Environmental Ethics

A few of you wanted more information, here you go. Link here, and link here for the most recent update.

Holmes Rolston’s environmental philosophy:

On the intrinsic value of nature: Rolston feels nature’s value is non-anthropocentric primarily because he chooses to separate a human ethic and a bio-ethic. Practices that benefit humans as a race are not to be compared to or grouped with the environment, but treated as a separate entity. (more…)

Overview of the Leopold reading:
- While Singer thinks our ethics were limited because of our selfishness, Leopold thinks our ethics have evolved, and now we are capable of expanding our circle of concern to the land (which includes soil, plants, and animals). (more…)

-When it comes to property, it’s not about right and wrong, it’s about expediency
ex. Odysseus hanging his slave girls.

- Leopold thinks ethics has evolved
- Singer thinks that ethics were limited in the past due to selfish short-sightedness. A self-imposed moral blindness. (more…)

Hi, this article was just posted (it is a book review) and it assesses vegetarianism.
It is described thusly: Are vegetarians the moral, peace-loving, cruelty-free enemies of the meat-eater? Or a bunch of kooks living in la-la land?
Take a look: click.

Kay argues that Western Environmental Philosophy is based on four assumptions: the “balance” of nature, the idea that prior to European arrival, there was a wilderness that existed in the Americas, that this wilderness teemed with wildlife, and the Native Americans were either poor primitives or great conservationists who had no significant impact on the land. Kay’s article focuses on de-bunking some of these myths and arguing that the “hands off” approach to nature is a bad solution. Key examples brought up in class were the aspen trees, the killing of birthing female prey, and the berry populations all pointing to the fact that Native Americans were not hands off. (more…)

Link here for Charles Kay’s article on native hunting practices.

All events except one** (March 24th) will be in ADDLESTONE, ROOM 227

FEB. 1, Thursday, 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Documentary Film: “KILOWATT OURS” (2004)

Presenter: TIM WILLARD, Executive Board Member, Sustainable Campus Initiative (SCI); Environmental Studies (Graduate Student). Did you know that American schools spend more on energy bills than they do on computers and text books combined? Did you know that the average home in the Southeast uses 30% more electricity per month than the national average? Please see the film, and then join Tim Willard afterwards as he shares creative ideas about how each of us can reduce our usage of non-renewable energy resources.

FEB. 8, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Panel Discussion with Q & A: “ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN SOUTH CAROLINA”

Moderator: F. SCOT FITZGERALD, Geology Department (Senior Student).

Panelists: ARY FUN, Southeast Biodiesel, will discuss the innovative use of recycled vegetable oil and other alternatives to conventional automotive fuel use; JONATHAN BROWN, Clean Cities International, will inform us about his organization’s work in Charleston to create a government-industry partnership designed to reduce consumer petroleum consumption; BRENDT RUEGER, New Generation Craftsmen, will talk about the trend in green building; and LIZ KRESS, Santee Cooper, will present information about new developments in Green Power by utility companies in South Carolina.

FEB. 13, Tuesday, 4:00-6:00 p.m.

Documentary Film: “WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?” (2006)

Presenter: PROF. SETH PRITCHARD, Biology Dept., will lead a discussion and answer questions after the film. This entertaining documentary provides a post-mortem exploration of GM’s electric car, the EV1. Massive numbers of this model were intentionally destroyed even as it was gaining in popularity. Director Chris Paine playfully searches for the various “culprits” involved in its demise as though this were a murder mystery with a host of suspects. His goal in making the film is to spread awareness to consumers about alternative modes of transportation.

FEB. 20, Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Documentary Film: “SAVING SANDY ISLAND” (2006)

Presenters: TRENHOLM WALKER, lawyer, and DANA BEACH, Director of the Coastal Conservation League. The CCL and the Sandy Island Community Action Club collaborated over the course of 3 years to turn away development from the island and to provide permanent protection. Trenholm Walker provided legal representation for the residents pro bono during that period and served as the liaison between the community and the Coastal Conservation League. Q & A to follow.

FEB. 22, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Presentation with Q & A: “JOHNS ISLAND: THEN AND NOW”

Presenter: BILL SAUNDERS, Director and CEO of the Committee on Better Racial Assurance (COBRA).

