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B. Fischhoff Environmental Conservation: Ethical Concerns /. Mil/or Debates on Ethical Systems Should our environmental responsibility emerge from the concern for consequences of our action or from the criteria that we chose to take those actions? There are several frameworks that have been used such as: Libertananism. Contractualism. Relativism. Deontology, and Teleology, for analyzing ethical dilemmas. Bentham (1748-fS32) developed a simple universal principle for deciding what is good, calling it the principle of utility. According to this theory, the doer of any good act tries to maximize the amount of happiness to the doer and to others affected by it. Critics have argued that hedonic calculus could not be the basis of estimating moral worth of an action, arguing thai because some pleasures arc inherently better than others (setting an edueation. say. is better than getting drunk), they have inherent worth that makes them desirable, it throws in question that the very possibility of hedonic calculus follows; it would mean that pleasure and pain arc no longer considered the basic unit in terms of which the worth of all acts and goals arc to be measured (Goldberg. 1995. p. 117). The boundary of feelings of those sentient beings whose pain affects us becomes part of our moral boundary. What are the different ways in which ethical concerns are manifested when describing the environmental problems or prospects? One of the persistent issues, which emerges in the dialogue on ethics, is the distinction among facts and values. Goldberg states: 'facts concern the way things actually are. the evaluations are the judgments about things ideally as they ought to be" (1995. p.5). Amartya Sen, in a very significant contribution (1981). observed that what we choose to describe involves value judgments and how we choose to describe it also involved a value judgment. The descriptive 'is' becomes the normative 'ought'. experience pain. Jeremv Bentham (1748-1832) held that any being capable of suffering should have his or her experiences taken into account by utilitarian calculations. However, according to right theorists, uny version of utilitarianism, no matter how carefully conceived it is. fails to provide sufficient protection for innocent life, human or nonhuman iPluhar. 190$. p 165i Pluhar asks. Do animals have a prima facie right to life or a prima fuck' right not to be tortured'.' One might hold that some animals have no serious right but do have a right not to be tortured or one might hold that that they have a prima facie right to humane treatment that could be overridden by the need to preserve allegedly more morally significant lives. (Pluhar 1998. p. 165 But then this argument raises another dilemma, which is about hierarchy of moral responsibility. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) proposed 'beings that are not rational are incapable.of suffering.' According to him. non-human animals are merely organic machines without consciousness, unlike humans, who allegedly are amalgams of material bodies and immaterial minds (souls). Though he claims that he does not deny that non-human animals are capable of sensation, he is denying that they can suffer. 2.2 Responsibility for Conservation Arising out of Greener Human Purpose Dower asks. Should we care for the environment because other life forms in nature, or nature itself, have a value, moral status independent of our interests, or because it is in our own collective interests to protect it? (1998. p. 769) Determinants of Domain of Responsibility 2.1 Boundary of Pain Does the degree of pain suffered by other species determine the boundary of our responsibility? Some have argued that predation is a rule in nature and thus why should an anthropomorphic view of nature be decried so much. But survival of the fittest is also a feature of a natural system. Will that be acceptable as a basis of human social evolution? Darwin is believed to have remarked that humans were not necessarily on the top of the ecological chain as some higher form than others. Each organism may have adapted to its niche and thus may have advantages over other species in that niche: no single species is higher or lower than another. Our responsibility for another species may emerge from the pain we cause to it. The other view, as we shall see later, is that not every species may The scope of moral responsibility needs to be defined and different cultures experiencing tremendous loss of environment are defining it implicitly by making false compromises between development and environment. It appears as if one could have the former without the latter (unless we genuinely believe that Western societies are indeed more developed than the rest, as they certainly offer more consumer choices to their citizens). Human purpose could be to prosper, without impoverishing other human and non-human sentient beings, but it could also be defined by various cultures in negation of certain rights of others. Can ethics be determined by voting on it? We do not think so. A great degree of consumerist culture survives in most democratic European societies and yet its sustainability is questionable. The democratic way of arriving at the human purpose does not make it more legitimate and moral. 