Category: Environmental Ethics

The world is going from bad to worse. We as human being are wasting everything we face. We are the source of disasters in the earth. The Earth is almost 4.6 billion years old, and humans have been living on it for less than 12 million years. Still, in these few years comparing them to the age of the earth, we have destroyed more than 52% of its total forest. We have polluted its air. The water became toxic. We are running out of raw materials. We are cutting almost everything in nature to feed our desires. We are killing the animals. Very soon we will even run out of natural resources, such as oil and gas. The world is not as perfect as we believe because we are not leaving single thing for the next generation. We are forcing poor kids in poor areas to work under tough and toxic conditions in order to sell what they make to the rich people. We are so greedy to the point where we started not to care about anything but to make profit. These stuffs are actually supported secretly by the governments, but everyone at a point shows that they care about the Earth. What is so funny is that these companies are celebrating Earth day every year and destroying it every day. Humans are the reason behind the extensions of so many animals and plants.

Humans are the reason for the new diseases that we are facing every day. Water, air, raw materials, and natural resources are going to be missed very soon. Everything is going to be toxic. Some companies in Canada have started to sell clean air to Japan and China. Is not that too early? Now the thing is that how can we solve that problem? How can we rescue the world from destruction? There is always an answer to any question. The answer here is yes, we can! Nanotechnology is the tool in which we can solve all of the mention problems above. Nanotechnology: “It is the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering.” How did it start? The thoughts and ideas driving nanoscience and nanotechnology began with a discussion entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) on December 29, 1959, well before the term nanotechnology was utilized. In his discussion, Feynman depicted a procedure in which researchers would have the capacity to control and control singular iotas and atoms. Over 10 years after the fact, in his investigations of ultraprecision machining, Professor Norio Taniguchi authored the term nanotechnology. It wasn’t until the point when 1981, with the improvement of the filtering burrowing magnifying lens that could “see” singular particles, that cutting edge nanotechnology started.

The connection between nanotechnology and the environment: Nanotechnological items, procedures and applications are required to contribute altogether to ecological and atmosphere assurance by sparing crude materials, vitality and water and additionally by lessening ozone harming substances and unsafe squanders. Utilizing nanomaterials along these lines guarantees certain ecological advantages and manageability impacts. Note, in any case, that nanotechnology at present assumes a fairly subordinate part in natural security, regardless of whether it be in look into or in down to earth applications. Natural building organizations themselves join just restricted significance to nanotechnology in their individual fields. The environmental benefits: Rising costs for crude materials and vitality, combined with the expanding natural attention to purchasers, are in charge of a surge of items available that guarantee certain focal points for ecological and atmosphere security. Nanomaterials show extraordinary physical and substance properties that make them fascinating for a novel, earth agreeable items. Cases incorporate the expanded solidness of materials against mechanical pressure or weathering, expanding the helpful existence of an item; nanotechnology-based soil and water-safe coatings to decrease cleaning endeavors; novel protection materials to enhance the vitality productivity of structures; adding nanoparticles to a material to diminish weight and spare vitality amid transport.

In the substance business area, nanomaterials are connected in view of their uncommon synergist properties with a specific end goal to support vitality and asset effectiveness, and nanomaterials can supplant earth dangerous synthetic compounds in specific fields of utilization. High expectations are being put in nanomechanically streamlined items and procedures for vitality generation and capacity; these areas of now in the improvement stage and are slated to contribute essentially to atmosphere insurance and taking care of our vitality issues later on. In most financially accessible “nano-customer items”, ecological security isn’t the essential objective. Neither materials with nanosilver to battle sweat scent, nor particularly stable golf clubs with carbon nanotubes, help ensure the earth. Producers regularly guarantee such points of interest, normally without giving the pertinent confirmation. Illustrations incorporate self-cleaning surface coatings or materials with spot assurance, with are advertised as diminishing the cleaning exertion and along these lines sparing vitality, water and cleaning operators.

Accentuation is frequently put on the supportable capability of where nanotechnology will take us. In any case, this normally reflects unconfirmed desires. Deciding the genuine impacts of an item on nature – both positive and negative – requires looking at the whole lifecycle from the creation of the crude material to transfer toward the finish of the existing cycle. When in doubt, the portrayals of ecological advantages neglect to consider the measure of assets and vitality expended in delivering the items. (read more: “Nanotechnology and the earth – Potential advantages and manageability impacts”) Examples of nanotechnology and its effects on the environment:

1-Nanotechnology could make battery reusing financially alluring Numerous batteries still contain substantial metals, for example, mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel, which can taint nature and represent a potential danger to human wellbeing when batteries are despicably discarded. Not exclusively do the heaps of batteries in landfills represent a natural issue, they additionally are a total misuse of a potential and modest crude material. Specialists have figured out how to recoup unadulterated zinc oxide nanoparticles from spent Zn-MnO2 batteries soluble batteries.

2-Nanomaterials for radioactive waste tidy up in water Researchers are taking a shot at nanotechnology answer for radioactive waste cleanup, particularly the utilization of titanate nanofibers as sponges for the expulsion of radioactive particles from water. Analysts have additionally detailed that the interesting auxiliary properties of titanate nanotubes and nanofibers make them prevalent materials for expulsion of radioactive cesium and iodine particles in water.

3-Nanotechnology-based answers for oil slicks Traditional tidy up strategies are not satisfactory to take care of the issue of gigantic oil slicks. As of late, nanotechnology has risen as a potential wellspring of novel answers for a considerable lot of the world’s remarkable issues. In spite of the fact that the utilization of nanotechnology for oil slick cleanup is still in its incipient stage, it offers incredible guarantee for what’s to come. Over the most recent few years, there has been especially developing interest worldwide in investigating methods for finding reasonable answers for tidy up oil slicks through utilization of nanomaterials.

