enviromental ethics midterm

Conservation

Conservation is the responsible use of nature and natural resources to protect the environment, an example could be sustainable logging practices to prevent deforestation. 

Preservation

Preservation is protecting nature and the environment form harmful human behaviors and activities, an example is protecting and setting aside a forest from human development  

Aldo Leopold

An American ecologist, forester, and environmentalist, regarded as the father of wildlife management. He is known for his land ethic philosophy.

The Land Ethic

Last essay in Sand County Almanac; extends the community which ethics says we have a responsibility to to include the Land; land as a biota, including all life; says an action is right when it preserves the biotic community, and wrong when it does otherwise, changes the role of man from conqueror of the land to mere member

Blitzkrieg Hypothesis

A theory that humans hunted large animals to extinction

Animal rights

The belief that animals should be extended the same basic rights as we give each other, the right to respect/equal consideration

Anthropocentrism

The belief that humans are the most important entity on earth, the belief that humans alone possess intrinsic value

Utilitarianism

A moral theory that states that the right action is the one that produces the most good or happiness, and the wrong action is the one that causes the most pain or unhappiness

intrinsic value

The value of something that is valuable in itself, the value of something that comes from it’s relationship to another intrinsically valuable thing

The “last man” thought experiment

Richard (Sylvan) Routley; founder of environmental ethics; last man on earth has the desire to burn the last Redwood, is that wrong? Does the environment have intrinsic value, not just instrumental value? Values and valuers

L.C.A.P.

Longitudinal collective action problems, Environmental issues that result from a cumulative effects of many individuals seemingly insignificant actions 

Wilderness (In history of US ideology)

Often perceived as an area not meeting needs of a civilization; uncultivated, rugged, beyond control and dangerous; in Biblical terms, wilderness vs paradise

Hetch Hetchy

Valley that originally was protected by Yosemite National Park, a dam was proposed in the Tuolome River to provide water to the San Fransisco Bay area, Pinchot supported the project saying it helps the needs of the people, Muir opposed it, and ultimately it was passed.

Sentience

The ability to experience feelings and sensations and to have cognitive abilities

Speciesism

The belief that humans are superior and more important than animals which causes us to treat animals badly