4603 Environmental Conservation: Ethical Concerns Human purpose can be defined in minimalist terms. One cannot solve all environmental problems but one can certainly solve some. Should one not try to solve a few because others remain? At the same time, our concern extends not just to those we know, see, or recognize. Our responsibility is to society and the biosphere at large, hence the international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992). 2.2.1 Agricultural ethics. The responsibility towards long-term sustainability of land, biodiversity, and well-being of animals, has been contrasted with a desire to intensify agriculture by crossing the natural barriers among species by using biotechnology or other technologies. For some, biotechnological tools can lead to better environment, if these help in re ducing or eliminating chemical pesticides. However, these tools can do the opposite by unleashing en vironmental risks. The biotechnological revolution involving incorporation of genes from one species into another has raised a great many ethical issues. The invocation of the precautionary principle itself has become contentious. If in doubt, this principle advises that we err on the side of conservation. Some have interpreted this to mean that no research need be done to explore biotechnological alternatives, even if these were to have the potential for solving some nutritional and food needs. Others argue that the issue of hunger is not one of production, but of distribution. Ethical dilemmas arise when we enable the hungry to obtain sufficient food (through the public distribution system) through environmentally destructive land use practices (such as cultivation on marginal lands). Whether biotechnology can help solve this problem is as much an issue of ethics as one of policy and institutions. For instance, it can reduce pressure to bring more land under cultivation by increasing productivity of existing land. Ethical dilemmas also emerge when: (a) intellectual property rights are granted over life forms (such as the Harvard onco-mouse) or other organisms violating the sanctity of life, as well as granting monopoly to those who did not and can not create life (except for modifying it into the laboratory), (b) risks are taken in releasing in the environment genes which, in their natural conditions, did not have the possibility of diffusing among species (e.g., through transgenics tolerant to herbicides), (c) animals are treated with hormones or other reagents which increase their productivity, yet affect their well-being or shorten their life cycle, and (d) solutions are not developed to grow crops in problem soils, such as alkaline or salt-affected soils, through biotechnological means. 2.2.2 Asymmetry of rights and responsibilities. Risks are involved not just when things are changed but 4604 also when they are left unchanged. It is this position justifying inertia that populist arguments have made their mainstay. While exploring biodiversity or associated knowledge systems, ethics of extraction assumes asymmetrical rights and responsibilities (Gupta. 1994, 1995, 1999)" We never acknowledge the creativity and innovations as well as traditional knowledge systems of local communities and individuals conserving resources in our writings (the whole discipline of ethnobiology has been a testimony to this). We do not share benefits with them fairly, never share what we have learned from them and others in their language. The Honey Bee network set up in 1989 to document and disseminate grassroots creativity and green innovations is an exception (http://www.sristi.org/honeybee.html). We complain when the same communities and individuals are at times forced to follow environmentally unfriendly actions. Studies have shown that the regions of high biodiversity in the tropics are also inhabited by the poorest people, who have the lowest educational levels (despite exceptions), who have high emigration of males and consequently a high proportion of households headed or managed by women. Yet discourse on environmental ethics has seldom reflected on these systematic relationships. 2.3 Ecocentrism/Biocentrsm/Deep Ecological Ethics The rights of not just .the animate but also the inanimate, of not just the human but equally other species, and of not just the born but also the unborn are articulated in a combination of biocentric, ecocentric. and deep ecological ethical perspectives. Ecocentric theorists include Kenneth Goodpaster. Lawrence Johnson, Holmes Rolston, Baird Callicott, Arnold Leopold, John Rodman, etc., who essentially argue for moral rights of all beings and ecosystems. A lake has a personality if endowed with values, in the same way as mountains and species. Munshi (1952), a famous writer, in his lecture entitled "A Gospel of Dirty Hand' tried to link the soil with soul. He did not see any way we could understand the relationship between nature and human beings if we did not see the linkage between nutrient cycle, hydrological cycle, and local institutions. Of course, he contrasted the ethic in which nature was held supreme, with the local tribes who, overawed by nature, remained what some may call 'primitive.' Other tribes or social groups, which overpowered nature, vanished into oblivion because they crossed the limits of nature. He argued for moderation. Some ecologists argue, however, not just for moderation but for a hands-off policy. The recognition of moral status of non-sentient living things can thus be depicted as the next step in the history of moral development (Rawles. 