4-Water application The potential effect territories for nanotechnology in water applications are partitioned into three classifications – treatment and remediation, detecting and recognition, and contamination avoidance – (read more: “Nanotechnology and water treatment”) and the change of desalination advancements is one key region thereof. Nanotechnology-based water decontamination gadgets can possibly change the field of desalination, for example by utilizing the particle fixation polarization marvel (see: “Nanotechnology makes convenient seawater desalination gadget conceivable”). 5-Hydrogen creation from daylight – fake photosynthesis Organizations creating hydrogen-controlled innovations get a kick out of the chance to envelop themselves by the green sparkle of ecologically amicable innovation that will spare the planet. While hydrogen fuel to be sure is a perfect vitality bearer, the wellspring of that hydrogen regularly is more or less filthy. The issue is that you can’t burrow a well to tap hydrogen, however hydrogen must be delivered, and that should be possible utilizing an assortment of assets. The dirtiest strategy – in any event until the point when profoundly proficient carbon catch and sequestration innovations are created – is the gasification of coal (read more: “Nanotechnology could tidy up the hydrogen auto’s skeleton in the closet”).

The cleanest by a long shot would be sustainable power source electrolysis: utilizing sustainable power source advances, for example, wind, sun oriented, geo-and aqueous capacity to part water into hydrogen and oxygen. Fake photosynthesis, utilizing sun powered vitality to part water creating hydrogen and oxygen, can offer a perfect and versatile wellspring of vitality supply as sturdy as the daylight. It takes around 2.5 volts to separate a solitary water atom into oxygen alongside contrarily charged electrons and emphatically charged protons. It is the extraction and partition of these oppositely charged electrons and protons from water atoms that gives the electric power. Chipping away at the nanoscale, scientists have demonstrated that an economical and ecologically benevolent inorganic light gathering nanocrystal cluster can be joined with an ease electrocatalyst that contains plenteous components to create a modest and stable framework for photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation. In conclusion: We have to save the world. We have to leave things for the next generation.

We want the generation after us to have a better life. We are running out of raw materials, water, air, and natural resources. Almost everything is toxic. New diseases appear every single day. Nanotechnology is the science in which companies should focus on. We do not want to buy clear air from Ice land in the future. We do not want to witness the extension of other animals and plants. We want to have our life sufficiently without harming other creatures.

My Ecological Footprint is 4.6 hectares. The bigger components of my footprint using the Pie Chart are my Carbon Footprint which is 2.5gha, cropland with a 1.3 gha, and Forest Products which has a 0.5 gha. The larger sections according to the Bar Graph are food with a 1.4 gha, Goods with as total of 1 gha, and mobility with a total of 0.8 gha. My Carbon Footprint has a total of 7.1tons of CO2 emissions per year. My footprint was 3.5 earths. The larger selections were food, Goods, and mobility. Food was a high category because I eat a decent amount of processed foods.

I changed my footprint, instead of my house being made out of brick/cement, I chose wood. Instead of choosing rarely carpooling, I chose the option of carpooling almost very often. I cut mt driving time down from 120 miles to 26 miles per week. Instead of choosing a home that uses barely any electricity from a renewable source, I chose a house that uses almost 50% of renewable resources for electric. Instead of a big home, I chose a smaller house. My footprint went from 4.6 Hectares to 3.7 Hectares. My Carbon Footprint by tons went from 7.1 tons of CO2 emissions to 4.5 tons per year. My Carbon Footprint went from 53% of my Ecological Footprint to 42%.

The solutions that the website offered was to live in an urban area, instead of the city because by 2050, 70-80% of people are going to live in cities, compared to urban areas, which could lead to more pollution in major cities. Another way to lower my footprint would be to use more renewable energy. Lastly, one of the major solutions was to take a bike, walk to class, or use a shuttle to get to and from campus every day, instead of me driving myself. Instead of eating packaged, processed foods, the website gave an alternative to eat like a Vegan or Vegetarian once a month. Personally, I can live in an Urban area because I lived in an urban area my whole life. Currently, riding a bike or walking to school is a struggle for me in the winter. I hate being cold on my walk to school. In April however, walking to school would be pleasurable because the temperature would be warmer. One problem that I would have would be eating like a vegan or vegetarian because I love meat and I eat it on a daily basis.

My results of my Ecological Footprint did surprise me, I did not think I was destroying the earth as much as I am. I was not aware by me commuting back to Shippensburg would contaminate the environment as much as it has. I was not aware that packaged foods were harmful to the environment. One of the major shocking points was before I lowered some of my components, the website stated that it would take 3.5 earths if everyone lived like me. I felt angry about this because I was not aware that my lifestyle was ruining the earth. I did not know that a house that was built from bricks and cement causes more harm to an environment, than a house made out of wood. I did not know the amount of CO2 that I released approximately in a year and roughly 4.5 tons is a pretty heavy amount. I am willing to change my lifestyle such as eating less packaged foods and eating more fresh foods. Another change that I will take part in would be walking or riding my bike to school when the temperature gets warmer. I am more likely going to change my ways because I see how much I am damaging the environment and I have never been aware of the amount of damage I have personally been placing on the environment.

Among the largest market for automotive in North America is Canada. Every year the total value of automotive imports to Canada from America increases, for example in 2016 there was a 6% rise which included 9.6% of imports of automotive parts and 5.8% for overall vehicle imports. Recycled old vehicles constitute over 25 million tons of items, annually. Canada and USA recycle automobiles which provide enough steel to make over 10 million new vehicles.

There are various Federal policy and legislative requirements that recyclers of automotive must adhere to, on the federal lands during their code of practice. The following are some of the federal acts that have an impact on automotive recyclers’ activities; (TDG) Transport of Dangerous Good Act, Fisheries Act, and (CEPA) Canadian Environmental Protection Act. CEPA has the most influence by having several regulations that control automotive recyclers. (Sawyer-Beaulieu, Stagner, & Tam, 2014) The TDG provides regulations provide certain requirements that govern automotive contractors/recyclers that are transporting lead acid batteries, mercury or oils. Lead acid batteries and mercury represent Class 8 Hazardous Goods while Class 3 Dangerous Good is for used oil. Adequate precautions are required during the transportation of these hazardous materials even if it is low, and all these three substances are characterized by Packing Group 3.

