Environmental Ethics - Essay Example

Environmental Ethics Quasi-vegan diet The various ethical dimensions regarding food and environment have created a sense of global consciousness in the recent times. The food ethics discussed in the Paul and Louis Pojman’s book, Environmental Ethics, relate diet and animal husbandry to the environmental ethics. The statement that Americans should adopt a quasi-vegan diet can never be an under-estimated idea. In this book, various authors have reasoned out the benefits of this diet for humans as well as the environment. This argument supports the adoption of quasi-vegan diet among the Americans, particularly how it can positively impact their health. The major issue behind the veganism relates to the rearing of animals and the process involved in acquiring their food products. The animal husbandry in the industrial farms is certainly not given enough care, mainly due to the quantity of production that has to be met. The increased human consumption causes higher market demands for those animal based products, and so the farms and thereby animals are pressured to work more with little care, creating unhygienic environment for the animals. This in turn is contributing to disease transmission, contamination of water and improper disposal of wastes, which further creates health problems and environmental issues that harm the farm surroundings as well as the ecosystem as a whole. Adopting a quasi-vegan diet would certainly ensure that diseases transmission and environment degradation in the animal farms would be drastically reduced as there would be less demand for meat in the food market. The animal husbandry done in large scale hinders the natural cycle of agricultural production. As animal feeds are needed throughout the year, land and water resources are consumed at higher rate, causing depletion of these natural resources in the locality. Furthermore, continual usage of land for growing grains hinders the fertility of the land as well. Quasi-vegan diet can help in minimizing many of these environmental issues to certain extent. With the less need for animal feeds in case of quasi-vegan perspective, crop rotation can be effectively implemented, minimizing the land degradation. The fertility of the land would be increased as the time between the planting seasons would help regain the essential nutrients in the soil. In case of animal husbandry, lots of grains are consumed or merely wasted in feeding the animals, which could be used for the people in need. Precious land and grain reserves needs to be conserved for providing enough resources to meet the prevailing food scarcity in the world. “Because modern meat, dairy and egg production necessarily squanders grain that could be fed directly to humans, entails that quasi-vegan diets are obligatory.” (Pojman & Pojman, 2011, p.355). Squandering of food that could be fed for starving humans is never justifiable. Thus, adopting a quasi-vegan diet can benefit the environment as well as the people, as it helps in reducing the production of animal feeds and contributing to the food production for humans. Mainly because of the benefits associated with this kind of diet, it can be a good reason for the Americans to adopt quasi-vegan diet as a part of their food culture for healthy living. 2. Pros and cons of biotechnology In order to solve the food problem among the world’s growing population, biotechnology, particularly the genetically modified crops, were introduced to farming. However, this commercially modified food technology had created controversial issues. There has been a worldwide debate on the pros and cons of biotechnology use in the agricultural arena. Although the proponents of biotechnology claim that the enhanced food production might alleviate hunger, increase nutrients, taste and quality, as well as increase disease resistance, the unhealthy and negative impacts of it cannot be ignored. The advancements in biotechnology promises to double or even triple the current world’s food output, which is doubtful with the conventional technology. The use of pesticides on crops is required to increase production in the traditional methods of farming. However, biotechnology helps in reducing the usage of pesticides, and thereby facilitates a safer method of farming. Also, the genetically-engineered crops are able to sustain in different soils and environment which is an added benefit. The continuing changes in global weather have given rise to droughts and salty soils, and so genetically-made crops can sustain in any kind of soil and weather conditions. Also, the crops grown with biotechnology appreciably increase the shelf-life of the foods, benefitting various users from farmers, sellers and the eventual consumers. For example, it is economically beneficial for the farmers as they are able to yield high quality crops, which in turn helps in alleviating world hunger. On the flip side, the concerns about the genetic-engineering as a hazardous biotechnology concept have heightened the attention of the consumers. The most immediate hazard is the health of the public, who are at the risk of consuming the genetic crops, without the knowledge of what it might bring. It could possibly cause allergic reactions and innumerable health issues among the people. Also, long term effects of the biotechnology products are still unknown, which makes its future reactions even more unpredictable. Furthermore, the use of biotechnology is expected to create potential environmental risks, and among them is the ‘super weed’ concern, which is caused by the genetic drift of the crops into weeds. It also creates a decrease in biodiversity as the resultant transgenic organisms are genetically damaging to the human beings and the ecosystem. “Bioengineered species may have broad environmental impacts by disrupting the natural evolution of valuable species and decreasing their productivity or by causing a proliferation of new genetically modified species that crowd out others.” (Sluis, Diersen & Dobbs, 2002, p.55). When using biotechnology in the agricultural field, concerned parties have to take into account the ethical considerations regarding humankind, environment and society. As every medicine has its own side effects, so does the use of biotechnology. It can transform agriculture into a productive and positive thing, but at the same time detrimental thing, and by doing so; it can change the global environment in either positive or negative direction. 