199S. p. 276). Environinental Conservation: Ethical Concerns Pedersen (1993) distinguishes two strands of modernity drawing from Giddens' work (1990) which may have a bearing on the evolution of ecocentric ethics. He refers to separation of space from place and of time from ecological space. Such a conception of ecological space does not require cultural association with a locality. Callicott (1994) hopes that such an international environmental ethic can evolve which can be compatible with local vernacular cultural traditions linked to space and time in a very different manner. The evolution of global time and of global space may also lead to the emergence of a global social group without a particular living space or habitat to qualify for specific environmental value. Biegart (1999) recalls the contrast of perspectives between Native Americans and European settlers about water (surface flow). He gave the example of the late Philip Deere of Oklahoma, medicine man of the Muskogee Nation, who termed rivers and streams as the veins of the world. Clogging them, one could say would clog not just the life in them but the life of humans as well. The sacredness of water in all such cultures indicates that by polluting waters we are also polluting the spirits that sustain these waters. 2.3.1 Accountability towards perfect strangers and oilier non-persons. Human needs cannot always take priority over the needs of nature and other living beings. How do we determine our accountability towards the future generation, which is unknown to us'? The future generation is made up of 'perfect strangers'—i.e.. who are not known and are unknowable. We do not hear the voice of the unborn. What should be the responsibility of the present generation to discern the needs and preferences of such sentient and non-sentient beings with whom we are unable to communicate? There needs to be some response using contemporary as well as traditional value systems (Gupta 1991). The cultures of the world have evolved means of generating and monitoring responsibility towards other living beings. But this responsibility need not emanate only from human value systems. Goodpaster observes. to be worthy of moral respect. LI unified system need not be composed of ceils und body tissue: il might be composed of humans and non-human animals, plants and bacteria. (Rawlcs. 1998, p. 279). Johnson argues that 'various beings other than individual organisms can meaningfully be said to have interests, and that these interests are morally significant.' The beings in question include species and ecosystems. Brennan critiques this position and suggests that the claim of Goodpaster rests upon a na'ivc and scientifically outmoded view of ecosystems and species, neither of which have the characteristics that Johnson has attributed to them. Brennan disagrees with the claim that ecosystems have interests, because he takes this claim presuppose a view of ecosystems as goal-directed that the scientific community has largelv rejected. (Brennan. in Rawles 1998. p. 279). 2.4 Socio-psychological Roots of Ethical Consciousness: The Internal Values Hill (1978) brings in a personal psychological aspect while identifying roots of ecological ethics. He adds, my psychological argument is that truly ethical behavior originates wholly from the healthy, unhurt, undistressed parts of individuals; and unethical behavior originates from the hurt part. If we want people to behave ethically, then we must provide environments that arc supportive of the healthy part of individuals (Hill 1992, p. 1 1 ) . Stone (1987) argues that monist (one best way to resolve ethical dilemmas) arguments have to be tempered by moral pluralism. The latter implies that one looks at the ethical basis of not just the action choice, but also the motivations of the actors and the institutional context of both the actors and the actions. There could be other planes as well. Can we not use a universalistic ethical principle in one part of our life space and use pluralistic values in other parts? Innovations from the Honey Bee data base on grassroots innovations managed by the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI) seem to indicate segmentation of life space. The institutional behavior is the one where internal commands replace external demands. One does a thing not because one is being supervised but because that is the right thing to do. Environmental ethics is at a crossroads. We are looking for new indicators that will generate internal responsibility for caring for nature across different cultural contexts and worldviews. But what constitutes nature and what determines whether responsibility for its care globally, regionally, and locally will invoke equally strong internal commands: these questions remain open. Legal and public policy instruments are evolving and seem to indicate increasing concern for environmental care. But calls for such concern in the current geopolitical context from Western countries immediately invites criticism from developing countries. They see this call from the West as the sign of new emerging environmental protectionism. They argue that Western societies accumulated wealth by destroying their environment, which gives rise to a 4605 Environmental Conservation: Ethical Concerns precipitous argument: that therefore developing societies also need to have the right to accumulate wealth by destroying their own environment. Moral discourse will have to take a center stage in each of these polarized polities. 