1. A Study On Environmental Ethics and Role of An Individual –
Towards Sustainable Development By
Dr.Smita Asthana, Dean Academics & Reader in Chemistry
& Dr N.V.Kavitha, Dean Administration & Head, Department of Commerce
St.Ann’s College for Women, Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad At
UNESCO Workshop On Bioethics, Biodiversity and Making A
Repository of Ethical World Views of Nature
On 10th october,2012

2. Various World Views and Ethical Perspectives
Philosophy
Intrinsic Value
Instrumental Value
Role of Humans
Anthropocentric
Humans
Nature
Masters
Stewardship
Humans and Nature
Tools
Caretakers
Biocentric
Species
Abiotic Nature
One of many
Ecocentric
Processes
Individuals
Destroyers
Ecofeminist
Relationships
Roles
Caregivers
MAN AS STEWARD
A sense of responsibility to manage and care for the environment
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3. Stewardship = Moral Responsibility
Moral responsibility is nothing more than our capacity to be human and being able to take care of everything around us.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
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4. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE SURVEY
A survey was conducted with the help of a structured questionnaire with three broad heads –
“I Know” to examine the awareness/understanding level of the select respondents,
“I believe” to know the perceptions of students with regards to the core components of environmental ethics and their stake towards environmental issues.
3. “I Do” to judge the extent to which knowledge is translated into actions
Methodology
A stratified random sampling technique was adopted for selecting 250 respondents (students) pursuing their under graduation/post graduation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) situated in Hyderabad. 220 students responded to the questionnaire which is summarized in the following tables and discussion
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5. Table – 1 : “ I Know”
I know about
A lot (%)
A little (%)
No idea (%)
Chemical Pesticides 5 68 27
Genetically modified foods 2 43 55
Melting of glaciers 10 75 15
Ozone hole 14 78 8
Carbon footprint 65
Organic farming 23 74 3
Kyoto protocol 12
COP - 11 28 48 24
Graph – A
Source: Primary Data
more than 50% of the respondents are moderately aware of the current issues related to environment and keep themselves updated to some extent .
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6. Table – 2 “I Believe” I believe that Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neither
Agree
Strongly Agree
The earth belongs equally to humans, animals, plants and other life forms
18{8}
13{6}
31{14}
96{44}
62{28}
Technology can solve all our problems
15{7}
20{9}
105{48}
Environment has to be compromised for growth
93{42}
44{20}
35{16}
22{10}
26{12}
Environment protection is rich countries responsibility
53{24}
101{46}
Environment education should be taught at all levels of education
9{4}
115{52}
Simple lifestyle will help protecting environment
127{52}
48{22}
Humans are responsible for all natural calamities
38{19}
89{40}
Sacrifices have to be made by everyone to save the earth.
56{30}
Source: Primary Data, Figures in parenthesis are %age of respondents
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7. Table – 3 “I Do” I Do the following Yes No Don’t Know
Bought any product that is environment friendly
22{10%}
158{72%}
40{18%}
Grown anything in your backyard
48{22%}
145{66%}
27{12%}
Contributed money or time to an environmental cause
84{38%}
114{52%}
Made efforts about saving water
37{17%}
154{70%}
29{13%}
Used less fuel to protect the environment
35{16%}
146{66%}
49 {22%}
Stopped eating certain foods because they are imported
18{8%}
167{76%}
Educated people around about taking care of environment
62{28}
105{48%}
53{24%}
Source: Primary Data, Figures in parenthesis are %age of respondents
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8. Findings of the Study
The results from ‘I know’ revealed that there is need for
greater awareness about environmental concerns,
the understanding of its gravity,
consequences in future and
the action that has to be taken today.
Environmental education has an important role to play in the promotion of environmental awareness . The knowledge base of a society is one important aspect of its capacity to address and cope with environmental issues.
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9. The ‘ I believe’ segment revealed
Findings of the Study – Contd.
The ‘ I believe’ segment revealed
the respondents’ understanding of the need to coexist,
the pitfalls of overdependence on technology and
the role every individual, society has to play and decisions that have to be taken today for future.
Coming generations will also be affected by these decisions and the extent to which they have addressed concerns such as the depletion of resources, the loss of biodiversity, and long-lived radioactive wastes from generation of nuclear energy.
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10. Findings of the Study – Contd.
‘I do’ segment impresses the need to translate knowledge into plans and actions. Not much seems to be done.
The real problem may lie not in the kinds of environmental education being imparted, but rather in the difficulty involved in translating environmental value commitments into action of any kind, be it in terms of lifestyle adjustments or social activism. Young people are often the target of commercials and peer pressure not just because of any disposable income they are likely to possess and the influence they have on money spenders, but because manufacturers have a vested interest in establishing high-consumption patterns that will last a lifetime albeit at a cost to the environment.
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11. Suggestions
Environment education should help the student to understand the personal responsibility for the environment and the concept of stewardship.
Our task as environmental educators in the twenty first century is to assist the overall process –
by striving to implement programmes of education that inform our students the complexities of the environment in which they are growing up, empower them to address environment and development issues in their lives and provide them with opportunities to be inspired by the joys, wonder and mysteries of the natural world and human achievement.
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12. “The earth, the air, the land and the water are not am inheritance from our fore fathers but on loan from our children. So we have to handover to them at least as it was handed over to us.”
-Mahatma Ghandhi
It is quite obvious that an individual has to play the vital role for the protection of environment and the sustainable development concept will remain in existence if only the individual has taken initiative
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13. Thank You
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