The Environmental Ethics and the Natural Surroundings - Essay Example

? Climate change as a moral issue With the herald of the 21st century there has been the emergence of the realization that the human beings, and all other living creatures and their mother planet face an uncertain and devastating future. This is due to the over burst of population, increasing consumption and extinction rate, increasing rates of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and scarce natural resources. This terminal problem has been termed as ecological crisis which can be said to be the root of ecological crisis or environmental challenges (Winnail, 2002). As referred by the experts “The epochal scale of today’s environmental challenges is now beyond serious scientific dispute” (Crompton & Kasser, 2009, p.2). Climate change has tremendous effect on humanity and it is nowadays the most significant moral challenge that people face. Mother Nature is morally neutral considering the fact that each year natural catastrophes like global warming, tsunami, devastating earthquakes result in millions of casualty. The moral issues lie within the humans by the ways in which we prepare ourselves in defending such disasters and help the victims (Carter n.d.).The change in climate and the environmental challenge as a moral issue deserves a significant amount of discussion (Crompton & Kasser, 2009, p.2) considering the fact that nowadays it is the prime global concern. This paper deals with different aspects of the climatic change as a moral issue and elaborates the role of politics and public in meeting this challenge. Climate change and moral issue The climatic change is inculcated with complex moral troubles, which the present political system is not well adapted to address properly. Many societies are unaware and not well tailored with the variability in climatic change. As a result they are more vulnerable to the devastations of the climatic change that will adversely affect their economic and political indicators which in turn will bring a spillover effect in the international scenario. The climatic change can be viewed as a striking challenge to our moral self. It can be viewed as a paradigm moral problem, however much more multifaceted in nature. The characteristic of a paradigm moral problem is that an individual will harm or make another individual worse off and both the individuals and the damage done that way are identifiable. Again the individuals and the concerned damage are closely linked in terms of time and space. In this case an example may be considered; suppose David intentionally stole James’s bike, in this example the notion of above discussed concept is clear. Here both the individual and the damage are identified and they are also closely linked in time and space. But the moral problem related to the climatic change is not so simple and another example will illustrate that, suppose ‘Jack and a large number of unacquainted people set in motion a chain of events that causes a large number of future people who will live in another part of the world, from ever having bikes’ (Jamieson 2007, p.2). In this particular example the identification of the agents causing damage or generating negative externality is not properly identifiable. This refers to the fact that damage caused this way transmits through time and affects future group of people whose numbers can be predicted but cannot be exactly determined at present time frame. Similar to this the climate change affects different groups of people over various time frames and both of them can not be identified with pin point accuracy. More interestingly people are often indifferent or even at dark regarding the future loss incurred through climatic change as that do not directly affect them. Owing to these facts and minimal difference in characteristic with the usual moral problem; the climatic change often does not get considered as a moral problem, which has resulted in common negligence in responding to this problem with utmost urgency (Jamieson 2007, pp. 1-2). Climate Change as a challenge to the Political System Political concerns to mitigate the problems of climate change have gained much momentum in recent times. Political system should take the pioneer role in developing different strategies with a moral outlook, which can resolve the problems of climatic change. A much discussed issue is that of intergenerational justice and the way by, which the people of the future can be incorporated into our moral reasoning domain so that a pareto optimal outcome can be attained. Statistics reveal that the average life expectancy of a child born in UK in 2010 is 80 years. When these people will become adult and will be thinking whether to bring children of their own the greenhouse emission will be already affecting their climate in a negative manner. The global average life expectancy at birth calculated in 2010 is 67 years. Millions of people already living in the world will be affected by the greenhouse gases (Webber, 2011, p.3). A