- "Environmental ethics is an established field of practical philosophy... Ethics exerts influence on a large range of disciplines including environmental law, environmental sociology, ecotheology, ecological economics, ecology and environmental geography."
The ethical principles and values that inform environmental practice, including issues of intergenerational equity, biodiversity conservation, and sustainability.
Ethics: The study of human behavior and moral principles that guide human conduct towards what is right and wrong.
Environmental ethics: This is a branch of philosophy that deals with moral issues concerning the environment and seeks to protect it from harm caused by human activities.
Ecology: Science of the study of living organisms and their interactions with each other and their environment.
Sustainability: The ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Anthropocentrism: Attribution of a primary intrinsic value to human beings over other living organisms and nature.
Biocentrism: This is the view that all living organisms have an intrinsic value, regardless of their usefulness or importance to humans.
Ecocentrism: This is the viewpoint that places equal intrinsic value on all living and non-living components of the environment.
Environmental justice: The fair and equitable distribution of environmental risks, benefits, and costs among all members of society.
Environmental rights: The rights of individuals and communities to a clean, healthy, and safe environment.
Ecosystem services: The benefits provided by natural ecosystems that support human well-being and economic development.
Environmental governance: The management and decision-making processes governing environmental issues at the local, national, and international levels.
Environmental activism: The process of mobilizing individuals and communities to take action to address environmental issues.
Climate change: The long-term shift in weather patterns due to human activities, mainly the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
Biodiversity: The variety of life on earth, including all species of plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms, and the ecological systems of which they are a part.
Natural resource management: The management of natural resources, such as water, land, forests, and minerals, to ensure their sustainable use and conservation.
Environmental economics: The study of how economic activities impact the environment and how economic policies can help to address environmental problems.
Environmental policy: The laws, regulations, and policies created by governments to protect the environment and promote sustainable development.
Green technology: The development and use of environmentally sustainable technology to reduce the impact of human activities on the environment.
Social ecology: A theoretical approach that emphasizes the relationship between human societies and the natural environment, considering the social, cultural, and economic factors that shape environmental behavior.
Environmental education: The process of educating people about environmental issues, their causes, and possible solutions.
Anthrocentric Environmental Ethics: This theory states that humans should be the central focus of environmental ethics. The protection of nature is important only to the extent that it benefits human beings.
Biocentric Environmental Ethics: This theory argues that all living creatures and ecosystems have inherent benefits and deserve protection. It views humans as only one aspect of a complex ecology.
Ecocentric Environmental Ethics: This theory sees nature as having intrinsic value, independent of its utilitarian value to humans. It seeks to protect the ecosystem as a whole, including both animate and inanimate components.
Deep Ecology: This type of environmental ethics emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living beings and the intrinsic value of nature. It seeks to transform human's relationship with the environment, reducing human impact and promoting biodiversity and harmony.
Ecofeminism: This theory seeks to draw connections between social and environmental injustices, specifically gender and environmental exploitation.
Environmental Justice: This theoretical approach seeks to address the disproportionate harm of environmental degradation on marginalized communities, including economically disadvantaged citizens and people of color.
Green Anarchism: This philosophy seeks to destroy the power structures responsible for environmental degradation and create a society based on voluntary cooperation and ecological harmony.
Eco-Socialism: This approach seeks to address environmental problems through collective ownership of resources and wealth, redistributing environmental benefits and costs more equitably.
Technocentrism: This theory views technological innovation as the solution to environmental problems and promotes the development of new technologies that can mitigate environmental damage.
Environmental Pragmatism: This theory seeks to bridge the gap between ecological concerns and practical problem-solving, emphasizing the importance of collective action and experimentation to find solutions to environmental problems.
- "The main competing paradigms are anthropocentrism, physiocentrism (called ecocentrism as well), and theocentrism."
- "These decisions raise numerous questions."
- "Should humans continue to clear cut forests for the sake of human consumption?"
- "Why should humans continue to propagate its species, and life itself?"
- "Should humans continue to make gasoline-powered vehicles?"
- "What environmental obligations do humans need to keep for future generations?"
- "Is it right for humans to knowingly cause the extinction of a species for the convenience of humanity?"
- "How should humans best use and conserve the space environment to secure and expand life?"
- "What role can Planetary Boundaries play in reshaping the human-earth relationship?"
- "The academic field of environmental ethics grew up in response to the works of Rachel Carson and Murray Bookchin and events such as the first Earth Day in 1970..."
- "Two papers published in Science had a crucial impact: Lynn White's 'The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis'... and Garrett Hardin's 'The Tragedy of the Commons'..."
- "An essay by Aldo Leopold in his A Sand County Almanac, called 'The Land Ethic,' in which Leopold explicitly claimed that the roots of the ecological crisis were philosophical."
- "The first international academic journals in this field emerged from North America in the late 1970s and early 1980s..."
- "The US-based journal Environmental Ethics in 1979..."
- "The Canadian-based journal The Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy in 1983."
- "The first British-based journal of this kind, Environmental Values, was launched in 1992."