The FA (Fisheries Act) gives protection to the fish and its habitat in Canada. Automotive recyclers should be aware that most hazardous items that are from endof-life vehicles recovery or used on site are dangerous to fish. They should also have the map of every virtual stream, ditch, and tributary because they lead to the oceans or fish-bearing lakes, rivers. CEPA was formed in 1999 that provides protection to the environment and prevents pollution. Prevention of pollution entails management of toxic substances like lead, volatile organic compounds, chlorofluorocarbons, mercury, and carbon tetrachloride solvents. Many legislations and policy have been enforced on hazardous substances in automotive recycling, for example, implementation and preparation of plans for prevention of pollution from mercury switches that release mercury during the process of end-of-life vehicles in steel mills.

CEPA uses four regulations to influence hazardous materials management by automotive recyclers, which include the Ozone-depleting Substances Regulations (OSR), the Export and Import of Hazardous Wastes Regulations (EIHWR), the Federal Halocarbon Regulations (FHR) and the Interprovincial Movement of Hazardous Wastes Regulations (IMHO). Automotive recyclers must be informed of the fate of the harmful materials that might be generated on site and should also ensure that his/her waste management techniques are in compliance with IMHWR’s provisions as they are transporting across borders. According to EIHWR, the recyclers of automotive should also work together with other companies that manage waste, to aid them in the disposal of waste materials; hazardous waste can be transported across the international border.

Most of territories and provinces in Canada have jurisdictions that manage hazardous materials, for example, the Environmental Management Act used in British Columbia, TDG used in Manitoba and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act used in Albert. Others include the Automobile Junk Yards Act used in Prince Edward Island and Vehicle Dismantling and Recycling Industry Environmental Planning Regulation used in British Columbia.

Automotive recyclers are not considered as waste management facilities or are not required to get a number of approvals or consignor identification in order to work. These exemptions are because the quantity of the 30-day period of hazardous materials recovered is below threshold set of a province/territory.

Also through territorial/provincial stewardship programs, there is the recycling of used tires where the steel recovered is recycled while the rubber recovered is processed into new materials. Discharges or runoffs from automotive recyclers to the environment must not have any effect/impact to the aquatic life. The levels of discharge are set by each province. (Park, & Kim, 2017)

AIA Canada is the resource and voice for the aftermarket for automotive industries located in Canada. It also encourages people living in Canada to follow the government’s legislation and regulations. The AIA supports the testing of the vehicle standards and capabilities, also the testing of vehicle emissions to help reduce the pollutants brought by automobiles in the atmosphere.

The module discussed the environmental ethics which concerns us and the environment. It is also related to our morals and sympathy to non-human environment. The topic itself is crucial not only for us students but also for everyone who shares the same planet with us. Our actions are the reflections of our morals, aspirations, and perspectives. Thus, learning the right ethics towards the environment could change an individuals action in accordance to what the planet needs. This ought to be one of the things that mankind focuses on the environmental ethics. They say that morals starts at home hence if every family includes environmental ethics as one of the morals foundation of a child, the future generations may have a lot of possibilities to live in a greener place than what we have today.

The topic starts in defining what Environmental Ethics really is and why it is important for us to study and learn environmental ethics. It is a good start to build a foundation of information first before widening the topic. The environment is was defined as what people considered as their home which makes it more crucial for us to take care of the environment more that ever. Because, then again, it is our home. No other planet or places place inside this galaxy that could replace the earth in terms of giving a sense of home. Moreover, I learned that the environment is not just about the home territory but it is also about the places and things that are part of nature and the planet. Even though the planet is our only home and environment, we are still continuous in killing it and these actions are referred as environmental problems. Yet, I think that it should be addressed as human problems rather than environmental problems. The term environmental problems makes it look that it is the environment’s problem and gives a vibe that people could sleep tight at night without thinking of issues such as deforestation, water contamination, and pollutions. But, if we would address such things as human problems, it would be very clear that it is us who needs to solve those issues because we humans are affected and it is a big problem if we would lose environment because of our actions. Nature is raging, so many disasters are occurring which resulted to the decrease of population. We know for the fact that these issues we called environmental problems are a result of overpopulation. We consume a lot so there is a need for a lot of production which cause more CO2 that resulted to global warming, climate change, and storms.

Moreover, huge amount of resources do not allow the nature and the environment to heal and rest because we need many resources in a short period of time to satisfy our needs. Among the ten (10) biggest environmental problems of 2020 that was discussed in the module, I am looking for the root of it all which is the huge amount of population that the planet holds. The making of our foods emits carbon dioxide and other harmful chemicals that disrupts the atmosphere and the earth itself. Thus, buying and cooking more than we can consume will result for more Carbon dioxide being emitted day by day. The food people have wasted could be a consumption for other people. In that way, the production of food may have been lessen and so as the harmful chemicals it emits. Not just the processed food can contribute to environmental problems but also the meat on our plates. Livestock contributes 18% of greenhouse gas that was emitted by mankind. Moreover, food production also contributes to plastic pollution and air pollution. On the other hand, poor governance contributes to biodiversity loss as some governmental offices failed to protect biodiversity habitats or even sometimes they are the one who are doing the move for biodiversity loss. It is also interrelated with deforestation since government projects needs land space that can only be acquired through deforestation. Which then would also result to habitat invasion and also lessen the spaces for agriculture. Nonetheless, agriculture also contributes to environmental problems as it also emits CO2. Melting of ice caps are very evident these days. In a documentary film I watched a few weeks ago entitled An Inconvenient Truth, it was said that a scientific study shows that there are polar bears found who was drowned due to swimming of long distance of sixty miles just to find the ice. It hurts my heart hearing those and I get to reflect with my actions that contributes to global warming. However, as I was analyzing everything, I realized that one person really can’t live without causing harmful effects to nature. We can only reduce our impact but we cannot purely eradicate it because we still needs to ride vehicles that produces harmful gas emissions, we still need to consume food products and use some plastics as storage, we need to put up some clothes, use papers and ink, burn fuels, and use devices that emits harmful rays to the environment. And maybe even after all of us tried to reduce our impacts to environmental issues, we may might still have environmental problems as long as the planet holds too much number of people that it can hold. Thus, the big thing we could do is to reduce our numbers through family planning, sex education, and open conversations about contraceptives and other things related to it. The environment needs to be save from our growing population and being a conservative country makes it even more harder for the Philippines. Overpopulation may be somehow out of topic since it has never been discussed in this module but I think that this module would not exist if people has right ethics towards nature and nature holds just an exact amount of people it could hold.

