Chapter 1&2

Environmental Ethics
 Environmental Ethics
 Ethics: branch of philosophy concerned
with morals and values
 Morals: distinction between right and
wrong
 Values: ultimate worth of actions or things

 Environmental ethics: moral

relationships between humans and the
world around us
 Social Injustice
A few in the world live in increasing
luxury
(20% of population lives in 1st world)

Many live in poverty/extreme poverty

lack: adequate food housing
sanitation clean water
medical care education
The world’s poor are often the agents
and victims of environmental
degradation, forced to meet short
term survival needs at the cost of long
term sustainability.

- Brazilian rainforest depletion

- Erosion in Haiti from deforestation
- Urban slums
 Environmental Justice
 Combines civil rights with environmental
protection to demand a safe,
healthy, living environment for
everyone

 People of color in the U.S. and around the

world are subjected to a disproportionate
level of environmental health risks in their
neighborhoods and on their jobs
 Environmental Racism

 Racial prejudice: belief that someone

is inferior because of their race

 Environmental Racism: inequitable

distribution of environmental hazards
based on race
In the United States:
60% of African Americans
60% of Hispanics
50% of Native Americans
50% of Asians
50% of Pacific Islanders

live in communities with uncontrolled toxic

waste sites, incinerators, landfills
 NIMBY: not in my backyard

More well off communities can

prevent polluting enterprises from
entering their neighborhoods

Less affluent communities lack the

resources to do this
 Across Borders
 Toxic colonialism: targeting poor communities
of color in 3rd world for waste disposal or
experimentation with risky technologies

– paying poor countries to take toxic

wastes

– Flight of polluting industries

 Lower labor rates

 Less concern for worker safety

 Less stringent environmental

protection
(maquiladores plants)
 Ecological Footprint
 Def:demands placed on nature by
individuals or nations
 Commodity/resource use
 Energy use
 Pollution created

World average = 2.3

Sustainable = 1.9
United States = 9.6