Ethics and Biodiversity
From Envirowiki
Contents |
[edit] 1 General Ethics in Biodiversity
[edit] 1.1 What is Ethics?
Ethics is a part of philosophy and is the study of what we (humans) view as right or wrong, good or evil. It is the study of what we should do based on moral views.
[edit] 1.2 How Do Ethics Relate to the Environment and Biodiversity?
The environment is an important part of humans’ lives – it is the world around us and we have a major impact on it. The fact that we have such a strong impact on it leads us to feel responsible for what happens to it – both morally and personally responsible. These feelings of responsibility further lead to humans discussing what should be done in regards to the environment.
We also discuss what should be done in terms of biodiversity. Eventually, many people agree that areas rich in biodiversity must be conserved for all humans and species now, as well as for future generations. We go on to discuss ethics further by placing different values on biodiversity – intrinsic value, as well as the possibility of absolute value.
[edit] 1.3 Intrinsic Value
Intrinsic value is value that is inherent. Biodiversity or the environment can be said to have intrinsic value for different reasons. The aesthetics of regions with a lot of biodiversity, the willingness to protect these regions for future generations, and the fact that these areas have many unique species which are important for much of the world are all examples of the intrinsic value of biodiverse areas. Another example of the intrinsic value of these places is the fact that the diverse animals inhabiting these areas have feelings – they can be hurt, and should therefore be protected from this pain.
[edit] 1.4 Absolute Value:
What about absolute value? This is the idea that anything with absolute value cannot be harmed: it would be so wrong to harm this item that no explanation could justify hurting it.
So, the question remains: what about absolute value? Do regions with a great amount of biodiversity have absolute value? Some humans may believe so. It may be agreed by a few people that because animals are innocent and animals in biodiverse regions are often rare and unique, that it would be wrong to harm them. Not only would it be wrong to cause these creatures pain, but there would be no justification in doing so.
[edit] 2 Why Should Areas Rich in Biodiversity be Conserved?
[edit] 2.1 What Does “Should” Mean?
Humans cannot simply show numbers and facts alone to give all the reasons necessary on whether or not there is good reason to preserve regions rich in biodiversity. Morally, we feel that we should conserve – whether statistics show it to be practical or not. Being complex beings, humans cannot simply calculate efficiency and follow through on only that. We have feelings of responsibility, scruples, and morals. We have a sense of ethics. These feelings have a strong impact on decisions we make as individuals and often as a society.
[edit] 2.2 Human Responsibility
Why do we feel responsible for what happens to the environment and to biodiverse hotspots? We are realizing that humans have had a drastic impact on what has happened to the earth thus far, and that we continue to change and effect the environment dramatically. This leads to us realizing that we are responsible for much of what happens to our Earth.
It is, therefore, our duty to preserve the environment as best we can. If we cannot reverse negative effects that we have inflicted onto the Earth, we must at least slow down the influence of these negative effects. Because areas with a great amount of biodiversity also are very important for the Earth – they hold many of the different species of the world and each ecosystem is a bigger part of the web of life – we must also realize that we have a duty to conserve these places. We have harmed much of these regions before, and because it is our faults that these areas’ biodiversity and resources are being depleted, we have a moral obligation to bring about a positive change for these places.
Fortunately, many humans do feel morally and personally responsible for what has happened to the environment. Hopefully it is not too late to reverse any damage we have inflicted, or, if we cannot reverse the damage, hopefully we can at least slow down or stop the current injuries we are still causing.