There is no other planet or place in this galaxy that can replace the earth and give people a sense of home. Although the earth is our only home and environment, we continue to kill it. These actions are called ‘environmental problems when it should be called human problems. The term environmental problem sounds like it is the environment’s problem, giving people a sense of peace of mind at night without having to think about the problem where in fact it is humans problem caused by humans too. People are well aware of environmental issues and other potential factors related to them, but most people have not taken action. Maybe even if we all work hard to reduce the impact on environmental problems, we may still have environmental problems as long as the environment sustains too much people more than it could hold. This may be a bit difficult for some of us, but it is a serious problem, and everyone should solve and work together to solve the environmental problems we are facing.

Our only home is falling apart. The world we live in is rapidly becoming another landfill for all our wastes and the human population is not doing anything as a whole to prevent these problems from becoming too extreme to the point of no return. Only recently, have we begun to focus on our environment and attempting to clean our mess for our own survival and those of future generations. It is too late to prevent climate change from taking a toll on our society as seen with increased natural disasters, rising sea levels, and the magnitude of extinction just within the past decade. However, it not too late to reduce or even inhibit the problem entirely to prevent this from getting worse. As an individual, I can do my part in showing care for the environment and my own well-being. My worldview is holistic and ecocentric as it is heavily influenced by my career in the sciences specifically in engineering and astronomy. My ethics are also influenced by my career path by believing in theories like the precautionary principle but also through my own experiences affecting who I am as a person thus adopting the need to fight for racial equality. As for practices, I am an ethical omnivore, take care of the physical environment I live in and attempt to inform myself before making purchases of certain products.

Worldview

A worldview is a certain philosophy of life or way we conceive the world from our perspective. Humans have a specific place in the world and each person decides how they belong in the world. To me, I see the world more in an experimental or logical way. Something happens because of something else. There is a cause for every effect. I feel most appealed to postmodern science specifically in the ideas of chaos and instability in the environment. According to Ilya Prigogine, “instability, irreversibility, fluctuation, and amplification are found in every human activity” (Merchant 406). This type of approach differs from the mechanistic approach by seeing everything as in chaos and changing. We shift from looking at things as parts of a whole but instead as fully holistic. There are no parts at all. As stated by Fritjof Capra “the new paradigm may be called a holistic, or an ecological, worldview” (Merchant 366). Many people are stuck thinking of the world as mechanistic and just a group of building blocks and thus struggle to see the postmodern worldview as a network. Capra talks about this “shift from building to network as a metaphor of knowledge” (Merchant 368) which most people would connect to something like a building that made from multiple building blocks and a solid foundation, metaphorically like physics is to the rest of the sciences. This shift to holistic and the change in metaphor to net or web is highly similar to that of Indra’s Jewel.

Indra’s Jewel is the point of Deep Ecology that gives a sense of interconnectedness. Our vision of reality can be structured like a holographic view of the universe so that a jewel can be placed at every node of the net while reflecting the other jewels as well (Merchant 336). The Gaia hypothesis, introduced by James Lovelock suggests that “the biosphere may be more than just the complete range of all living things within their natural habitat of soil, sea, and air” (Callicott 39). The Earth is seen as an organic whole and much greater than the sum of its parts.

Edward Lorenz similarly states that weather patterns are irregular and thus unpredictable (399). Lorenz’s thesis states that any small change or disturbance can cause massive effects in certain events around the world. This type of butterfly effect as it is called tells us that our environmental actions, no matter how small, can add up or even appear later down the line as the perpetrators to a climate disaster. An example of this is, for example, buying a six-pack of soda and tossing out the plastic rings to keep the pack together. We might just see it and throw it out and completely forget about it. Before we know it, it’s stuck around a bird or fish in the ocean. One of the environmental problems presentations in my section talked about plastic waste in the ocean and how sea nets are one the most abundant in the ocean. People are dissociated from what happens to garbage or waste once it’s thrown out. This is an example of how the butterfly effect can cause damages to other species down the line without us noticing.

Ethic

An ethic is a set of moral principles that a person follows and consults when forming a decision. Ethics are used by most people to define what is right and wrong and to understand their morality. My ethics are mainly due to my exposure and love of science.

One ethic that I see myself using in the future is the precautionary principle. The precautionary principle defines actions that should be taken if issues are considered uncertain. This ethic allows people to justify their decisions in situations where there is a potential harm to the public. As a scientist, my job is to provide information obtained from research in order to let the public know about the world around them. However, the main use of the precautionary principle is to give caution in advance in case of any potential harm and creating a form of cost-benefit analysis. This does seem to slightly conflict with the utilitarianist doctrine belief in that actions are right only if they benefit or are useful for the majority of people. Of course, this does take into account the interests of others in creating a scope of possible outcomes and weighing the positives and negatives of an outcome, however, this does not take into account the effects that the greater outcome creates. For a utilitarian, the sole factor that allows them to make a decision is just the net gain of happiness for a specific group.

Having cars and food ready for us within a few minutes seems like a utopian idea come to life but it does not take into account the effect this has on animals or other beings. Similar to anthropocentrism, only humankind is taken into account in these decisions despite the 8.7 million species we share the Earth with. Why does it have to solely be the job and consciousness of a single one of those organisms to make the choice that affects them all? This leads to thinking about natural order just like we discussed in class in “Should Trees Have Standing” where humans think that we are the only group with mind and reason and thus are the only ones capable and with enough intellect to make decisions for the rest of the organisms on this planet. Coming back to the precautionary principle, as a researcher, I need to keep in mind what my research could end up developing into. The double-slit experiment and research into general relativity completely overturned the mechanistic worldview set by Newtonian Mechanics and created a postmodern view of the world through quantum mechanics and general relativity. My own research will most likely never reach the extent, influence, or paradigm shifts that were created but I always need to keep in mind that whatever I publish could be used as evidence for or against my own personal beliefs.

