Introduction to Wildlife & Fisheries ConservationWFSC 304

Lecture 7: Environmental Ethics

Conservation ethics as flowing from environmental ethics; June 21 presentations

Ethics of biodiversity conservation

Refer to Primack and the CSF video for the framework for Ecosystem valuation.Basically, there are Use (direct and indirect), Non-use (bequest, existence) and option values. Last time I focused on Use values. Now we will reflect on non-use values. Option value could be considered Use in the sense it is expected to be useful later—“keep options alive” (literally).

Intrinsic or inherent value - independent of its usefulness to people Spiritual value – reverence for the beauty and majesty of natureBequest pride – desire to pass a clean and diverse and beautiful world for posterity Religious value – the creator’s gift, animism, empathy for equal beings

Ethical Value of Biological Diversity

Key arguments from Primack: Each species has a right to exist – “intrinsic value” All species are interdependent People have a responsibility to act as stewards of the Earth People have a duty to their neighbors People have a responsibility to future generations Respect for human life and human diversity is compatible with a respect for

biological diversity – “environmental justice”

“To many people, ethical arguments provide the most convincing reasons for conservation” (Primack 2010, p. 115)

Conservation biologists need to be sensitive to the public perception that they care more about birds, turtles, or nature in general than they do about people Inherent or Intrinsic Value

Endangered Species ActStates that the justification for their protecting endangered species is their “aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value”

Linkages between environmental ethics, conservation, and social and economic justice have been incorporated into “The Earth Charter” (World Resources Institute, 2003) – written by many world leaders

Modern western societies have often not embraced these views Environmental Ethics - new field of philosophy – ethical value of the natural world

Spiritual Values

•Virtually all major religions include statements about stewardship with the natural world •See Primack Box. 6.2 (p. 122-123)

Judeo-Christian Perspective - from Primack (2010) •In Genesis, God instructs Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it; have dominion over every living thing that moves upon the Earth”•Genesis describes the creation of the Earth‟s biological diversity as a divine act, after which “God saw that it was good” and “blessed them.” •Moses, Isaiah, St. John the Baptist, St. Francis of Assisi, and even Jesus, all sought out the solitude of wilderness to obtain spiritual strength and receive guidance of God.

Korngold (2007):“Nature, which was once at the heart of Judaism, has been all but banished from our teachings”

“Thousands of years ago, Jewish leaders tried to remove nature from Judaism. What were they so afraid of? That if people continued to worship on mountaintops they would not need the priests or large ornate temples?”

“the high priests wanted to consolidate their power, so they built a huge temple in Jerusalem and taught that God wanted to be worshipped only within its walls.”

“So the priests ordered the destruction of the altars on the high places and herded us all indoors.”

Islam (from Groom et al. 2006)

• Teaches that human beings have a privileged place in nature …..all other natural beings were created to serve humanity. • In the 1980‟s a group of Saudi scholars scoured the Koran for environmentally relevant passages and drafted the Islamic Principles for the Conservation of the Natural World • This document articulates an Islamic version of stewardship - “He (man) is only a manager of the earth and not a proprietor, a beneficiary not a disposer or ordainer.” • They also emphasized a just distribution of “natural resources” not only among members of the present generation, but among members of future generations. • See also Islam and Ecology (Foltz et al. 2003)

Hinduism – from Groom et al. (2006) • Emerson and Thoreau were influenced by subtle philosophical doctrines of Hinduism • Hinduism unambiguously invites human beings to identify with other forms of life, for all life-forms share the same essence • The suffering of one life-form is the suffering of all others; to harm other beings is to harm oneself • Inspired one of the most successful conservation movements in the world, the Chipko movement, has managed to rescue many of India‟s Himalayan forests from commercial exploitation • For more information see Hinduism and Ecology (Chappel & Tucker 2000)

Buddhism - from Groom et al. (2006) • Buddhism provides all the essential elements for a relationship to the natural world characterized by respect, care, and compassion. • Buddhists believe that all living beings are in the same predicament: We are driven by desire to a life of continuous frustration, and all can be liberated if all can attain enlightenment. Thus Buddhists can regard other living beings as companions on the path to Buddhahood and nirvana • For more information see Buddhism and Ecology (Tucker and Williams, 1997, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA) E.O. Wilson and Evangelicals

The Creation (Wilson 2006) – An Appeal to Save Life on Earth - a letter to a southern Baptist minister

“I'm not an atheist but religion should be eliminated. “ —Melinda Walsh, Sacramento News and Review

Wilson, argues life and the biological diversity on the planet is God’s creation, humans are a part of that Creation and nature is essential to the survival of humans. In this sense he argues for “enlightened self-interest”.

Such enlightenment should not only preserve biodiversity but developing our knowledge will make us better and happier people (from Primack 2010)

Protecting our life support and economy Aesthetic and recreational enjoyment Artistic and literary expression Historical understanding

o Walking the landscapes that our ancestors walked, we gain insight into how they experienced the world (heritage)

o Our fast-paced existence makes this much more difficult – “stop and smell the roses”

Religious inspiration Scientific knowledge

Secular morality

Environmental ethics holds that an individual has an expanding set of moral obligations, extending outward beyond the self to progressively more inclusive levels

Error in figure corrected here, there is no moral reason to differentially prioritize responsibility to other life by race or religious group. My community does not consider race or religion.

CommunityNation

From Science 322: p. 1611, 12 Dec 2008

Soulful Value“A walk through an arboretum enabled people to perform better on a standard working memory task …in comparison to the stimuli of a stroll through a downtown landscape.”

Scientific and Educational Value • Galapagos (Darwin’s) finches - inspiration for evolution, natural selection and Darwin’s “Origin of Species” • Inspiration to fly from birds and other biomimicry as discussed

Scientific Value - Three of “the Central Mysteries” 1. How life originated? 2. How did we get this diversity of

life found on Earth? 3. How did humans evolve?

(my only Science paper; link)

Deep Ecology

• Begins with the premise that all species have value in themselves, and humans have no right to reduce this richness. • The philosophy includes an obligation to work to implement the needed changes through a commitment to personal lifestyle changes and political activism. • Urges all concerned people to escape from their narrow, everyday concerns and to act and live “as if nature mattered.” • See Primack Table 6.1 above

Discovering Radical Environmentalism in our Own Backyard – from Natural Rights to Rights of Nature. Essay by Roderick Frazier Nash, U of California, Santa Barbara (see http://www.politikunsw.com/the-rights-of-nature-8203bringing-the-non-human-into-global-environmental-governance-elise-moo.html) • Natural rights liberalism is the most potent concept in the history of American thought • In 1215 the Magna Carta challenged the exclusivity of the royal definition of rights • The message was straightforward: we are members of this society and we want rights too • By 1776 England’s American colonies had expanded this meaning – “all men” had rights and they were willing to fight for them • Yet, “red men, black men, and female men” were not regarded as full members of the moral community • In the early 1830’s a huge paradigm change – the abolition of slavery – began and by 1865 all slaves were legally free • Today we see in the environmental movement remarkable growth – the radical idea that nature has rights that humans should respect • Appeals to the end of “Earth slavery” (e.g., rooted in deep ecology, Earth First, Greenpeace) •The Endangered Species Act of 1973, national parks, and wilderness acts gives legal protection to non-human existence rights •It is plausible that American morality can expand further