Environmental Ethics Midterm 1

two types of plastics that are most likely to be recycled?

#1 PET and #2 HDPE

why are PET bottles not always recycled as PET bottles?

the quality of plastic decreases when it is recycled so it usually becomes a cheaper harder plastic

why is it problematic to replace single-use plastics with paper products?

take more resources to produce paper products than plastic

recyclable

can be recycled but doesn’t mean it is

recovered

put in the blue bin and collected (most ends up in the landfill)

intellectual autonomy

genuine freedom of thought

confirmation bias

tendency to believe things that support what we alr thinklegi

legitimate authority

1. expert on topic

2. not contradicted by other relevant experts

3. has no motive to lie

pseudo-authority

someone that fails any of the criteria for legitimate authority

appeal to pseudo-authority

argument that appeals to expertise of a pseudo-authority

“shifting the goalposts”

changing the topic to avoid a certain topic

ad hominem fallacy

rejecting a claim bc of who said it (“poisoning the well”)

biomimicry

learning from bio processes in nature (respecting the wisdom of all species)

tragedy of the commons

ppl have incentive to abuse common resources bc the costs are sharedso

solution to tragedy of the commons

private property bc owners are responsible for all gains AND costs

instrumental value

how much we care about it as a means (tool) to something else (ex. economic val)

intrinsic value

how much we care about it on its own (ex. aesthetic value)

types of ethics

anthropocentric, sentiocentric, ecocentric

incommensuric values

values that don’t mix well and best solution is still bad in some way

virtue vs policy debate

do we change out lifestyle or just wait for better policy

virtue

personal excellence dep on what ppl can/should do

utilitarianism

view that the right action/policy is the one w the best consequences

conservationism

utilitarian concept abt using a resource wisely (based on instrumental val)

preservationism

seeks to protect a resource (based on intrinsic val)

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (bottom to top)

1. physiological needs

2. safety needs

3. love and belonging

4. esteem

5. self-actualization

classical utilitarianism

max happiness and absence of suffering

greatest happiness principle

produce the greatest good for the most ppl for the longest amt of time

hedonic calculus

formula to calc happiness that was proposed by Jeremy Bentham

hedon

smalles unit of pleasure

preference utilitarianism

produce what ppl are most willing to pay for

old growth

trees that weren’t planted by ppl

external costs (neg externalities)

costs to produce smt that isn’t pad by producer

optimal pollution

level of pollution that maxes our preferences

linear economy

extraction → production → dist → consumption → disposal

planned obsolescence

designed for the dump

perceived obsolescence

convinces ppl to trash things that are still useful (ex. by changing how products look)

LULU

“locally unwanted land use” (ex. public dump bc we want it but not here)

NIMBY

“not in my backyard”

superfund

funds set up by EPA and polluting industries where they pay into the fund to clean any spill

14th amendment disparate impact

allows laws against discrimination to be applied even when discrimination was unintentional (protects minority group “as if” discriminatory)

Kantian/Deontic ethics

everything has either price (thing) or dignity (person), “it is rational for rational beings to respect the rationality of other rational beings”

environmental justice

investigates social distribution of environmental benefits and burdens

Robert Bullard

environmental sociologist and author of environmental justice book (anthropocentric view)

gov idols

gov, industry, science

sentience

capacity to feel pain and pleasure (Singer)

non-paradigm human

person who lacks the properties that a given theory req for moral sig (usually the very young/old/disabled)

moral agent

someone who can act on moral reasons and can be held accountable for failing to do so 

moral patient

someone who is worthy of moral respect (ex. small child is not a moral agent but is a moral patient)

“meat question”

using animal for food/for experimentation

Peter Singer

famous animal welfare theorist that defends modern classical utilitarianism and extends it to all creatures that suffer

who wrote “animal Liberations” in 1971

Peter Singer

moral progress

the widening of our moral scope (ex. “everyone” includes women, minorities foreigners)

Kantian moral rationality

ability to guide one’s actions in light of right/wrong

argument from marginal cases (Singer)

we would exclude many non-paradigm ppl bc some humans have less capacities than animals

Tom Regan

Kantian defender of animal rights (things have price and persons have dignity)

“subjects-of-a-life”

things that have beliefs, desires, memories, emotions and sense of the future (Regan)

