1. Environmental Ethics
-Secular Approaches

2. Objectives – write them in your planner now
Know the three main approaches to the environment
Understand the main points of Conservationism, Deep Ecology and Gaia Hypothesis
Begin to evaluate these three approaches

3. Three approaches to the environment:
GOD
Anthropocentric
Biocentric/ Ecocentric
Theocentric

4. a) Conservationism We should protect the environment, or conserve it.
We should do this to benefit humans (both current and future generations).
Plants and animals have instrumental value – they are valuable insofar as they are useful to humans.
Criticised by some as being shallow.

5. b) Libertarian Extension
This approach wants to extend the sphere of ethics to include animals, plants and other natural elements, instead of just considering humans.
This is Arne Naess. He wrote a book about Deep and Shallow Ecology.
Read the excerpts from Naess’ book. Discuss it on your table and then explain what he is saying on your whiteboard.

6. Excerpts from Arne Naess:
Care flows naturally if the “self” is widened and deepened so that protection of nature is felt and conceived as protection of ourselves…
Just as we don’t need morals to make us breathe, so if your “self” in the wide sense embraces another being, you need no moral instruction to show care … You care for yourself without feeling any moral pressure to do it…
This outlook is developed through an identification so deep that one experiences oneself to be a genuine part of all life…
We are not outside the rest of nature and therefore cannot do with it as we please without changing ourselves … we are a part of the ecosphere just as intimately as we are a part of our own society…
When solidarity and loyalty are solidly anchored in identification, they are not experienced as moral demands; they come of themselves.      

7. c) Gaia Hypothesis Gaia is the Greek goddess of the Earth.
Gaia hypothesis is the theory that all living things on Earth are not separate individuals, but function as one giant organism.
This superorganism changes its environment to create conditions that best meet its needs, self-regulating the conditions that are necessary for life.
All living things depend on each other.

8. Read page 1-6 in the handout --- then do the following:
Tasks
What evidence can you see in the world around you that would support Naess’ observations?
What would need to happen in the UK if we were to put Naess’ theory into practice?
What would the global implications be?
Is it conceivable to you that the whole environment on Earth is one single organism?
If we believe the Gaia hypothesis, how should this change our attitudes and behaviour?
How deep/shallow is your attitude to the environment? Explain your answer.

9. Summary Know the three main approaches to the environment
Understand the main points of Conservationism, Deep Ecology and Gaia Hypothesis
Begin to evaluate these three approaches