Environmental Ethics

This paper evaluates ethical issues relating to climate change discussed by Dan Miller in his talk on how to address climate change.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS 1
Environmental Ethics
Name of Student
Name of Institution
Environmental Ethics

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1. The speaker's point of view about the topic
A talk on how to address climate change which was conducted by Dan Miller highlights
different issues about climate change. The speaker first explains the causes of climate change, he
explains how an increase in the amount of carbon (IV) oxide in the atmosphere will increase the
earth temperature. The high temperature will cause global warming, which has led to deaths and
other disasters such as drought. The speaker then explains how people ignore the threats of
climate change. He finally gives a suggestion on how to solve this problem of climate change.
This paper, however, evaluates issues mentioned by the speaker relating to ethical impacts of
climate change.
According to Dan Miller, climate change is a world disaster which needs to be addressed
promptly. From his personal perspective, he thinks that the issue of climate change has been
ignored by most people. The speaker and his colleagues switched their investments and adopted
those that addressed climate change and the challenges of limited natural resources. This shows
that he is more concerned about the issue of climate change. It is evident that the speaker thinks
that people know about the threat of climate change but are not willing to take any action about
it. He is also against the idea of people not taking the issues seriously.
2. Ethical issues and ethical reasoning argued
Some of the ethical issues argued by Dan Miller are indicative threats as a result of
climate change. According to him, since the threat of climate change is invisible, people feel that
it is not their responsibility to be cautious or show care. Since people are ignorant on historical
precedents involving calamities caused by climate change, they do not respond to them simply
because they tend to think they have no effect. Another issue is how people react to things that
happen immediately and those that take time to happen such as climate change. The other ethical

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issue is with reference to how people ignore the effects of climate change since they are not
affected at a personal level. Lastly, there is a slow response to the impacts of climate change
simply because the magnitude is not heavily felt by human beings but to the environment.
3. Thoughts on moral and ethical implications of environmental issues.
In my own opinion, I think environmental issues are affected by ethical and morals.
People’s behavior and morals affect how they respond to different problems or threats.
Therefore, if people get more information on the importance of caring for the environment they
would take a different perspective on environmental issues.
4. Comments on speakers point of view.
According to Dan Miller, ethics and values have an impact on environmental issues of
Climate change. The speaker outlines various facts about ethics and values on climate change.
First, he claims that people tend to react to immediate problems. Naturally, the human brain is
wired to scan for prompt danger, therefore, people ignore the dangers of climate change because
it's doesn't have immediate effects (Markway, 2013). Developed Countries have shown no
meaningful concerns about global warming since they feel that the issue of global warming isn't
harmful to individuals (Lynn, 2015). Despite the dangers of the global warming, industries are
still emitting gases to the atmosphere without caring about future generations. This action
portrays a sign of greediness and selfishness (Gardiner & Hartzell-Nicholas, 2012). People are
also ignorant on the issue of climate change as very few research, seminars, conferences or
workshops on climate change are been conducted since its effects are invincible
(www.climaterealityproject.org, 2017).

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Reference
Gardiner, M., & Hartzell-Nicholas, L., (2012). Ethics and Global Climate Change. The nature
education. Available at: https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/ethics-and-
global-climate-change-84226631
Lynn, W., (December 8, 2015). The ethics of climate change. The Conversation. Available at:
https://theconversation.com/the-ethics-of-climate-change-what-we-owe-people-and-the-
rest-of-the-planet-51785
Markway. B., (November 11, 2013). Why Do Smart, Caring People Ignore Environmental
Issues? Psychology today. Available at
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-the-questions/201311/why-do-smart-
caring-people-ignore-environmental-issues
www.climaterealityproject.org, (October 23, 2017). Why people ignore the science behind the
climate crisis (and what you can do). The climate reality project. Available at:
https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/why-people-ignore-science-behind-climate-
crisis-and-what-you-can-do

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