I believe in advocating for racial equality because everyone has the right to knowledge and safety when it comes to the climate crisis. A large number of people, specifically those in low-income communities, are subject to environmental injustices from the upper class with examples being electronic waste being sent to foreign countries and factory farms dumping the animal’s feces in giant pools that leak into the soil leading to unhealthy air and water quality. A majority of these people are unable to move because of their economic struggles or are dissociated with what is even happening in their environment due to not having a proper education. Near my hometown, there is a landfill and furnace constantly burning waste. It’s gotten to the point where my high school is able to see it and even smell it from a distance. Our current institutions are not giving equal opportunity to all races. As stated by Rosemary Radford Ruether, “the gap between rich and poor has steadily grown, with some 85 percent of the wealth of the world in the hands of some 20 percent of the world’s population, much of that concentrated in the top 1 percent” (Merchant 100). Poor communities are usually the most affected and thus when I’m older, I want to offer my community at-home ways to escape this injustice through increased funding in education, scholarships, and most importantly, the knowledge of the climate crisis and the effect of capitalism on communities that we live in.

Prescriptions about my ethic are incorporated into my career path. I used to only be worried about the end of the world from a solar supernova however that changed once I became aware of the world’s environmental decline. As a mechanical engineer, we produce a lot of waste in the form of chemicals byproducts and metals from projects or prototyping. Having sustainable methods to reduce waste in the workplace is ideal. Engineers, in general, should always have the environment in mind and see how our inventions could affect people and the world. A great call to attention is how our engineering community is now focusing and taking into account the environmental impact of what we do and in response, our products are more aware of their effects. For example, the Hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco was going to be underground but due to concern of metals contaminating water systems, the design was changed to now be above ground. Other measures such as building the transport tubes several feet above the ground were thought of by taking potential wildlife disruption into account. Engineers are now creating their own specific ethics when it comes to designing and manufacturing products themselves, which I believe is a great step in the right direction for our community.

To this day, I think of the lifeboat ethic to an extent due to a vast majority of people in power being against climate change and or not doing much to propose a solution, let alone approve it. The lifeboat ethic, as stated by Barry Commoner, “is to withhold from the people of developing countries… far too gone or too unworthy to be saved” (Merchant 125). In this example, the lifeboat ethic was used to talk about third world countries that are too far lost by their exploitation or corruptness that it’s too late to save them. However, this ethic can be applied in a similar aspect to other ideas as well. I conduct research with NASA in order to find the origin of the universe and asteroids approaching our solar system. To an extent, my research also has a focus on finding new inhabitable planets or life outside our sphere. By continuing my research, I am, to an extent, contributing to the lifeboat ethic as well because if life on another planet is seen as possible, society will end up gaining a new worldview in that science is so advance that we are able to throw out our whole planet since life on another planet is possible.

As stated in lecture, an Ecocentric worldview recognizes the intrinsic value in ecosystems and the processes that connect these processes (Worthy). What I like about this ethic is that it offers a deep analysis of the malignant impacts that humans are creating on the Earth and of the resources that we as a human race depend on. This ethic heavily contrasts anthropocentrism since anthropocentrism states that current human activity and humans, in general, are central and most important organisms on the Earth, exceeding those of other animals or even spiritual beings themselves.

Practice

Becoming an ethical omnivore is something that I wanted to become since I was in elementary school because despite not knowing what the term ethical omnivore meant, I was already aware of the factory farming practices being done behind our backs. I did face a difficult problem in trying this practice out. Not only was I a child and was not able to cook my own food, but my family also did not have access to organic or free-range products. Our grocery stores did not stock these items because we were in a low-income neighborhood so the stores there automatically wouldn’t be able to sell these products due to their heftier price. A lot people don’t notice what goes on in the lives of low-income people and how despite lower class citizens being greater in number than those at the top of the economic pyramid, we in the lower class struggle to gain access to more ecologically friendly products while still being dissociated from the problems occurring in our lives. Spending three years of my life homeless, the only options to eat were either leftover from school lunches or if we were lucky enough, a dollar menu burger from Mc Donald’s. It’s not that we don’t want to change our lifestyle, but in reality, we are unable to because of the irregular distribution of resources in the world. Now as a college student, I am in control of what I can eat and what to buy. I’ve reduced eating meat to only two of the seven days of the week. I am able to buy products that are from environmentally friendly sources with knowledge and background information. There are typical practices that almost everyone should adopt that I have started to such as not using plastic cutlery anymore, not using plastic water bottles, being more aware of the electricity I use, and being more aware of where products and my food come from.

My worldview used to be mechanistic until most recently as I was not aware of everything happening in the world around me. I have gained a holistic and ecocentric worldview as my career depends on it and because of recent events in our world making it seem like the only option in order to save our planet. My ethics are also influenced by my career path by believing in theories like the precautionary principle but also through my own experiences affecting who I am as a person thus adopting the need to fight for racial equality. I am now an ethical omnivore and pay more attention to what I eat based on the impact it has on the animal itself but also of the environment and the people around it as well. Generally, my perspective has not changed much within this class but what I have learned is the meaning and gained support of what I stand for not because I think it’s correct from my perspective but because thinking through a holistic point of view, I know that everyone has their experiences that create who they are and how they are as a person. Despite all that, we can all agree that we need to start with ourselves and create our own ways of saving the environment before we can help anyone else do the same.

Works Cited

1. Callicott, J. Baird. Earth’s Insights. University of California Press, 1998.
2. Merchant, Carolyn. Ecology. Humanity Books, 2008.
3. Worthy, Kenneth. Invisible Nature: Healing the Destructive Divide between People and the Environment. Prometheus Books, 2013.

Introduction to Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics deals with the moral and ethical relationship between humans and the nature. In other words it questions a human on its rights on non human world.

While ethical issues concerning the environment have been debated for centuries, environmental ethics did not emerge as a philosophical issue until the 1970s i.e the start of Industrialisation . Its emergence was the result of increased awareness of how the rapidly growing world population and their demands was impacting the environment, the flora and the fauna ,environmental consequences that came with the growing use of pesticides, technology, and industry.

