Essay On Environmental Ethics

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Recommended: The history of environmental ethics

Environmental ethics is a philosophical sub-discipline that was developed in the late 1960s to early ‘70s. This was after scientists such as Dr. Keeling took measurements of the rise in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In addition Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring sparked talks worldwide of which actions are ecofriendly and which ones are not. Issues such as seeing all components of the environment as having an intrinsic value rather than some to be having only the instrumental value also surfaced. Moreover, environmental ethics concerning feminism- viewing the world as a female that is male dominated- and socio-political connections. Environmental ethics is therefore defined as the branch of philosophical studies that deals with the human and nonhuman moral relationship and also there value status (Varner, 1998).
The history of environmental ethics
The increase in awareness catapulted by the environmental effects of the expansions in the industrial sector, technological sector, economic sector plus the increased rates of the population growths that were recognized at that specific time; led to the emergence of environmental ethics in the 1960s. At that time, some of the major publications that helped this processes was the Silent Springs by Rachel Carson (1962). This book campaigned for the reduced use of pesticides due to its widespread effects on the health of the world population and the general destruction of the wildlife and ecosystems.
Similarly, The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich in 1968 added on a voice onto the effects of the planet’s resources that the increased population was about to cause. Apart from natural resource depletion and the global effects of pollution, other concerns about the environment hav...

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...ailability in the developing states in future. However, few projections have been made as expectations in this sector. Even in the absence of the climate change, the developing states’ recent and rapid pseudo-urban growth will lead to increases in the aggregate commercial demand of energy, further increased emission levels (due to the need to attain industrialization) as well as extensive land use and land cover changes (Zimmerman, 1994).
Conclusion
Politics play a significant role in the environmental ethics and thus, good political will as well as adopting of the global protocols such as the Kyoto protocol and the Montreal protocol are environmentally significant. Furthermore, methane is another major world concern with a global warming potential that is eleven times that of carbon dioxide and the numerous anthropogenic sources seems to worsen the situations.

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