Environmental Ethics: Balancing Human Needs and Nature's Rights

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of environmental ethics, examining the moral connection between human beings and the natural environment. It discusses key issues such as excessive consumption of natural resources, deforestation, pollution, and harming animals, highlighting their impact on both non-human entities and human lives. The essay delves into the inherent values of environmental entities, contrasting anthropocentric and eco-centric viewpoints. It also addresses the concept of non-human rights, the moral responsibility of humans towards future generations, and the influence of religion on environmental ethics. Furthermore, it touches upon radical ecology and the importance of eco-philosophy in promoting ecological consciousness and protecting biodiversity. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for increased ethics and morality to preserve the natural environment and solve pressing issues like global warming and climate change.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
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1ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Environmental ethics like other ethical studies, is a segment of philosophy which
studies moral connection of the human beings to the natural environment surrounding them
as also value the moral status of the non-human and non-living components. The chief factor
of environmental ethics bases on the concept that other living beings are the part of the nature
just as the human beings. All the plant species and animals other than the human beings are
part of the earth’s environment hence it cannot be denied that they have rights also. The food
web indicates how close the human beings are dependent upon the other factors of the nature.
This is the reason why the guiding principles and ethical values include all these matters
living in the environment. By destroying the partakers of the natural environment, the human
beings are denying their right to live. Hence this act of human is unethical and unjust.
Respecting the natural resources and non-human entities and recognition of their right to live
is the primary focus of environmental ethics.
Issues in natural resources mainly revolves round the problem related to the
environment not because of the natural reason but for the human actions. The excessive
consumption of natural resources, constant deforestation, fast increasing pollution in land, air
and water and harming animals are the most consulted issues of environmental ethics
(Thompson 2017). These issues are the threat not only to the non-human components of
nature but affecting the lives of the human beings directly.
Consumption of natural resources the natural environment has become the storehouse
of resources from where the human beings are constantly robbing according to their needs. It
is reserve of natural resources which are vita for serving the ecology of the environment. The
unscrupulous depletion pf these resources is detrimental for the existence of life on earth. The
constant exploitation of the natural resources has no limit but there is no way to replenish the
within a short period. This method of replenishment is out of expertise of the human being

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but the undue usage of resources is fast increasing and living it to be an important issue of
environmental ethics.
Deforestation is another vital issue which has attracted attention of the
environmentalist. The industrial processes along with urbanization are leading to the
destruction of forests where the industrialist as well as the governments are destroying the
forests living millions of animal and bird species without shelter and hungry. Moreover, the
illegal mining processes are disrupting the ecological balance in some areas but no one is
taking responsibility to restore these depleted resources.
Environmental pollution is the chief result of the human action. The rising human
population is the chief cause of increasing environmental pollution. The more human
population is growing; the more natural resources are being demanded by them. Due to
overpopulation the carrying capacity of the planet is exceeding. As mentioned before, due to
urbanization a lot of trees are being cut down to build accommodation of the people for
which the natural habitats if the animals in forest as well as birds are getting harmed. Huge
constrictions are being built at the cost of the natural environment. The case studies
associated with the mass killing of aquatic animals for food and increasing water pollution by
the oil tanks, disclose the fact that the aquatic animals are in grave danger. However, the
companies like clean cargo working group has been working to measure and improve the
environmental performance of the ocean shipping (Bsr.org 2018).
Harming animals has different aspects to discuss. First of all, the increasing pollution
level is lowering the scope for sustenance of the animals. Water, soil and air wherever there is
a presence of life, pollution is curbing their lifespan. Secondly, the increasing population is
increasingly reducing the share of food of these animals which is ultimately killing them out
of hunger. Last but not the least, the animals entering in the human territory for food are

