Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics is the philosophical study of both the negative and positive moral relationships between humans and the environment. To do this, there is often a critical examination of the ethical principles guiding our interaction with the natural world. Human factors do become a major factor when looking at environmental ethics, but it can be taken from the perspective of both the negative and positive. The negative human factors are what are typically propagated by news and media pundits (e.g. "human factories add large amounts of Co2 to the atmosphere", etc.). However, even if one disagrees with such statements, the field of environmental ethics does not only look at what humans may be doing 'wrong' with the Earth, but what we can do right. In this way, environmental ethics is equally normative as it is descriptive. The issues within the field include depletion of natural resources, water and air pollution, loss of biodiversity and global climate change. The field spans not only into various philosophical topics, but also into social, legal, and political fields. The social: part of what many environmental ethicists focus on today is changing people's attitudes surrounding conservation, education, and human impact on the world. The legal: while recycling may help to a small individual degree, many advocates focus on legal reforms such as mandating companies to use energy-efficient appliances, providing incentives for switching to 'green' practices, and more. Lastly, the political side of environmental ethics has been growing in years, as climate change has become a main talking point for many lawmakers, governors, and presidents. It is ultimately considered one of the most practical areas in which philosophy and ethics can affect.