we face the difficulties in protecting our environment while also catering to our advancing society. Some issues that have stirred controversial debate for many years now is deforestation, the use of chemicals on our crops and global warming. The opposing dynamics that play into these problems leaves the question, “Is it ethical?” unresolved. Forests, like all our nature entities, serve more than just aesthetic purposes. Not only does it provide trees, which have multiple purposes, namely the production of paper and contribution to atmospheric oxygen. Deforestation destroys not only forests but also reduces the biodiversity, which means a reduction in the amount and variation of living things, which can cause havoc on whole ecosystems. The cutting down of tropical rain forests is particularly detrimental to wildlife and other living things: “Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. The most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes...” (Deforestation, Par 7) The ethical argument made against deforestation is largely in protection of our wildlife, which contribute to our food chain and keeps nature in balance much more than is apparent to us. Is it “morally sound” to endanger species that could potentially create breakthroughs in our sciences, in an effort to create low cost homes

Cited: Palmer et al. Environmental Ethics. 2008. Web. 2 Nov. 2010 Deforestation. Web. 2 Nov. 2010 Global Warming World book. Web. 2 Nov. 2010