Environmental History and Ethics History of Conservation and

Environmental History and Ethics • History of Conservation and Environmentalism • Environmental Ethics 1

History of Conservation and Environmentalism Stages of Activism – Conservation - pragmatic resource use – Preservation - moral & aesthetic nature – Modern environmentalism - growing concern about health & ecological damage caused by pollution – Global environmental citizenship • • Pollution reduction Restoration Sustainability etc 2

Conservation Pragmatic Conservation of Resources or Resource Use Pinchot T Roosevelt • 1864 George Perkins wrote Man & Nature • Influenced President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot (his chief conservation advisor) • Roosevelt created Forest Service w/ Pinchot as chief • Their policies were utilitarian conservation (save forests for utility not aesthetics or ecology) 3 T Roosevelt & Pinchot

Preservation moral & aesthetic • John Muir (first president of Sierra Club) opposed Pinchot’s utilitarian policies • Nature deserves to exist for its own sakeregardless of its usefulness • Biocentric preservation – fundamental right of other organisms to exist and pursue their own interests (spiritual values & aesthetics) 4

Modern Environmentalism • 1962 Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring (about pollution & the threat of toxic chemicals to humans & other species) • Mostly considered local, regional or maybe even national effects to environment 5

Communal Property and the Tragedy of the Commons • Tragedy of the Commons Open access systems - have no rules to manage resource use (1968, Garret Hardin) • Commonly held resources are degraded and destroyed by self-interest 6

Tragedy of the Commons Garrett Hardin (biologist) 1968 7

Tragedy of the Commons Garrett Hardin (biologist) 1968 8

Tragedy of the Commons Garrett Hardin (biologist) 1968 9

Tragedy of the Commons Garrett Hardin (biologist) 1968 10

Environmental Issues Cross Borders. Photo: Ian Crockart 11

Global Environmentalism • International travel and communication today has created a Global Village or Spaceship Earth • Earth Summits (eg Rio de Janeiro) or Earth Days or …. • Today we have all become Global Citizens (whatever we do here may influence someone around the world!!!) 12

Some U. S. Environmental NGOs Abalone Alliance (historic) African American Environmentalist Association Alliance for Climate Protection American Bird Conservancy American Farmland Trust Appalachian Voices Association of Environmental Professionals www. backtonatives. org Center for a New American Dream www. citizenscampaign. org Clamshell Alliance Clear the Air (United States) Defenders of Wildlife Earth First! Earth Island Institute Earth Liberation Front (ELF) Ecologyfund. com www. environmentamerica. org Environmental Defense Fund - 1971 www. elpc. org Environmental Law Institute www. Fluoride. Action. Net www. forestethics. org Forest Guardians Global Green USA Greenpeace USA - 1971 Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology League of Conservation Voters Izaak Walton League National Audubon Society - 1905 Nature's Classroom Natural Resources Defense Council Native Forest Council National Geographic Society National Wildlife Federation Nature. Serve Negative Population Growth Neighborhood Parks Council New Jersey Audubon Society New York City Audubon Population Connection Rainforest Action Network Republicans for Environmental Protection Rising Tide North America Sand County Foundation Save the Redwoods League Sea Shepherd Student Conservation Association Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) Sierra Club - 1892 The Marine Mammal Center The Nature Conservancy - 1951 The School for Field Studies Tree. People (founded by Andy Lipkis) Union of Concerned Scientists Waterkeeper Alliance The Wilderness Society - 1935 Worldchanging World Wildlife Fund - 1961 13

Environmental Ethics 14

Introduction Applied environmental science often involves decision making. • Is Humankind more important than other natural creatures? • Do the immediate interests of living persons count more than the needs of unborn generations? • Is pollution bad only if it interferes with human interests and concerns? • Is nature here only to serve humans? • Do animals, plants, and perhaps even rivers, ecosystems and biomes have ‘rights’? 1515

Ethics is the philosophical study of moral values. • Moral realists believe that moral values are objective and real, existing independently of human thought. • Moral antirealists maintain that humans do not discover moral values, but create them, either consciously of unconsciously. • Relativists say that there is no rational, objective way to determine right or wrong, good or bad. 1616

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What are “environmental ethics? ” • Ethics: “the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or governing a particular group, culture, etc. ” (Webster’s) • Environmental ethics: rules of conduct or principles recognized in respect to treatment of our surroundings, especially natural environment. 18