2.4.1 Environmental perception and cognition. Dunlap et al. (1993) have provided some of the most striking evidence against the notion that concern for the environment stems from 'postmaterialist values' (Muller-Rommel 1989). In a worldwide survey of citizen concern for the health of the planet, a high level of environmental concern was found in developing as well as developed countries. Such a concern is a necessary condition, though is insufficient for taking effective action. Stern et al. (1995) looked into the factors that may influence these environmental concerns of the citizens. One of the important findings of the authors is that activation of personal stable values is possible through organized efforts which try to influence the values in the direction of conservation ethic or otherwise. A study done by Gupta looked at the profile of the green consumers (Gupta et al. 1997). It revealed four types of consumers: (a) active mobilisers, (b) populist mobilisers, (c) passive practitioners, and finally, (d) those who were indolent and indifferent. The fact that there was not much difference in the proportions for each category indicated the possibility that social values could gravitate to either side depending on the nature of effect, available information, and action of organized interest, would have on internal values. Austin and Schill (1991) and Boyce (1995) have argued for taking into account the need for environmental justice while looking at the issues of environmental care. SRISTI (1993) has argued for the need to combine ethics, equity, excellence, efficiency, environment, and education. Gandhi provided a thoughtful summary of environmental ethics when he said that the world had enough for everyone's need but not enough for everyone's greed. The concepts of aparigrah (not accumulating more than one needs), ahitnxa (nonviolence) and frugality developed by him provided a practical guide to responsible living. In the emerging modern consciousness in which a human being is no more responsible for his or her individual moral space but for the whole world, Amato (1982) argues that claims of guilt and gratitude will ultimately make us humble and bring us into harmony with our collective destiny. The exploration of environmental ethics is thus a journey into an abyss of responsibility for self and society, for present and future generations, and for the human and the nonhuman sentient and non-sentient beings, things, places, and also for time. We need to extract a slice of our time from the womb of ever-forinvinsj nature. 4606 which is learning to forget forgiving. That is the real tragedy and also the challenge. See a/so: Environmental Cognition, Perception, and Attitudes; Environmental Justice; Environmentalism: Philosophical Aspects; Environmental Planning; Environmental Policy; Environmentalism. Politics of; Natural Concepts. Psychology of Bibliography Amato II J A 1982 Guill ami Prejudice: A Study of The Origins of Contemporarv Conscience. Greenwood Press. Connecticut, p.21S Austin R. Schill M 1991 Black, brown, poor and poisoned: Minority grassroots cnvironmciHalism and the quest for ccojusticc. Kansas Journal of Lun- and Puhlic Policy 1(1): 69-82 Bicgcrt C 1999 Sacred waters of aquatic and marine biodiversity. In: Poscy D (cd.) Cultural anil Spiritual Values of Biodiversity, Inlcrmciliule Technology Publications. UNEP. Nairobi. Kenya, pp. 402-3 Boycc J K 1995 Equity and the environment, social justice today as a prerequisite for sustainability for the future. Alternatives 21(1): 12-7 Brennan A 1992 Moral pluralism and the environment. Environmental Values 1: 15-33 Callicott BJ 1980 Animal liberation: A triangular affair. Environmental Ethics 2: 319-21 Callicott B J 1984 Non-anthropoccntric value theory and environmental ethics. American Pliilosopltv Ouarterlv 21(19S4):299-309 Callicott BJ 1994 Towards a global environmental ethic. In: Tucker M. Grim J (cds.) U'orldvien's and Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment. Orbis. Maryknoll (Excerpts taken from Poscy D (cd.) Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity. Intermediate Technology Publications. UK and UNEP. Nairobi. Kenya, p. 730) Chambers P 1999 Marine and aquatic biodiversity. In: Poscy D (cd.) Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity. United Nations Environment Programme. Nairobi. Kenya, Chap. 10. pp. 397-433 Do Young R 1999 Environmental psychology. In: Alexander D E, Fairbridgc RW (cds.) Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. Kluwcr Academic Publishers. Hingham. MA Dower N 1998 Developmental ethics. In: Chad wick R (cd.) Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Academic Press. USA, pp. 767-79 Dunlap R E. Gallup G H. Gallup A M 1993 Of global concern: Results of the health of the planet survey. Environment 35(Novembcr): 6-15. 33-39 Giddcns A 1990 The Consei/ueiiivs of Modernity. Stanford University Press. Stanford. CA Gillon R 1998 Bioethics. overview. In: Chadwick R (cd.) Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Academic Press, pp. 305-17 Goldberg D T 1995 Ethical Theory and Social Issues: Historical Texts ami Contemporary Readings. Holt. Rinchart and Winston, p. 527 Goodpastcr K E I97S On being morally considerable. Journal of Philosophy 75: 303-25 Gupta A K 1991 Sustainability through biodiversity: Designing crucible of culture, creativity and conscience. Presented at the International Conference on Biodiversity and Conservation held at Danish Parliament. Copenhagen. November 8. ( I IM WP No. 1005. 1992. Ahnudabad) Environmental Determinism Gupta A K 1991 Building upon people's ceological knowledge : Framework for studying culturally embedded CPR institutions. Presented at the 2nd Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property, Winnipeg. Manitoba. 26-29 September ( I I M WP No. 1004. 1992 Ahnudabad) Gupta A K 1994 Ethical issues in prospecting biodiversity. Background paper for evolution of Pew Conservation Scholar Program Guidelines for ethical issues in exploring biodiversity. I I M WP No. 1205. Ahmcdabad Gupta AK 1995 Ethical dilemmas in conservation of biodiversity: Towards developing globally acceptable ethical guidelines. Etibios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 5: 40-6 Gupta A K 1999 Ethical dilemmas in the conservation of biodiversity. In: Shantharam S. Montgomery J F (cds.) Biotcchnologv, Biosafetv, and Biodiversitv: Scientific anil Ethical Issues for Sustainable Development. Science Publishers, NH. pp. 93-128 Gupta A K. Shukla S. Darshit S, Pawan M, Muralikrishna S 1997 Consumer response to green market opportunities. Paper presented at the National Workshop on Organic Food Products. August 2. ISAM, Ahmcdabad Mill S 1978 Ecology, ethics and feelings: The re-evaluation of existing value and the search for absolute values. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Unity of the Science. Nov 24-6, Boston. The Cultural Foundation Press. New York, pp. 593-607 Hill S 1992 Ethics, sustainability and healing. Proceedings of the Alberta Round Table on Environment and Economy and the Alberta Environmental Network, EAP Publication, pp. 1-17 Johnson L 1991 A Morally Deep World. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. UK Mullcr-Rommcl F 1989 New Politics in Western Europe: The Rise and Success of Green Parlies and Alternative Lists. Wcstvicw Press. Boulder. CO Munshi K M 1952 A Gospel of Dirty Hand. Ministry of Broadcasting and Information (Government of India). Publication Division. New Delhi, pp. 21-184 Pcdcrsen P 1993 Nature, religion and identity: A contribution to the anthropology of knowledge about nature. Paper presented to the Nordic Research Seminar on Anthropology and Nature. Faroe Islands. October 28-30, 1993 Pluhar E 1998 Animal rights. In: Chadwick R (cd.) Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Academic Press. Vol. 1. pp. 161-72 Rawlcs K 1998 Bioecntrism. In: Chadwick R(ed.) Encyclopedia of Applied Etliics. Academic Press, USA. Vol. 1. pp. 275-83 Rolston II I H 1988 Environmental Ethics: Duties to and'Values in The Natural World. Temple University Press. Philadelphia. PA. p. 391 Sen A 1981 Description as a choice. Oxford Economic paper, p. 353-369 Solomon R 1996 A Handbook for Ethics. Harcourt Brace. 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Sinha Environmental Determinism Environmental (or geographical) determinism views the natural environment as the basic factor controlling human achievement, an environment incorporating location and the geophysical and biophysical features native to the earth, including climate, structure, minerals, soil, flora, and fauna—all that is intrinsically "earthy" rather than formed or shaped by human action. Some blur this issue by incorporating humanmodified features, others reduce the rigidities of 'determinism' to 'influences.' strong or slight. Some trace environmental influences deep within the human psyche. Environments vary with the objects 'environed.' 'Environmentalism' can also refer to the search for environmental relationships and efforts to salvage the ecological system. Contextual awareness is therefore needed to pluck one theme from a varied setting, interpreting 'environment' and 'deter minism,' separately and together. Frequently dismissed as passe, environmental determinism nevertheless touches sensitive and perhaps unresolved issues—the remote and continuing impact of nature on humans, human and racial genesis, ethnic and national origins, conditions that favor or frustrate economic and intellectual achievement, the global constraints and opportunities that define all hopes of present or future accomplishment—perhaps the whole panorama of human studies, now extending into biogenetic and biosociological realms. /. Prehistory from Hippocrates to Montesquieu Frequently entangled with astrological or 'cosmic determinism,' environmental determinism permeated Chinese, Indian, Babylonian, and Greek philosophy before the dawn of Western Civilization. By the fourth century BC. Hippocrates had combined the 'elements' of earth, air, fire, and water with geographic location to promote economic and communal health, evaluating swampy hollows and windy uplands accordingly. Greeks generally perceived their Mediterranean shores as a 'golden mean' remote from northern winters and southern heat, a zone favoring moderation, intellectual pursuits, and civil discourse. Open steppes were fine for savage Scythians, and sun-burned Africans and Asians were deemed to lack the spirit essential for 4607 Copyright © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences ISBN: 0-08-043076-7