3. Environmental Degradation The environmental degradation is directly correlated with the rapidly growing human population in the global world. Population, the major source for environment degradation, continues to increase, thereby exceeding the threshold limits of the resources within the ecosystem. Although the level of consumption can contribute to the environmental degradation, the sheer size of population is the primary factor to this problem. Thus, it is essential to handle necessary environmental ethics for reducing the impacts of population growth on environment. The depletion of resources and destruction of environment is an inevitable outcome of the increasing human population. It causes destruction of ecosystems, results in polluted resources, deforestation as well as extinction of wildlife. Increased population leads to increased withdrawal of resources from the nature for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses. However, the ultimate outcome from this human population size is contaminations and environmental harms. With the increasing environmental issues and degradation of natural resources, it has become a challenge for the humans to sustain the existing resources, in order to feed the population in the future decades. Population is also associated with environmental stresses like biodiversity loss, air and water pollution as well as deterioration of arable land. Population growth leads to urbanization, where the environment degradation has reached its peak. Obviously, it is essential to bring to light the issues of cordiality of human and nature in order to solve the environment degradation problems. It is the responsibility of humans to protect the environment from degrading its resources for the mere benefit of human existence. The development process cannot be overlooked, but at the same time, the impacts it creates on the environment should not be neglected. “Development and modernization undertaken by mankind is gradually making the world ecologically unstable, socially alienated and economically nonviable.” (Das, 2003). It is essential to realize the moral concerns of the human actions and take appropriate care in minimizing environmental degradation of all sorts. Anything that deteriorates the environment or its resources at present or in future ought to be taken in to consideration with utmost importance. One has to bring proportionate ecological balance, through the development process. Modern society has to be aware about the fatal consequences of environmental degradation and so should strive maintain a apt balance regarding benefits incurred from the environment. 4. Food System Sustainable agriculture aims to deliver an environment-friendly food system for the future generations. The basal concept of traditional peasants farming system is considered as a right solution for responsible environmental management. The sustainable agriculture that is expected for the future generations must focus readily on the food productivity, in terms of both quality and quantity, while mitigating the environmental impacts. The peasant farmer network is one of the conventional ways which had sustained for hundreds of years in serving the food demands of the world in a environmental friendly manner. However, the raising population issues, industrialization and globalization in the past century have led to the commercialization of the farming techniques. The modern agriculture coupled with the biotechnological advancements, which are meant to enhance the environment and its people have brought negative consequences and environmental degradation. However, the organic agriculture methods optimize the health and productivity of the natural resources. It also creates interdependency between soil, animals, plants and people, providing support for rural farming communities. “It attempts to combine responsible environmental management, high levels of farm productivity, respect for animals and workers, and support for rural farming communities.” (Pojman & Pojman, 2011, p.4). Additionally, it eliminates and reduces the use of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides, which in turn generates a cleaner environment and preserves the soil, yielding to healthy, nutritious and tasteful food. However, this organic farming is costly and less efficient in meeting the demands of the contemporary population and food market. The integrated traditional farming system practices specific techniques over a long term period, by satisfying the human needs but also enhancing the environmental quality. It also tends to get the most out of the nonrenewable resources and the on-farm resources, thereby preserving the environment for the future generations. The usage of crop rotation and other agricultural adjustments helps in maintaining the biological cycles and ecosystem in a way that is sustainable against the depleting environment. The best option for a sustainable agriculture could be the peasant farmer system, which is replenished with innovative ‘greener’ advancements. The ineffective traditional methods have to be replaced with environment-friendly industrial techniques in the peasant farming system, which would then serve to the effective way to feed the future generations with lesser environmental impacts. References: Das, A. D. (2003). Ethical Responsibility Towards Environmental Degradation. Indian Philosophical Quarterly, 30 (4). Pojman, P & Pojman, L. P. (2011). Environmental Ethics. 6 edition. Boston, Mass: Cengage Learning. Pojman, P & Pojman, L. (2011). Food Ethics. Boston, Mass: Cengage Learning. Sluis, V. E, Diersen, M. A. & Dobbs, T. L. (2002). Agricultural biotechnology: Farm-level, market, and policy considerations. Journal of Agribusiness 20 (1): 51-66. Read More