Common Ethical Principles in Environmental Relations • Anthropocentric Ethics – Human welfare • Biocentric ethics – Rights of nature – Species equivalence (biocentric equality) • Anthropogenic Ethics – Humans place value on nature 19

Forest Health: Ethical Questions and Moral Dilemmas • Should we allow fires to burn freely in dry Western forests? • Should we thin out crowded trees to give trees more growing space? • Should we use controlled fires to remove crowded brush, trees, and dead materials? --All ethical, not solely scientific, questions-20

In western US, 30% forests are overstocked, have insects (bark beetle) & fire risk; Washington, 20% forests have high fire risk By JESSE Mc. KINLEY and KIRK JOHNSON Published: June 26, 2007 The New York Times A 1, A 14 -A 15 21

Park-like Ponderosa Pine Stand 22

Un-thinned Ponderosa Pine 23

Thinning Ponderosa Pine: Is Cutting Trees Good? 24

Prescribed Burning in Ponderosa: Is it good to control fire? 25

Managed Ponderosa Pine Stand: Is this “Natural? ” Is this good? 26

Environmental Choices Affected by Ethical Principles • Case example: Forest Health • How would decisions about Ponderosa Pine Forests be affected by: – Anthropocentric ethics? – Biocentric ethics? – Anthropogenic ethics? 27

Anthropocentric Principles • What is best for human welfare in Ponderosa Pine Forests? – Wood products – Jobs – Fire-safe environment to work, live, and play – Reduced costs of fire suppression 28

Biocentric Principles • What is best for “nature? ” – Humans should not disturb natural processes – Nature should take her own path – Wildfires are “natural, ” hence regenerating – Humans should not make profits from natural things (e. g. , trees) – Cutting trees, especially large trees, is wrong – Trees have the same right to live as humans 29

Anthropogenic Principles • Forests only known through screen (lens) of human values • Humans place value on forests—both anthropocentric and biocentric • Values are diverse and often conflicting in modern/post-modern societies • Moral pluralism is fundamental to forest policy and management—especially forest health – Preserving forests costs people jobs, wood, and taxes – Pragmatic choice to cut trees offends those whose mission is to protect nature 30

Iceland case study 31

Dam stream to gain electricity? ? ? Godafoss waterfall, NE Iceland, is one of the threatened waterfalls in Iceland. A hydro-power station is proposed further upstream in this river as a result of current energy intensive industry policy. Photo Gudmundur Pall Olafsson. Pink Footed Goose 32

Biofuel Production from Corn? ? New renewable-fuel target: Bush said he will ask Congress to require oil companies to use 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels by 2017. The administration said this would replace 20 percent of the projected annual gasoline consumption. By Steven Mufson, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, January 24, 2007; A 14 If all corn stover in US used to make ethanol = provide 7 – 12% transport fuel (Glassner et al. 1999) Photo: Lynn L. Walters for The New York Times 33

Location of Public and Federal Fueling Stations that offered E 85 in 2007. Shaded area shows where about 75% of the nation’s ethanol is produced. www. gao. gov/cgi-bin/getrpt? GAO-07 -713, June 2007 34

http: //archives. seattletimes. nwsource. com/cgibin/texis. cgi/web/vortex/display? slug=tortillas 13&date=20070113&query=Mexico+makes+a+move+to+flatten+tortilla+crisis President “signed accord with businesses to curb soaring tortilla prices and protect Mexico’s poor from speculative sellers and a GREGORY BULL / AP Mexico makes a move to flatten tortilla crisis. By Peter Orsi. The Associated Press. Seattle Times. Saturday, January 13, 2007. A 6 News. “A tortilla maker at work in Mexico City. The cost of tortillas has jumped nearly 14 percent over the past year. ” surge in the cost of corn driven by the U. S. ethanol industry. ” Mexico moves to control tortilla prices. By Joan Grillo, the Associated Press, The Seattle Times January 19, 2007 A 12 News 35

Washington State Biomass Availability: Ethanol and Biodiesel Production • In-state Production ? Current Reality Canada Midwest Malaysia Long-term sustainability? ? Energy independence? ? 36

Take Home Lessons • Environmental ethics are constructed by humans, not discovered in nature • Little social consensus on environmental ethics— contested viewpoints and positions—moral pluralism • Moral choices are never absolute — always involve moral dilemmas and ambiguity • Human values are at the center of every attempt to apply environmental ethics 37

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