“Toxic Garbage Island” movie tonight at 5pm in JES A121A

Environmental Philosophy and Ethics What is and/or should be our interactions with non-human organisms? environmental/

Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Do we have the moral right to: -Remove or kill other species? -kill other species to protect or provide for people? -Are we required to restore the damage that we do? environmental/

Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Should we respect the environment because it is good for humans? (anthropocentric) environmental/

Practical environmentalism: saving species because humans might benefit.

Stewardship. The planet is here for us...

But we should take care of it so it can take care of us.

Stewardship. The planet is here for us... But we should take care of it so it can take care of us. Harry F. Harlow, Monkey Love Experiments

Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Should we respect the environment because it is good for humans? (anthropocentric) Are there other reasons? environmental/

Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Instrumental value- value of things as means to further some other ends. vs. Intrinsic value- value of things as ends in themselves, regardless of whether they are also useful as means to other ends. environmental/

Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Are humans morally superior to non-humans? environmental/

Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Are humans morally superior to non-humans? Bears vs. people environmental/

Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Are humans morally superior to non-humans? people vs. trees environmental/

Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Superiority and separation can breed abuse environmental/

“New York City is clearly the environment of the people we call New Yorkers. It is also something that we can clearly recognize as a human-built environment. The Long Valley Caldera, on the other hand, is the environment of people who live in Mammoth Lakes, California. It is definitely a natural environment, created over millions of years by natural volcanic, geological, and biological processes.” m

environmental/ The “shallow ecology movement”, as Næss (1973) calls it, is the “fight against pollution and resource depletion”, the central objective of which is “the health and affluence of people in the developed countries.” The “deep ecology movement”, in contrast, endorses “biospheric egalitarianism”, the view that all living things are alike in having value in their own right, independent of their usefulness to others. The deep ecologist respects this intrinsic value, taking care, for example, when walking on the mountainside not to cause unnecessary damage to the plants.

environmental/ Inspired by Spinoza's metaphysics, another key feature of Næss's deep ecology is the rejection of atomistic individualism. The idea that a human being is such an individual possessing a separate essence, Næss argues, radically separates the human self from the rest of the world. To make such a separation not only leads to selfishness towards other people, but also induces human selfishness towards nature. As a counter to egoism at both the individual and species level, Næss proposes the adoption of an alternative relational “total-field image” of the world. According to this relationalism, organisms (human or otherwise) are best understood as “knots” in the biospherical net. The identity of a living thing is essentially constituted by its relations to other things in the world, especially its ecological relations to other living things. If people conceptualise themselves and the world in relational terms, the deep ecologists argue, then people will take better care of nature and the world in general.

Nature vs. Environment... Functioning ecosystems vs. untouched, unmanaged

Nature vs. Environment... Functioning ecosystems vs. untouched, unmanaged -How many animals do we want to save? 1. Demographic Sustainability 2. Ecological Functions 3. Human Use and Interactions 4. Can we return animals to levels that existed before humans had a negative impact?

Environmental racism/classism. Who are we saving the environment for, and where?

Biomass power plant being built in North Lufkin

“Toxic Garbage Island” movie tonight at 5pm in JES A121A