Environmental Ethics Essay -- Global Warming Climate Change

The Need for Environmental EthicsUnless humanity is suicidal, it should want to preserve, at the minimum, the inseparable life-support systems and processes required to sustain its own existence (Daily p.365). I grant with scientist Gretchen Daily that drastic action is needed now to prevent environmental disaster. Immediate action and changes in attitude are not solo necessary for survival but are also morally required. In this paper, I will approach the topic of environmental ethics from some(prenominal) related sides. I will discuss why the environment is a morally significant concern, how an environmental ethic can be developed, and what actions much(prenominal) an ethic would require to maintain and protect the environment. The most obvious yard that the environment has moral significance is that damage to it affects humans. Supporters of a completely humanistic ethic claim that we should be concerned for the environment only as far as our actions would have a nega tive effect on other people. Nature has no intrinsic value it is not slap-up and desirable apart from its interaction with human beings. Destruction and pollution of the environment cannot be wrong unless it results in harm to other humans. This view has its grow in Western tradition, which declares that human beings are the only morally all important(p) members of this world (Singer p.268).William F. Baxter exemplifies this anthropocentric viewpoint. In his book People or Penguins The fictitious character of Optimal Pollution, he argues that society should respect and attempt to preserve environmental balance only if the benefits to humans outweigh the costs. Baxter claims that, since there is no prescriptive definition of pure air or water, society should aim for a level of pol... ...osystem serve With Efficiency, Fairness, and Sustainability as Goals. Daily 49-64 * Daily, Gretchen C., ed. Natures Services Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, D.C. Island squash, 1997. * ---. Valuing and Safeguarding Earths life-support Systems. Daily 365-373. * Fritsch, Albert J. Environmental Ethics Choices for Concerned Citizens. Garden City cast anchor Press-Doubleday, 1980. * Myers, John Peterson. Perspectives on Natures Services. Daily xvii-xviii. * Shirk, Evelyn. New Dimensions in Ethics Ethics and the Environment. Ethics and the Environment. Proc. of Conf. on Ethics and the Environment, April 1985, Long Island University. Ed. Richard E. Hart. Lanham University Press of America, 1992. 1-10.Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics. 2nd ed. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1993.