Environmental Ethics

Laura Mudge

Notes from class: Thursday 3/22
Mathews:
-doesn’t like things that are maintained or artifice (something you would need a drawing
board to dream up)
-likes to work with what’s given/already exists
-objections:
-suburbs are nice-people can be happy living here
-some say personality of people can flourish when they transition from a hard to
good life-so wouldn’t they be happier in the good life?
-maybe people are born one way or the either
-nature-preservation

Milbrath:
-recommends living more consciously
-he thinks living more environmentally conscious leads to being happier
-accuses us of false consciousness-he tells us what we feel
-objections:
-happiness is not always related to moral obligations
-happiness is not a formula-this won’t work with all people

Interesting Site:
On the website for Forbes magazine I stumbled across a “calculator” they have that helps you determine what it costs to live well throughout several cities in the United States, including Charleston. You enter in a net income, chose your city & certain amenities (houses, cars, etc), and the calculator will tell you how much more money per year you should be making in order to live well. I thought this was interesting because Milbrath stated that he thought that one of humans “fundamental mistakes” was that we define what a good life is based on the material goods we have, which is exactly what Forbes is doing. Forbes defines living well with a “4 bedroom house in a good neighborhood, a vacation home, a BMW and a Lexus for cars, eating out a pricey restaurant once a week, taking 3 luxury trips a year, and sending one child to a local private school and one to a private college”. In my personal opinion I think this is rather excessive to just be “living well”. Milbrath would hate this website because its definition of living well does not include any sort of environmental activity that would contribute to a good life.

Link:
http://www.forbes.com/realestate/2005/07/08/living-well-cost-calculator-cx_sc_0708calculator.html?income=35000&citySelect=CharlestonS&home=1&cars=1&dining=1