The Role of Human Values in Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics helps define man’s moral and ethical disciplines toward the environment. But human values become a factor when looking at environmental ethics. Human values are the things that are important to individuals which are used to evaluate actions or events. Humans assign value to certain things and then use this assigned value to make decisions about whether something is right or wrong. Human values are unique to each individual because not everyone places the same importance on each element of life. For example, a person living in poverty in an undeveloped country may find it morally acceptable to cut down the forest to make room for a farm where he can grow food for his family. However, a person in a developed country may find this action morally unacceptable because the destruction of forests increases carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, which can negatively impact the environment. Everyone has their own perspectives according to the pros and cons faced by him after violating the ethical rule.

Technological Impact on Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics along with human values is a never ending topic for debating on mans interaction with the environment. Water and air pollution, depletion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, destruction of global systems and drastic climatic changes are all the effects of harmful practices of human towards the non-human world. With the advance in technology, societies are able to acquire and produce more food and to accumulate surpluses. This leads to a number of profound changes in social and ecological processes, including changes in the numbers of people living in a society, and, more generally, on the planet, and in the patterns of accumulation and distribution of resources among those people. Furthermore, as technology grows or increases, the potential for environmental impact increases dramatically.

Because of the profound implications for the well-being, and perhaps even the long-term survival of humanity, questions about interactions of social behaviour among human beings, the technologies they produce, and their impacts on the natural environment,the flora and fauna are vitally important to people. They should keep in mind the actions they perform otherwise a lot shoud be payed as repent. Environmental impact was seen as being a function of population, technology, and human consumption levels .

Water Pollution: A Case Study

In developing countries, approximately 90 percent of human sewage is dumped without any attempt at treatment . These discharges often go directly into water; yet even when the dumping is not direct, it often leaches into underground aquifers. Either way, this causes serious pollution problems and the public health risks associated with them. While adequate supplies of safe drinking water become more scarce worldwide, it is a particular problem in parts of the developing world where population growth is increasing day by day.

Runoff of water contaminated by farming practices, such as indiscriminate use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, as well as from concentrations of livestock animal waste from huge feed lots, leads to many ecological and health problems, particularly for those living downstream from them.

Water can be managed by efficient use of the sewage by sending the water to purification plants and using up to the mark. We should not send the polluted water into the sea since all the sea animals may die due to infectious water. Here again we raise a question about the sewage water whether it has to be sent into a river or not. The obvious answer is no, because we have only acute amount of drinking water throughout the world which should be used wisely and there is no right for us to kill other beings.

Deforestation and Its Ethical Implications

The effects of population are often addressed in the context of urban population growth and rural population growth. For example, rural population growth increases the likelihood that forested regions will be transformed, cut, or burned for use in industrial activities, extractive processes, or agricultural production, and related technological developments only exacerbate the environmental impacts of these activities .

Here a question arises that should we cut trees for the sake of human benefit and let the animals live without shelter and food or preserve and conserve for future generations. There can be many ways to curb deforestation. If we cut trees for industrialization then we should plant more trees in the outskirts of the city rather than leaving land barren.

We can replace wood with steel in as many cases possible. We do not have any right to cut the trees which cause global warming. Even though if we cut the trees there should be another alternative to compensate the loss then only cutting of trees is acceptable. The other alternatives can be like using only bio organic fertilizers or pesticides for the plants which reduces the damage to soil and the roots of the tree stay firm and the tree lives longer without falling off.

Global Warming: A Shared Responsibility

The human dimensions of climate change and global warming are perhaps the most widely addressed human-environment relationships in the social sciences and policy venues. There is general consensus in the scientific community that global warming is a reality and that human societies contribute to the warming of the earth’s atmosphere through activities that lead to the emission of noxious greenhouse gases. Two of the most serious greenhouse causing gases emitted into the atmosphere as a by-product of human activity are carbon dioxide and methane.

The gases after released into the atmosphere cause serious damage to the ozone layer , trees, animals and also human beings. The gases which are emitted by the fossil fuels are initiated by man by burning them and make the toxic to breathe .The only solution is to use these fossil fuels for a certain limit and not more than that. We can utilize water resources to generate electricity or energy, fossil fuels is not only the solution .Therefore we can limit the use of fossil fuels and other toxic gases by using other alternatives. A man cannot be selfish enough to satisfy his needs and let the non-human world to degrade. By doing so he is also polluting the air which he breathes, and the water which he uses.

The main reason for the imbalance in nature caused by humans are technology , population growth and consumption.In order to satisfy his needs man sorts to do all kind of activities which are harmful to nature. Increases in population and urbanization often tend to be accompanied by technological innovation, which could potentially be good for the environment. Yet if history is any indicator, as new technologies are developed, they are often used to make deeper and more lasting incursions into the environment. Technological innovation, thus, often has a net negative impact on the environment. As society develops in the twenty-first century, it will be crucial that citizens remain vigilant about how technology is conceptualized and used.

For Christianity to continue to be a living religious tradition it must modernize and adapt to remain relevant, and this is why environmental ethics evolved. Christians have shaped a system of ethics that contains the strong significance of stewardship encouraging the protection of the environment. Before this it wasn’t a priority or thought into environmental ethics because Christians had an anthropocentric view of the environment, conversely, this has now changed. There have been two approaches to environmental ethics within the church anthropocentric which considers humans of the most importance on earth and also bio-centric which considers that all living organisms should be equal. As an outcome of Christians reconsidering their views on the environment, there has been a push forward towards a creation-centered theology as an outcome of the anthropocentric and bio-centric views applying an alteration to Christianity. The divergent interpretations of environmental ethics reveal Christianity is a living religious tradition, responding to issues towards humanity through conscience, scripture, and teaching authority. Christians now respect God’s creation they will renounce deliberately destroying the environment. For the most part, Orthodox Churches have adapted to creation theology and spirituality more than the more cognitive spiritualities of Western Christianity. They respect creation-centered theology because they want to be ‘stewards’, this perception of concern for the usage of substantial belongings and for the care of God’s conceptions is a result of environmental ethics. As a result, there is a close connection between God’s world which he created this shows how Christianity changed to stay constant followers of him.

