Environmental Ethics

Environmental Ethics
Michelle Voorhees
Soc: 120
Professor Tim Carter
August 23, 2010

Environmental Ethics
Environmental ethics are defined as an “ecological conscience or moral that reflects a commitment and responsibility toward the environment, including plants and animals as well as present and future generations of people (“Environmental”, n.d., para. 1).”They are used to help us decide which options are better suited for us to survive in this world. Aldo Leopold wrote a paper called the “Land of Ethics” which sparked the interest of environmental ethics. In his paper he tried to explain how the roots of our environmental issues were philosophical (History, 2002, para. 1). This created a lot of controversy and a rise in more scientists and philosophers recognizing environmental ethics.
      In today’s society, environmental ethics are need more than ever. Our world is slowly falling apart piece by piece quickly. Every night while watching the news, it shows us how our world is deteriorating and we need to make some tough choices to stop the destruction. The famous philosopher Socrates believed that ethics is personal choice or a convenience and that we could create a universal set of principals for everyone to follow (Ruggiero, 2008. p. 141). The same applies to the environment. We all need to take responsibility for our actions and look at how it impacts the world.
Natural disasters occur all over the world everyday. Some natural disasters impact small towns, and others entire countries. In 1998, China suffered several serious floods that were linking to a weather phenomenon known as El Nino. During these torrential rains made their long standing flood defense systems useless and affected over 240 million people. The event of this tragedy caused many people to loose their lives, their homes, and their entire environment. Rebuilding started after the waters cleared. The people started rebuilding their homes and trying to rebuild their rainforests.... [continues]

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