Chapter 10 Notes: Ethics and the Environment
Introduction
- There is a need for total commitment to preserve and sustain the environment we live in as a matter of ethics.
- UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) are highlighted as a key framework for action. (Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZbgIVgQyks)
- Humans are directly dependent on nature for survival.
- While businesses reap the benefits of exploiting natural resources to maximize profits, they must be equally responsible to preserve the environment for the sustainability of future generations.
The 21st Century: Industrialization, Modernism and Sustainability
- Industrialization and modernism have provided material well-being and prosperity, promoting mass production, economies of scale, employment opportunities for the global labor force, and overall economic growth.
- These scenarios have also caused environmental threats and hazards to humankind.
- Today, our lives are threatened by all forms of pollution.
- We are striving to reduce global warming and address the depletion of natural resources.
Population Growth and Resource Pressures
- The world’s population has been growing at an unusually rapid pace, with more growth in the last 50 years than the previous 2 million years of human existence.
- By 2050, the global population is projected to rise to 9.3\times 10^9.
- Currently, the rate of population increase is 1.2\%\text{ per year}.
- The world’s population is increasing, but the earth’s natural system is not, giving rise to a strong likelihood of future natural-resource shortages.
Global Warming and Sea Level Rise
- Global warming refers to rising weather temperatures of nations across the globe, despite climatic differences.
- Global warming is a major concern today due to rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂).
- If CO₂ concentrations double the pre-industrial levels during this century, the global temperature is likely to rise by at least 1^{\circ}\mathrm{C}.
- Sea level is projected to rise from a minimum of 17\ \text{cm} to as much as 1\ \text{m} by 2100, which will alter every ecosystem on earth.
- References/videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJAbATJCugs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW9EAkqu6aY
Water Resources, Cropland, and Fish Catch
- Falling water tables and shrinking cropland per person due to conversion of cropland to industrial/residential land.
- Levelling off of oceanic fish catch: over-fishing suggests oceans cannot sustain an annual catch of 95\times 10^6\ \text{tonnes} of fish by humans, allowing time for stocks to recover.
- If these trends continue, there will be difficulties in meeting future food demand, leading to acute food shortages.
Shrinking Forests and Extinctions
- Forest areas have substantially shrunk, particularly in developing countries.
- Timber, construction, manufacturing, and pharmaceutical industries excessively exploit forests to meet domestic and foreign demand.
- This trend contributes to the extinction of plant and animal species.
- Reference video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4eLTYUcj7k
Sustainability and Sustainable Development
- Sustainability was originally an ecological concept prescribing rules for the use of natural resources to ensure future generations survive.
- Today, sustainability is redefined as the long-term maintenance of systems according to environmental, economic, and social considerations.
Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources
- There are renewable and non-renewable resources; both have long-term effects on the environment and future generations.
- Non-renewable resources are used to generate electricity, heat homes, power vehicles, and manufacture/produce goods.
- A resource is non-renewable if its quantities are limited or it cannot be replaced as fast as it is used; some resources from a million years ago will eventually be depleted.
- Reference video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLBK1ux5b7U
Renewable Resources
- Renewable resources are important for sustainability. The most frequently used are biomass, water, geothermal, and solar energy.
- Unlike fossil fuels, renewable resources can regenerate or replenish.
- With rising costs and decreasing availability of non-renewable fossil fuels, renewable resources are receiving increasing attention.
Sources of Renewable Resources
- Renewable resources include biomass, water, geothermal, and solar energy (reiterated as key categories).
History Behind Sustainability and Sustainable Development – An Oxymoron?
- Since the 1980s, human sustainability has implied the integration of economic, social, and environmental spheres to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
- The United Nations recognized these concerns in the 1980s, but nations continued to promote economic growth, leading to natural-resource exploitation.
- For many people, the term ‘‘sustainable development’’ (SD) is viewed as an oxymoron due to perceived conflicts between growth and resource limits.
Free Market Arguments on Sustainability and Preservation of the Environment
- Advocates of the free market may not share environmentalists’ views on morally relevant topics, invoking the belief that resources are infinite and a means to an end.
- On preservation of environmentally sensitive areas, they argue that preservation may be wasteful if it means resources lie idle and yield less in human satisfaction than when processed to produce goods and services.
- A strict free-market view argues biodiversity preservation is warranted only if it yields greater consumer satisfaction than alternatives.