Ethical teachings are fundamental to Christianity remaining a living religious tradition. The two ethical teachings that are both contained in the bible and ‘Laudato si’ are Stewardship of Creation, the principle of acting upon the duty of care, and Respect for God’s Creation, the human race’s duty to treat the environment as they like to be treated. Recognized sources from the bible foundationally contribute by providing information concerning environmental ethics. The Old Testament, explains the relationship that God has with humanity and his creation. Christians are taught that they have an essential duty to care for all of what God’s created. They also acknowledge that God inspires humanity to live with a fruitful relationship with the earth. The old testament also says that “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis,2:15), which explains that the Earth will provide for human needs, though, humankind has a responsibility to protect the environment and ensure it remains fruitful. This verse from Genesis highlights the modern Christian understanding of stewardship where humankind is the steward of creation and must protect and cherish creation. Despite the fact that Deuteronomy 20:19 “When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?” this explains not destroying something for the sake of destroying it just because it’s in the way, Christian theologians have extended its significance to prohibit unwarranted obliteration of the environment. The importance of creation compared to the irrelevance of humankind is supported in Psalm 39. This chapter provides a basis for Christian environmental ethics. The early fundamentals of Scripture have offered Christian variants with a foundation for responding to modern-day challenges, as a living religious tradition.

On June 2015, Pope Francis released his encyclical ‘Laudato si’ (‘Praise be to you’) which addresses the issues within the world today. It has become an awakening worldwide to assist humankind to understand the devastation that man is rendering to the environment. Pope Francis’ encyclical is dedicated to informing Christians on how to act in order to maintain the earth the way that God intended for the world. In order to maintain what God created Christians and other religions must take “swift and unified global action” to help the prevention of global destruction of God’s creation. Pope Francis ‘Laudato si’ calls for global action relating to the importance of environmental ethics in the modern world. He explains how issues such as pollution, climate change, water, and biodiversity have become a major concern for individuals both in the religious world and the secular world. Throughout ‘Laudato Si’ the Pope has been critical of the message of taking “dominion over the earth” as mentioned in Genesis 1:28. This verse influenced many Christians to be uncaring towards the environment as it was seen as the right of humankind to have power over the earth. The Pope refers to the earth as, “Our common home” and throughout ‘Laudato si’, he makes sure that there is an emphasis on, “A relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature”. It explains how humans were formed from the earth and therefore we should work and take care of the Garden of Eden (Our Common Home, 2015). Many Christian denominations and organizations are responding to the ‘Laudato si’ message and have intended to address misunderstandings in regard to looking after the environment, by offering education to adherences concerning environmental ethics. The Catholic Church in Australia established an organization by the name of ‘Catholic Earthcare Australia, (CEA). The CEA aims to develop environmental practices and education, mostly to educate Bishops on environmental ethics. CEA has constructed many resources, including an environmental audit that can be used by organizations to evaluate their environmental implementations. Additionally, the National Council of Churches Australia (NCCA) confirmed a “decade to overcome violence”. This campaign concentrates on overcoming violence against the environment, emphasizing the efforts these organizations are going to in order to sustain the environment. This also exemplified the NCCA statement “sustaining creation”. This has also contributed to Christianity as a living religious tradition, as Christians have responded to issues of ethics using ethical teachings in order to remain relevant.

Environmental Ethics

“ The discipline of philosophy known as environmental ethics is the study of the human relation to, and the status of morality, the non-human content. environmental ethics covers: (1) the anthropocentrism challenge implanted in conventional western moral reasoning; (2) the early development in during1970s; (3) the association of profound ecology, women’s activist ecological morals, animism, and social nature to legislative issues; (4) the endeavor to apply traditional moral speculations, including virtue ethics, consequentialism, deontology, to help contemporary ecological concerns; (5) the safeguarding of biodiversity as a moral objective; (6) the more extensive worries of a few scholars with wild, the fabricated condition and the governmental issues of destitution; (7) the sustainability ethics and environmental change, and (8) a few bearings for conceivable future advancements of the discipline”. (Environmental Ethics, 2005).

Stakeholders

“Protection of an environment and environmental balances is the concern of everyone. To advance environmental awareness among the general population, we need the assistance of various stakeholders. These stakeholders are people in general, the media, environmental groups, organizations, and the legislature. The general opinion is crucial to the goals of environmental issues in a majority democratic society. The public has the ability to help intrigue groups, choose and lobby authorities, cover regulatory expenses, work for organizations, purchase items, and back or reject strategies. The rise of environmental ethics was the aftereffect of expanded attention to how the quickly developing total populace was affecting the environment of the earth just as the natural outcomes that accompanied the developing utilization of pesticides, innovation, and industry ”.

The violence of environmental ethics and its impacts

Criminal law describes a violation of environmental law as a type of white-collar crime. Whenever sentenced, violators face fines, probation, correctional facility time, or some mix thereof. Commonly, a sentence of prison time is utilized when managing people, while partnerships face firm fines. The fines attempt to balance the monetary profit of directing the illicit action.

Its compliance with environmental regulations usually requires the expenditure of significantly increased overhead for businesses. In an attempt to avoid these additional costs, some businesses will refuse to comply with the regulations. While trying to evade these extra costs, a few businesses will consent to the regulations. Some of the time, organizations straightforwardly won’t go along and will pay administrative fines as opposed to paying the consistency costs, which outperform the all-out expenses of the fines. Different organizations, be that as it may, will endeavor to conceal their noncompliance, for example, by dumping unsafe waste into waterways, streams, seas, or generally isolated territories as opposed to paying to have it taken to a chemical substance treatment plant. Other basic kinds of environmental law infringement incorporate littering; inappropriate waste disposal; the utilization of unlawful pesticides in horticulture; discharging particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone in sums outperforming the administrative tops; oil slicks; the decimation of wetlands; copying trash; inappropriately discarding asbestos; distorting lab information relating to ecological guidelines; pirating illicit synthetics into the country; and submitting misrepresentation identifying with guidelines of environmental.

Majora Carter is one of New York City’s most well-known environmental justice activists. In February 2006, Carter gave an inspiring eighteen minute speech on “Greening the Ghetto” at a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference in Monterey, California. More specifically, this convention calls attention to the prevalent issue of environmental racism and inequality among minority communities. Not only does Carter underscore the importance of sustainable development and the imperative need for a clean green economy, but she also presents a number of feasible ways in which we can maintain economic development without causing environmental pollution or degradation.

