Environmental Ethics : Concepts, Policy, and Theory

by Desjardins, Joseph R.

• ISBN13: 9781559349864
• ISBN10: 1559349867
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-07-24
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

This exciting anthology emphasizes ethical issues in environmental policy while providing balanced coverage of theoretical perspectives and applied environmental topics.

Table of Contents

Preface

PART I. A CONTEXT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

1. Philosophical Ethics and Environmental Public Policy

Philosophical Ethics / Morality and Social Ethics / Greek Ethics / Natural Law Ethics / Modern Social Ethics / Utilitarian Ethics / Deontological Ethics / Environmental Ethics: An Overview

2. The Environment in Western Thought

The Book of Genesis (1:1-3.24) / The Book of Job (38:1- 42.6) / St. Francis of Assisi, The Canticle of Brother Sun / St. Thomas Aquinas, Differences Between Rational and Other Creatures / René Descartes, Animals as Automata / Immanuel Kant, Duties to Animals / Henry David Thoreau, Walking / Lynn White, The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis / Roderick Nash, A Wilderness Condition

3. Is There an Environmental Crisis?

Julian Simon, Natural Resources are Infinite / Gregg Easterbrook, A Moment on the Earth / Joseph Bast, Peter Hill, and Richard Rue, Our World Is Getting Cleaner / Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, and Jorgen Randers, Beyond the Limits

PART II. BASIC CONCEPTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

4. Economics and Environmental Policy

Richard Stroup and Joseph Baden, with David Fractor, Property Rights: The Real Issue / A. Myrick Freeman III, The Ethical Basis of the Economic View of the Environment / Mark Sagoff, Free Market Versus Libertarian Environmentalism / Herman E. Daly, Moving to a Steady-State Economy / Discussion Cases: Mineral King Valley / Whales for Sale / “Takings” and Property Rights / Valuing Eagles and Solitude

5. Aesthetic and Spiritual Values

John Muir, A View of the High Sierra / Martin H. Krieger, What’s Wrong with Plastic Trees? / Robert Elliot, Faking Nature / Holmes Rolston III, Does Aesthetic Appreciation of Landscapes Need to Be Science-Based? / Rosemary Radford Ruether, The Biblical Vision of the Ecological Crisis / Discussion Cases: Disney and the Civil War / Wild Turkeys / Prairie Restoration / English Gardens and Prairiegrass Lawns

6. Extensionism and Anthropocentrism

Joel Feinberg, The Rights of Animals and Unborn Generations / Peter Singer, All Animals Are Equal / Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights / Christopher D. Stone, Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects / Discussion Cases: Nuclear Wastes and Future People / Animal Research—LD50 / Factory Farms / Mineral King Revisited / Species and Individuals

7. Holism: Ecology and Ethics

Aldo Leopold, The Land Ethic / J. Baird Callicott, The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic / Don E. Marietta, Jr., Environmental Holism and the Individual / Donald Worster, The Ecology of Order and Chaos / Discussion Cases: Yellowstone Fires / Reintroducing Wolves / Olympia Goats / Whitetail Deer and St. John’s University

PART III. POLICIES AND CONTROVERSIES IN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

8. Pollution

Ann Misch, Assessing Environmental Health Risks / William Baxter, The Case for Optimal Pollution / Paul Steidlmeier, The Morality of Pollution Permits / Discussion Cases: Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases / Superfund Payments / Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co. / Reserve Mining Company

9. Ethics and Animals

William O. Stephens, Five Arguments for Vegetarianism / Carl Cohen, The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research / Brian Luke, A Critical Analysis of Hunters’ Ethics / Mark Sagoff, Animal Liberation and Environmental Ethics: Bad Marriage, Quick Divorce / Discussion Cases: Primate Research and Animal Liberation / The Ethics of Fishing / Breeding Endangered Species / Selective Breeding

10. Ethics and Land

Gifford Pinchot, The Training of a Forester / Randel O’Toole, Reforming the Forest Service / Eugene C. Hargrove, Anglo-American Land Use Attitudes / Donald Worster, Good Farming and the Public Good / Wes Jackson, Nature as the Measure for a Sustainable Agriculture / Discussion Cases: Who Owns the Moon? / Wise-Use? / Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council / Pacific Lumber Company

11. Wilderness Preservation

Michael P. Nelson, Rethinking Wilderness: The Need for a New Idea of Wilderness / William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness: or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature / Holmes Rolston III, The Wilderness Idea Reaffirmed / Discussion Cases: Dams in Wild Areas: Hetch Hetchy and Glen Canyon / Boundary Waters Canoe Area / Cars in Yosemite

12. Growth and Development

Garrett Hardin, Lifeboat Ethics / Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich, Fables About Population and Food / Maria Mies, The Myth of Catching-up Development / Herman E. Daly, Sustainable Growth: An Impossibility Theorem / Lester W. Milbrath, Strategies for a Sustainable Food Supply / Discussion Cases: Poverty and Subsistence Farming / Licensing Parents / Overpopulation or Overconsumption? / Maximum Wage

13. Environmental Justice

Robert D. Bullard, Justice and Environmental Decision Making / Peter S. Wenz, Just Garbage / Winona LaDuke, Indigenous Environmental Perspectives: A North American Primer / Discussion Cases: Locating Nuclear Plants / Voluntary Consent and Toxic Waste / Structural Injustice

14. International Relations and the Environment

The United Nations, The Rio Declaration on Environmental Development / The United Nations, Agenda 21: Sustainable Development / Farhana Yamin, Biodiversity, Ethics, and International Law / Tom Athanasiou, The Second Coming of “Free Trade” / Daniel Finn, Trade and the Environment / Discussion Cases: Salmon Fishing / Commercial and Subsistence Whaling / Polluted Borders / Ozone Depletion and Greenhouse Gases

PART IV. PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

15. Deep Ecology, Social Ecology, and Ecofeminism

Bill Devall and George Sessions, Deep Ecology / Murray Bookchin, Social Ecology Versus Deep Ecology / Karen J. Warren, The Power and the Promise of Ecological Feminism

16. Political Theory and the Environment

John R. E. Bliese, Traditionalist Conservatism and Environmental Ethics / Mike Mills, Green Democracy: The Search for an Ethical Solution

17. Multicultural Perspectives on the Environment

Padmasiri de Silva, Environmental Ethics: A Buddhist Perspective / J. Donald Hughes and Jim Swan, How Much of the Earth Is Sacred Space? / Ramachandra Guha, Radical American Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation: A Third World Critique

18. Environmental Pragmatism

Anthony Weston, Before Environmental Ethics / Bryan Norton, Diverging Worldviews, Converging Policies

At the end of each chapter:

Discussion and Study Questions