- The latest scientific evidence shows humanity is living unsustainably; returning to sustainable use of resources will require a major collective effort.
Sustainable Development and Socio-Economic Link
- Sustainable development should not focus solely on environmental issues; it must be linked to socio-economic development of a nation.
- The key macroeconomic players (households, businesses, and foreign sectors) must come forward and work together to address this issue on a collective basis.
Sustainable Consumption
- Sustainable consumption is the use of goods and services that meet basic needs and improve quality of life, while maintaining natural resources, minimizing toxic materials and emissions over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations.
- It includes environmental, social equity, and moral concerns; it is not only about buying ecological goods or protecting the environment; it also concerns personal health and lifestyle.
- Sustainable consumption is presented as the only way to ensure a proper balance of all these issues in the long term.
- Barriers toward sustainable consumption (referenced figure): barriers exist but are not enumerated in the transcript.
- Steps toward sustainable consumption: steps are indicated, but not enumerated in the transcript.
Green Jobs
- Green jobs are created as a by-product of encouraging sustainable consumption.
- These jobs are in industries that produce environmentally friendly products and services.
- Approaches to greener workplaces include: incentivizing carpooling, implementing paperless offices, videoconferencing, increasing recycling efforts, and home-based teleworking.
E-Waste and Unregulated Reprocessing
- Developed countries sometimes bypass lax laws in emerging economies to ship end-of-life electronic waste.
- There is a growing problem of unregulated reprocessing of electronic waste, releasing lead, mercury, and other dangerous chemicals.
- Such practices pose serious threats to human and environmental health in those countries.
Challenges of Different Labour and Environmental Standards Across the Globe
- Environmental or ecological ethics is part of environmental philosophy and extends ethics beyond humans to include the non-human world or gifts of nature.
- An ecological ethic claims that the welfare of at least some non-humans is intrinsically valuable, giving humans a duty to respect and preserve them.
Environmental Ethics
- Failure to respect and appreciate nature’s gifts can affect our quality of life and well-being.
Environmental Ethics from an Islamic Perspective
- In Islam, the environment is sacred and has intrinsic value.
- Even in the absence of threat or shortage, we must look after natural resources, protect animals and plants, and improve and develop the environment.
- Humans, as the vicegerent of God (khalifah) on earth, must channel the mercy of God to everything within our reach (Shomali, 2008).
- Nature is therefore considered a divine trust, and humans are trustees; it must be managed within sustainable limits since extravagance is prohibited and moderation is promoted in Islamic teachings.
Connections to Foundational Principles and Real-World Relevance
- The material connects to core principles of stewardship, intergenerational ethics, and the precautionary approach to resource use.
- It links environmental ethics with economics (sustainability, SD) and social justice (equity, fair access to resources).
- The Islamic perspective provides a framework of moral duty and responsibility, integrating religious ethics with ecological stewardship.
Key Terms and Concepts (glossary)
- Sustainable development (SD): long-term maintenance of ecological, economic, and social systems supporting present and future generations.
- Sustainability: a broader, integrated concept referring to the enduring viability of systems across environmental, economic, and social dimensions.
- Renewable resources: resources that can regenerate or replenish naturally, e.g., biomass, water, geothermal energy, solar energy.
- Non-renewable resources: finite resources that cannot be replenished at the rate they are consumed, e.g., fossil fuels.
- Ecological ethics / Environmental ethics: branch of philosophy studying the moral relationship of humans to the environment and non-human life.
- Khalifah (Islamic perspective): humans as God’s vicegerents on Earth, with a duty to steward resources within sustainable limits.
- Green jobs: employment oriented toward environmentally friendly products and services.
- Global population projection by 2050: 9.3\times 10^9
- Current population growth rate: 1.2\%\text{ per year}
- Temperature change with CO₂ doubling: \Delta T \ge 1^{\circ}\mathrm{C}
- Sea level rise by 2100: [17\ \text{cm},\ 1\ \text{m}]
- Estimated sustainable fish catch: 95\times 10^6\ \text{tonnes per year}
References and Further Reading
- The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- YouTube resources referenced in the slides:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZbgIVgQyks
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJAbATJCugs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW9EAkqu6aY
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QQszsz0C20
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4eLTYUcj7k
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLBK1ux5b7U
End of Chapter 10 Notes