Taking everything into account, the illuminating TED Talk was certainly worth viewing seeing as Carter was able to effectively convey an empowering message across to her viewers about environmental justice. Toward the beginning of the presentation, Carter vividly narrates her fight for environmental equality in the South Bronx, New York City. This highlights Carter’s capacity to connect with the audience by sharing her back-story and life experiences. For example, she reveals the harsh reality of growing up as an underprivileged black child in the South Bronx, and additionally talked about the loss of a loved one at one particular point in her poignant speech. Carter’s detailed disclosure about her older brother Lenny’s tragic death demonstrates her vulnerable side as well. Her vulnerability and candidness seems to capture and resonate with people in a way that mere facts and statistics never will.

Notice how Carter displays a genuine level of sincerity and dynamism in her emotions too. By opening up about her life history and experiences, Carter is better able to connect with the audience on a more personal level. Carter’s storytelling process also pulls the viewers focus into her world and establishes a context for why her narrative matters. Engaging the audience via a story enables one to see through someone else’s eyes. This type of involvement evidently appears to be the key to Carter’s persuasion.

An additional strong point that Carter exhibits is her confidence and passionate stance on the fight for environmental and economic justice. For instance, Carter appeals to the viewers by vehemently stating “help me make green the new black. Help me make sustainability sexy. Make it a part of your dinner and cocktail conversations” (Carter, 2006, min. 15:44). In making this remark, Carter empowers individuals to take control of their own lives and urges viewers to use their knowledge and influence to support sustainable change everywhere. Also, if viewers and listeners feel a strong sense of why environmental injustice should concern them, the more likely they are to inform and influence others about this important subject matter.

Moreover, Carter’s content-rich visuals, data, and statistics support her findings and help establish her credibility in he piece. For example, Carter utilizes visual imagery to strengthen and add emphasis to her research. She illustrates how minority neighborhoods and communities of color suffer the most from flawed urban policies. Carter further explains that in due course, “economic degradation begets environmental degradation, which begets social degradation” (Carter, 2006, min. 7:05).

Carter’s main point is that the long-term consequences of economic, environmental, and social degradation will adversely affect susceptible communities throughout various parts of the world. This is a fundamental aspect of Carter’s presentation because it offers viewers a deeper insight into understanding that we are all held accountable for the future that we create. Furthermore, with regard to audience awareness, Carter is highly aware and mindful of what information to present to her viewers as well as how to convey it in an effective manner throughout the entire speech. She begins by clarifying the term environmental justice for those who may not be familiar with it. According to Carter, “no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits than any other” (Carter, 2006, min. 2:40). In other words, Carter believes that certain factors such as class and race are “reliable indicators as to where one might find the good stuff, like parks and trees, and where one might find the bad stuff” (Carter, 2006, min. 2:59) like toxic waste sites, power plants, and chemical facilities which pose detrimental health risks to minority communities. Toward the end of the speech, Carter concludes by boldly stating “please don’t waste me” (Carter, 2006, min. 17:35). In this comment, Carter encourages the audience not let their hard-earned experience, energy, and intelligence go to waste. She points out and acknowledges the fact that although we may come from diverse backgrounds and different circumstances, “we all share one incredibly powerful thing: we have nothing to lose and everything to gain” (Carter, 2006, min. 18:08). The essence of Carter’s argument is that in order to create change and make a meaningful difference in the world, sometimes the very first step is finding the courage from within.

All things considered, Majora Carter appears to have met her objective at the TED conference. Carter presented a profound message about the adverse effects of environmental degradation, and makes a compelling case about how a healthy and sustainable community is essentially attainable for everyone. Several other factors that strengthened her overall presentation included her stage presence, confidence, passion, and audience awareness. For this reason, Carter’s “Greening the Ghetto” TED Talk was worth watching since she delivered an effective, coherent, and poignant speech punctuated by moments of wit and humor.

PEST analysis describes a framework of macro-environmental factors used in the environmental scanning component of strategic management. It is a strategic tool for understanding market growth or decline, business position, potential and direction for operations. PEST is an acronym for “political, economic, social, technological. In other words PEST basically stands for Political, Economic, Social and Technological. PEST analysis is used to assess the above four external factors in relation to your business situation. It is beneficial for your business as they help in understanding how these 4 factors will affect your business in the long term. The purpose of a PEST analysis is to identify all of the various external political, economic, social, technological, factors that might affect a business. Managers then assess the risks that the identified factors pose and use that knowledge to inform decisions.

Political factors are basically how the government intervenes in the economy. Specifically, political factors have areas including tax policy, labor law, environmental law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability. Political factors may also include goods and services which the government aims to provide or be provided (merit goods) and those that the government does not want to be provided (demerit goods or merit bads). Furthermore, governments have a high impact on the health, education, and infrastructure of a nation. Economic factors include economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates, inflation rate. These factors greatly affect how businesses operate and make decisions. For example, interest rates affect a firm’s cost of capital and therefore to what extent a business grows and expands. Exchange rates can affect the costs of exporting goods and the supply and price of imported goods in an economy.

Social factors include the cultural aspects and health consciousness, population growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes and emphasis on safety. High trends in social factors affect the demand for a company’s products and how that company operates. For example, the aging population may imply a smaller and less-willing workforce (thus increasing the cost of labor). Furthermore, companies may change various management strategies to adapt to social trends caused by this (such as recruiting older workers). Technological factors include technological aspects like R&D activity, automation, technology incentives and the rate of technological change. These can determine barriers to entry, minimum efficient production level and influence the outsourcing decisions. Furthermore, technological shifts would affect costs, quality, and lead to innovation.

Legal factors include discrimination law, consumer law, antitrust law, employment law, and health and safety law. These factors can affect how a company operates, its costs, and the demand for its products. Environmental factors include ecological and environmental aspects such as weather, climate, and climate change, which may especially affect industries such as tourism, farming, and insurance. Furthermore, growing awareness of the potential impacts of climate change is affecting how companies operate and the products they offer, both creating new markets and diminishing or destroying existing ones.