IU032

Land Ethic & Sustainable Development

March 14, 2019

International School of Urban Science

University of Seoul
Discussions
• What did you learn from watching the film that you didn't know before -- or
that is more compelling for you now?
• Gore says that climate change is a "moral issue" as well as a technical and
political one. What difference does it make if we approach it from a moral
perspective?
• Ethics are about values. Ethical statements express what you value. What are
some things that you value?
• Ethics are about right and wrong actions. Can you think of some examples of
ethically right/wrong actions? What is it about these actions that make them
right or wrong?
• Do you think that our shared social ethic can be extended to include ethical
consideration of non-human animals and the natural world?
• What is a sustainable community? How can you describe the sustainable
community?
Ethic: Definition

• A branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct & good life

• Involves making and defending moral choices
• Traditionally, individualistic and anthropocentric
Ethic vs. Value

• Value: “A belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of

existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite mode of
conduct or end-state of existence” (Rokeach, 1968)
• Ethics is the process by which values are applied to decision-making,
and consequently is not static but dynamic
“The Right” vs. “The Good”

• “The Good”: Things in life that a person desires and perceives as

important
• “The Right”: Moral obligation
• “The good” of individuals does not always ensure their moral
correctness.
Teleological vs. Deontological
• Teleological Theory
- Holds all things to be designed for or directed toward a final result
- What is right is what will maximize what is good

• Deontological
- “Duty" or "obligation" based ethics
- Focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves
Anthropocentric vs. Non-anthropocentric

• Anthropocentric
- Humans must be considered at the center of, and above any other
aspect of reality

• Non-anthropocentric
- Other nonhuman things and beings might be owed ethical obligations.
- A person as a plain member of the larger biotic community
Moral Theories & Land Use Positions

Teleological/Utilitarian

Anthropocentric Nonanthropocentric

Deontological/Duty-Based
Beatley: p. 25
Land Ethic: Aldo Leopold

• Aldo Leopold (1887~1948)

- Ecologist &forester
- Biocentrism
• “A Sand County Almanac” (1949)
- Describe the land around Sauk County, WI for each
month
- Land ethic
Leopold’s Land Ethic
• Film: Aldo Leopold & Land Ethic
• Discussion
- Leopold says the land ethic is extending a community’s sensibilities to
all members of the community, nonhuman as well as human. What
would that mean in your life or community
- How did our society’s disapproval of slavery come about? Is that
relevant to our view of the land?
- Consider this statement: “A land ethic changes the role of humans from
conqueror of the lad community to plain members and citizens of it. It
implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the
community as such.” How would you apply this ethic in practice?
The Ethical Sequences: changes in scope over time

1. Concerned primarily with regulating people’s behavior toward each

other
2. Applied to regulating people’s behaviors towards society in general
3. Guide relationship between humans and the land

Ethics should now evolve to include ethical responsibility to the

biotic community (the land i.e.). Land should not be regarded as
mere property, but as something with intrinsic value.
Land Ethic
• The Land
- Not just property but complex
biological ecosystems consisting of
independent parts
- Human as a plain member of the
community of the land

• Land Ethic

- Land ethic enlarges the boundaries of the community to include

soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.
- Our duty is to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the
biotic community
The Biotic Community

• A biotic pyramid
• An energy circuit
• An interacting web of food chains
• Interdependent
• Potentially fragile
Community & Citizenship

• New understanding of human’s being a member of the land

community.
• Respect for other fellow citizens in the community as well as for
the community itself

In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from

conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of
it. It implies respect for his fellow-members and also respect for
the community as such.
Value of the Land

• Instrumental value
- Goods, Services, Information, Spiritual Value

• Intrinsic value (Terminal value)

- An object as an “end” or “end-in-itself”
Ecological Conscience

• Ecological conscience: Moral sentiments from a sense of

connection with our larger human and biotic communities.
• Intellectual appreciation & Moral sentiments

“A land ethic reflects the existence of an ecological conscience,

and thus in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility
for the health of the land. Health is the capacity of the land for
self-renewal. Conservation is our effort to understand and
preserve this capacity.”
Land Use Obligation for Future Generations

• To keep options open

- Nonrenewable resources

• To avoid making irreversible decisions

- Extinction of species
- Environmental degradation
- Cultural/ historical properties
Land Ethic & Sustainability

• Land Ethic: Obligations to future generations  Concept of

sustainability

• Sustainability

- Physical limits
- Natural carrying capacity of the earth
- Understanding and living w/in its finiteness and regenerative
capabilities
- Living on the interest of our ecological endowment while
maintaining the ecological capital.
Sustainable Development

• Sustainable Development is “development that meets the needs of

the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.” (The Bruntland Report (WCED, 1987: 47)

• Sustainable Development means “improving the quality of human

life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting
ecosystems.” (World Conservation Union, 1991)
The Origin: Sustained Yield

• German foresters in the late 18th and 19th

centuries
• Techniques of selectively cutting mature
trees in a forest while leaving enough trees
to grow and maintaining the forest
• Management of a renewable resource for
maximum production without diminishing
its renewability
Conceptual Model of SD (1)

"Three legged stool" view of sustainable community

Conceptual Model of SD (2)

“Holistic" view of sustainable community

Sustainability & Community

• Sustainable development as a holistic approach: Sustainable

Communities are those that develop and maintain social and
economic systems that work in harmony with the environmental
systems within which they exist and upon which they depend.

• Sustainable development as a process: Sustainable development

as a process of human activities or progress toward sustainability
over time considering ecological carrying capacity and
acknowledging different types of community capital
Holism & Systems Approach

• The viewpoint that a whole entity or system has properties which are
not revealed through study of its component parts
• Systems approach: Approaching problems and issues with an
appreciation of and determination to their wholeness (Complexity)
and external relationships, followed by a subsequent
conceptualization in accordance with the general properties
Carrying Capacity

• The ability of an ecosystem to support the population

indefinitely with its available resources and services
• It can be defined the size of population that can be supported by
the ecosystem
• Carrying capacity depends on the following factors:
- Available resources in an ecosystem
- Per capita consumption of resources
Community Capital

• Natural Capital: Natural resources, Ecosystem services, Beauty of

nature
• Human/Social Capital: Human resources, Networks & connections
• Financial/Built Capital: Manufactured goods, buildings,
infrastructure, Information resources, Financial resources
Different Perspectives

• Weak Sustainability (Technocentrism): Natural capital can be

completely substituted by human-made capital.
• Strong Sustainability (Ecocentrism): Some natural capital cannot be
substituted by human-made capital and the existing stock of
natural capital must be maintained and enhanced because the
functions it performs cannot be duplicated by manufactured
capital.
Why Strong Sustainability?

• Uncertainty: The high complex way in which environmental systems

work.  “Precautionary principle” towards the use of critical
natural capital.
• Irreversibility: Changes in the earth’s life support systems may
prove to be irreversible.
• Critical Natural Capital: Wetland functions, Biological diversity,
Ozone layer, Carbon cycle, etc.
Planning Framework for Sustainable Communities

Setting the Community Vision and Goals

Scoping
Developing Measurable Standards
Define Selection Criteria
Develop Potential Indicators
Final Set of Indicators
Measuring Community Performance

Identifying Issues and Strategies

Implementing Strategies

Evaluating Indicators Performance