What was the African American culture of Johns Island like fifty or more years ago, and how was it impacted by the development of Kiawah Island? More importantly, what kind of impact will currently planned urban development have on Johns Island? Bill Saunders will talk about the history and culture of this rural sea island – the second largest island on the East Coast – and the potentially devastating consequences that urban development will have on long-standing communities and Gullah culture.

FEB. 27, Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

PowerPoint Presentation with Q & A: “PARADISE LOST? The Story of Longleaf Pine”

Presenter: DR. JEAN EVERETT, Botanist, Dept of Biology

Longleaf pine ecosystems once covered 90 million acres of the Southeastern Coastal Plain with magnificent forests and astonishing biodiversity. The story of longleaf – exploited by old growth timbering and turpentining, industrial forests and urban development – is the history of the economy and culture of our region. Today, the longleaf ecosystem is 97% gone, and with it many rare plants and animals. Come and learn what you can do to help preserve and restore the Francis Marion and other bejeweled Southeastern forests.

MAR. 15, Thursday, 3:15-5:00 p.m.

Doc. Film: “BANKING ON DISASTER: The Grave Consequences of Building a Road through the Heart of Amazonia (1987)

Presenter: DR. MARCELA RABI, Hispanic Studies, will highlight the Amazon Rainforest as a case study analysis of the ways in which human activities cause environmental degradation, focusing on the micro- and macro-politics of development. She will show the connection between local sustainability, governmental policies, foreign interests and other stakeholders in the spectrum of rainforest deforestation.

MAR. 22, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Presentation with Q & A: “AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS”

Presenter: PROF. JOHN RASHFORD, Anthropologist, Ethnobotanist, Department of Sociology/Anthropology. Prof. Rashford takes a look at the root of the world environmental crisis as it relates to culture-based human reproduction success and our need for an ever-increasing mode of intensive adaptation. He discusses humanity’s species-specific capacity for innovation, but contends that ecological crises can be resolved only with a deep comprehension of the paradigm from which these problems developed.

MAR. 24, Saturday, 1:00-3:00 p.m.** (**Participants will meet at the Cistern in front of Randolph Hall. )

Workshop: “ON THE WAY HOME: Ecosteries and Natural Systems Thinking Process”

Presenter: DAN SHELTON, Graduate Student in Integrated Ecology and Applied Eco-psychology, Institute of Global Education. How can we best learn about humanity’s connection with the rest of nature? Thinking, when trained in abstract ways, can easily become alienated from nature’s rhythms. Such thinking, when applied to nature management policies, can create disruptive ecological effects. Spend some time with Dan Shelton in this relaxing outdoor workshop where he will teach participants ways to reconnect with our natural sensory perceptions.

APR. 5, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Documentary Film: “THIRST” (2004)

Co-Presenters: PROF. TIM CALLAHAN, Geology and Environmental Geosciences, and a Representative from Water Missions International. Every individual’s life and health is dependent upon having an adequate supply of clean water. Yet 2.6 billion people lack access to this basic resource, according to a 2006 U.N. report. While water shortage is reaching an epidemic global crisis, multi-national corporations are increasingly treating water as a commodity to be bought and sold. Is water a basic human right? Following the film, Prof. Tim Callahan will discuss the international politics and policies of water resources. The WMI representative will talk about the work of this Charleston-based organization in providing water treatment technology for developing regions around the world.

Dear students, when you are assigned a day to post a blog, you can do something like this. I summarize the main ideas of class, mention what we are supposed to be looking for in the next reading, and include a link to information on “The Last Man” argument (from the introduction.)
Writing a post like this would be enough to get you full credit on the day you are assigned to blog.

In class today we went over the following concepts: anthropocentrism, non-anthropocentrism;objective, subjective value; instrumental, non-instrumental value. Though we attempted to practice the application of these concepts, what became clear that there is so much potential overlap that we need a far clearer guide. Examples of this overlap: something subjectively valuable might also be objectively valuable, we might get benefits from something we mean to value non-instrumentally, etc. And then we also discussed the Easterbrook and our first reading from Leopold… (more…)