major source of the emission of green house gases over the past centuries evolves from the industries and mechanization of the western world. The western world has emerged as developed economies with large concentration of wealth. Hence, the responsibility of taming this evil lies primarily upon them. The Kyoto protocol an international agreement concluded in 1997, which aimed at the decrease of the accumulated greenhouse emissions of the developed nations (Exploring the Kyoto Protocol n.d.) refers to the same. The United Kingdom had targeted a reduction of the greenhouse gas emission by 12.5 percent within 2008-2012. However, at present the UK emission is actually rising. A way of explaining the climate change in UK is through the linkage of individualized behaviors and the global consequences of the climate change. Previously these behaviors were recognized as null variables having no effect, but now they are considered to be connected with the moralization of behaviors. In advanced liberal countries like UK, citizens are viewed “as active individuals seeking to enterprise themselves to maximize their quality of life through acts of rational choice, according to their life a meaning and value to the extent that it can be rationalized as the outcome of the choices made or choices to be made” (Butler, n.d., p.5). The political problem thus formulated is to find different ways through which responsible behavior can be assured from the citizens through their individual choices. Devising and implementing various technologies of governance from language and transportation network to the guideline of existence through marketing; mass media and advertisement have made it possible to govern the climatic change in an advanced tolerant way (Butler n.d., p.6). River Severn Barrage The river Severn Barrage project is the largest renewable energy sources in the United Kingdom. River Severn is a vast inter-tidal area of over 77 square miles, which provides food for over 50,000 water fowls, a home of billions of shrimps, fishes and habitat of million migratory birds. The ten estuary of the river represent almost 7% of the total estuary source of the United Kingdom (A Severn barrage or tidal lagoons? n.d. p.3). The tidal lagoons located in the estuaries of the Severn River have the potential to supply approximately 7% of the electricity consumption of England and Wales with low cost and low carbon emission. So the proposal of barrage creation was adapted by the government of United Kingdom. But sustainability programs adapted by the government have found out that the environmental degradation would be more than the benefits reaped from the project. In 2010 the project has been barred by the UK government. Thus the identification of the degradation of the environment has been made and the project has been stopped. Thus an example of political consciousness that has taken moral issues into consideration in mitigating the environmental challenge can be found from the Savern River project (Barriers to Fish Migration, n.d.). Environment Positionality Anthropocentrism and Ecocentrism Anthropocentricism is a theory of protecting the environment, which originates from the idea that the earth and its resources exists only for the consumption of the human beings. It can be said that a domination of the humans over the non-humans is inflicted through this view. This concept of protecting the environment generates an insufficient ethical basis for protecting the environment (Barry, 1999, p.8). On the other hand the ecocentric view of protecting the environment comes from the negation of the anthropological view. In sharp contrast with the anthropocentric view, the ecocentric view reduces the role of the human being to only a part of the environment. Ecocentrism “precludes recognition of the positive resources within anthropocentrism for developing an appropriate and practicable moral idiom to cover social-environmental interaction” (Barry, 1999, p.8). Religions like Buddhism and Hinduism are compatible with the ecocentric view. These religions reflect the hardcore interaction between human beings and spiritually conceived understanding of nature and living things. (Ethical considerations in protecting the environment from the effects of ionizing radiation, n.d. p.7) Gaia Hypothesis The word Gaia stands for Mother Nature or Mother Earth. The Gaia Theory states that the biotic and the abiotic components of the earth have evolved simultaneously and can be viewed as a single living and self regulating system. The core of the theory suggests that mechanisms of “controlled global temperature, atmospheric content, ocean salinity, and other factors, that maintains its own habitability. In a phrase, “life maintains conditions suitable for its own survival.”” (The Gaia Theory ,n.d.). The Gaia thesis provides a common sharing ground for both the proponents of anthropocentrism and ecocentrism (Lautensach, 2011). The humans and the Gaia can be considered as dependent upon each other as humans in their efforts to ensure