Mary Anne Warren

opposes Regan’s defense of the strong rights of animal w the weak rights thesis, believes moral standing is a gradient and dep on person-like traits

ecoservices

“free stuff” we get from healthy functioning ecosystems

flagship species

species of interest to the public that can be used to rep the ecosystem (“poster children”)

umbrella species

species that can only be protected by protecting its critical habitat

sixth mass extinction

rapid extinction/decreased biodiversity of species that is being sped up by humans

holistic environmental ethics

having to do w systems rather than parts (species/ecosystems instead of Bambi)

Abrahamic religions

religions centered around worshipping the God of Abraham (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

Aristotle ethics

value of smt dep on how well it functions

telos

natural purpose/function of smt (ex. function of a knife is to cut, good knife cuts well)

virtues of thought

humans have the need to exercise our minds by studying science, theology, philosophy in addition to the needs of plants/animals

virtues of character

being able to feel the appropriate emotion at the appropriate time

two vices of virtue

too much or too little

virtue theory

family of ethical theories that tries to explain morality thru character traits (being a good person is to respond appropriately emotionally)

communitarians

those that believe that ppl are defined by other ppl (ex. if someone grew up on a deserted island w/o others, are they witty? just? no name)

Aldo Leopold

wrote “Land Ethic” which argued we “belong” to ecosystems so we need to be good “citizens” of them, and Abrahamic religions caused our current ethics to be based on sense of dominion over nature

“alienated from the land”

modern ppl often see land as abstract/just a economic resource, disconnected from the reality of living systems and our belonging within ecosystems

Great Chain of Being

world view that all beings are in a hierarchical chain (rocks → plants → animals → humans → angels → God)

biotic community

an ecosystem of interdependent organisms

biotic rights

right of species (not just indies) to exist/thrive in their ecosystems

ecological roles

every species/abiotic element (soil, water0 plays a role in sustaining ecosystems)

trophic roles

producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, scavenger, decomposer

reverance

deep respect/awe for smt for being marvelous

poaching

illegal hunting done in secret (usually trapping)

culling

killing to reduce overpopulated species (usually by park rangers)

ecotourism

tourism that promotes preservation (in theory)

Kenya’s shoot-to-kill policy

shoot poachers on sight

Namibia’s auxiliary guard

local villagers were enlisted as neighborhood watch instead of shooting animals as poachers (restored norms of self-restraint, villagers profited from wildlife tourism/sales)

Kenya’s Maasai tribes rev sharing

got 25% of park entrance fees → they hired ppl to protect wildlife outside parks

Zambia rev sharing

tourism biz list rev equals amount staff so that everyone is invested in conservation

Botswana’s Moremi Reserve rev sharing

5-15 yr leases to encourage low-impact infrastructure while training students to take over

Tanzania’s bounty program

Robin Hurt had locals turn-in poaching equip and poachers in exchange for cash (reduce indiscriminate snare hunting)

Zimbabwe’s CAMPFIRE program

local communities manage wildlife and keep 80% of rev from hunting permits, tourism, culling

information wars

when competing interest fight for control over what ppl should believe/what “science says”

bias of omission

failing to report something that is true

news report vs opinion piece

news reports are more authoritative on what studies are published, opinion pieces are common sources of media bias

How does funding influence science?

• largely funded by corporations and gov

• bias of omission: corp funded science is owned by them → they often don’t share certain info to protect shareholders

think tank

• hire reputable scientists that support your views to

• give them more funding/promotions/publish their results if you like them

• you won the rights to their research and don’t have to publish anything you don’t want to

significance of what questions are asked

what questions are asked is important bc of how it frames the issue (ex. is fracking safe? vs is fracking killing ppl?)

how are oceans a global commons?

they are a shared natural resource that are not within the jurisdiction of any single nation but accessible to everyone

objections to utilitarianism

• justifies unjust/immoral actions if they increase total happiness

• hard/imposisbel to measure/compare everyone’s happiness

• judging by outcomes ignores intention

• reduces morality to only pleasure

• risk harming minorities for majority benefit

US forest service

• located in the Dept of Agriculture

  • criticized for subsidizing oveharvesting (timber sales below cost)

Multiple-Use Act (1960)

balances timber, recreation, watershed, range, and wildlife uses

Gifford Pinchot vs John Muir

• Pinchot: conservation (use forests sustainably/responsibly)

  • Muir: preservation (protect nature for its intrinsic and spiritual value)

Quasi-market solutions (Mineral King Valley)

• apply market incentives to resource management (sell/lease use rights)

• more democratic bc users pay for access → prevents overuse

  • reduces harvesting by making overexploiting costly