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being killed along with the animals served as food items. As the recent data have revealed the
climate change due to increasing pollution has been reducing the biodiversity
(Wwf.panda.org 2018).
Inherent values of environmental entities include two types of values namely,
instrumental and intrinsic. The actual point of the study of environmental ethics is whether
the non-human species have only an instrumental values or they also have intrinsic value like
human beings. As Aristotle stated that the nature has made all the things only to serve the
interest of man. This conforms with the aspect that the human beings only have the intrinsic
value in the environment. From the anthropocentric viewpoint, the human is the superior who
only have the right to use the natural resources and utilize the living beings to serve own
propose (Wheeler 2017). These views however, never supported the destruction of
biodiversity or environmental pollution but state that human must control over exploitation of
the natural element only because these harm the human beings directly. Moreover, cruelty to
the animals is wrong not for any ethical reason but the reason of resulting insensitivity.
According to these perspectives, cutting of trees have no such ethical ground but feeling them
will result to shortage of food for human being.
According to the critics of anthropocentric views and Judeo Christian thinking, these
theories separated the human beings from the nature which leads the human beings to exploit
natural elements without realizing the intrinsic value of nature. As opposed to these views,
there has been a new perspective where the environment is in the center of the universe. This
eccentric view opines that the entire ecosystem is the most important even more valuable than
the human beings. As this view believe that there is no difference between the non-human
and the human beings in the nature. This means that the human being has no special place in
the ecosystem and like all other plants, birds, animals and other natural components, the
human being has similar inherent value.

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The concept of non-human rights argues that the humans as well as some of the
animals have their rights to survive but the plants and other non-human components do not
have certain rights (Npr.org 2018). This ideology is concerned with the fact that the matters
which has rights are accepted to have existence whereas the plants are deprived of that
acceptance and have no rights. On the contrary some critics feel that the plants have intrinsic
value in the environment hence they must be entitled with respect and not only rights
(O'Riordan 2014).
The moral responsibility of the human beings is to secure the lives and safe
sustenance for their next generation. Constant exploitation of non-renewable energy is
causing the environmental degradation. These energies are fast reducing hence will to be
available to the future generation. Hence there should be a perfect balance between the needs
and the availability of the resources so that the future generation also can use them.
Moreover, the moral obligation of the human beings is to secure the survival of the non-
human entities by reducing pollution and protecting the species from extinguishing.
Ethics and religion is closely connected to each other. Different religion has their own
version of the origin of human beings and their utility in the environment. Every religion has
different perspective to protect the interest of the environment as well as preserving nature. It
is because of the fact that all of the elements of nature both living and non-living are created
by the supreme power. In some religions such as Hinduism, certain animals and plants are
worshipped for being sacred of a specific deity. The concept of nature worship is a way to
conserve the natural environment which lay importance on both the human as well as non-
human beings.
Radical ecology is a further step from environmental ethics. It states that the ethics
may not be sufficient to extend ethics to the non-human elements present in the environment

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and vital for bring in changes to survive and function. A number of ecologists are
recommending the development of eco-philosophy though which the non-human elements
will have intrinsic worth which is not dependent on the utility of the human beings. This
principle believes in reducing the human intervention in the non-human environment which
usually leads to destruction of biodiversity. The increasing ecological consciousness will
obligate the people to protect the environment effectively.
Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a need of increasing ethics and morality to
preserve the natural environment of the earth. There are different issues of the environmental
ethics which needs to be solved immediately. The pollution due the actions of the human
beings are causing global warming and climate change. This is the reason why a number of
bird and animal species are being extinguished. However, the ecologists, environmentalists
and biologists are trying to theorize these problems and change the course of actions through
eco-philosophy. Establishing the rights of the non-human elements can be a solution to these
problems.

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References:
Bsr.org (2018). Environment | Topics | Case Studies | BSR. [online] Bsr.org. Available at:
https://www.bsr.org/topics/case-studies/Environment [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018].
Npr.org (2018). Recognizing The Right Of Plants To Evolve. [online] NPR.org. Available at:
https://www.npr.org/2012/10/26/160940869/recognizing-the-right-of-plants-to-evolve
[Accessed 26 Mar. 2018].
O'Riordan, T. ed., 2014. Environmental science for environmental management. Routledge.
Thompson, P.B., 2017. The spirit of the soil: Agriculture and environmental ethics. Taylor &
Francis.
Wheeler, A., 2017. Outsider ethics and marginalized aesthetics: The value of contemporary
environmental philosophies for designing sustainable architecture.
Wwf.panda.org (2018). How many species are we losing?. [online] Wwf.panda.org.
Available at: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/biodiversity/ [Accessed 26
Mar. 2018].