its continued existence will also benefit the Gaia. Lovelock, the foremost proponent of Gaia hypothesis states that with the help of Gaian ethics, motivation of the people can change from the notion of “pure egotism to ‘enlightened self-interest” (Lautensach, 2011). Following the hypothesis, human beings need to design actions in a way such that the negative effects on the species diversity are minimal. The inherent idea of Gaia thesis refers to an ethical framework stating that the foremost moral obligation of the human beings will be curtailing the growth rate of the global population and its over consumption (Lautensach, 2011). Conclusion The environmental ethics encompass the thought of the people’s right or incorrect behavior towards the natural surroundings along with the explanation for those concepts. Considering climate change as a moral issue will no doubt provide greater impetus for immediate action. Both the individualistic approach and the political action plan against climate change will receive a much rational and efficient consideration following this trajectory. Morality involved in environmental challenges includes the attributes of care, empathy, and responsibility from the citizens as well as the political system. A much more rational and accurate explanation of climate change is possible if individual behavior towards environment is taken into consideration at the background of global consequences of climate change. Various governmental techniques including marketing, advertisement and regulation of life style has been implemented to make the citizens more morally responsible. The formation of Kyoto protocol is a welcoming initiative in this regard. The outcome of the Severn River project in UK also points to the changing outlook of the government. Shift of attitude from anthropocentrism to eco-centrism has evolved in order to treat the non living components of the earth with equal care and justice as provided to the human beings. Philosopher Stuart Mill has stated long back that, “it is not economic growth for its own sake we should strive for, but rather improvements in the Art of Living” (Jamieson, 2007, p.8). The unification of ideas regarding climate change as a moral issue happens in Gaia Thesis. It proposes an automatic stabilization process of sustainability within the planet itself. In Gaia theory the right and wrong concept of anthropocentrism and eco-centrism merges with each other. This convergence of goals of different environment movement will diminish the fear of scattered focus and the entire planet will be protected from the adverse effects of the climate change. References A Severn barrage or tidal lagoons? (2004), FOE, available at: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/severn_barrage_lagoons.pdf (accessed on May 9, 2012) Barry, J. (1999), Rethinking Green Politics: Nature, Virtue, and Progress, SAGE Barriers to Fish Migration, (n.d.), available at: http://www.wyeuskfoundation.org/problems/access.php (accessed on May 9, 2012) Butler, C (2010), Morality and Climate Change: Is leaving your T.V on standby a risky behaviour?, available at: http://psych.cf.ac.uk/home2/butler/Butler,%20C.%20Environmental%20Values%202010.pdf (accessed on May 9, 2012) Carter. B (n.d.), The morality of climate change, available at: http://meteo.lcd.lu/globalwarming/Carter/the_morality_of_climate_change.pdf (accessed on May 9, 2012) Crompton, T and T. Kasser (2009), Meeting Environmental Challenges: The Role of Human Identity, available at: http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/meeting_environmental_challenges___overview_document.pdf (accessed on May 9, 2012) Exploring the Kyoto Protocol (n.d.), available at: http://www.schoolgen.co.nz/pdf/exploring_kyoto_protocol.pdf (accessed on May 9, 2012) Ethical considerations in protecting the environment from the effects of ionizing radiation, (2002), IAEA, available at: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1270_prn.pdf (accessed on May 9, 2012) Hall, S (n.d.), The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power, available at: http://www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_4632_s11/readings/HallWest&Rest.pdf (accessed on May 9, 2012) Jamieson, D. (2007). THE MORAL AND POLITICAL CHALLENGES OF CLIMATE CHANGE, available at: http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/courses/GEOL3520/Jamieson-paper%20Climate%20Ethics.pdf (accessed on May 9, 2012) Lautensach, A (2011), Environmental ethics and the Gaia theory, available at: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Environmental_ethics_and_the_Gaia_theory (accessed on May 9, 2012) Winnail, D.S. (2002) Eco-crisis — the Real Significance! available at: http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/magazines/2002/mar-apr/eco-crisis-the-real-significance (accessed on May 9, 2012) Webber, J (2011), Climate Change and Public Moral Reasoning, available at: http://www.jonathanwebber.co.uk/articles/ClimateChangeAndPublicMoralReasoning.pdf (accessed on May 9, 2012) Read More