ENVIRONMENT

AND
ECOLOGICAL
ETHICS

CONSERVATION
OF NATURAL
RESOURCES
“The most important environment issue is one that is rarely
mentioned, and that is the lack of conservation ethics in our
culture”

—GAYLORD NELSON
01
What are Environmental Ethics?
● It means application of ethical principles in the context of
environment. It requires commitment and responsibility towards
the environment, including plants and animals as well as present
and future generation of people. It requires minimizing the
adverse impact of business activities on the environment.
● Business organizations depend on the environment for natural
resources and energy, resulting in resource depletion. Also,
business activities harm the environment in various ways like
pollution, global warming, acid rain, ozone depletion etc.
Therefore there is an urgent need for the business organizations
to ensure equitable use of resources without causing damage to
the environment.
● Environmental ethics requires adoption of environment friendly
practices by all, whether it be public or private sector enterprise
or an NGO or the Government or International bodies.
Environmental ethics encompasses all areas like:
 Sustainable development
 Pollution
 Resource depletion
 Conservation of natural resources
 Waste management
 Ozone depletion
 Acid rain
 Global warming
02 Sustainable development
● Meaning:
 Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
 It means maintaining development over time, i.e. perpetual
development. It aims to create a balance between present and
future economic development by ensuring conservation of
natural resources and environmental protection. It seeks to
ensure environmental protection while allowing economic
development. It requires integrating the economic and
environmental goals.
● Key areas:
 Using renewable sources of energy instead of non renewable
sources of energy
 Using non renewable resources in a way that does not deplete
them.
 Clean, efficient and sustainable transportation device.
 Energy Conservation
 Pollution Prevention
 Waste reduction and waste management
 Recycling
 Preservation of natural beauty and wildlife habitat.
03 Resource depletion and pollution
Resource depletion:
 It means consumption of some non renewable natural resources
to such an extent that is not enough to keep up with the demand.
 In simple words, resource depletion means consumption of
finite scarce resources.
Pollution:
 Pollution means infecting environment(land, water or air) with
harmful substances.
 Pollution is caused by human activities(business organizations
as well as households.)
 Pollution is also kind of resource depletion since contamination
of land, water or air diminishes their beneficial qualities.
04 Water Pollution
Meaning, causes and measures:
● Water pollution, the release of substances into
subsurface groundwater or into lakes, streams, rivers, estuaries,
and oceans to the point where the substances interfere
with beneficial use of the water or with the natural functioning
of ecosystems. In addition to the release of substances, such
as chemicals or microorganisms, water pollution may also
include the release of energy, in the form
of radioactivity or heat, into bodies of water.
Urbanization, Deforestation, Industrial effluents, Use
of Detergents and Fertilizers.
Water pollution, to a larger extent, can be controlled by a variety
of methods. Rather than releasing sewage waste into water
bodies, it is better to treat them before discharge. Practising this
can reduce the initial toxicity and the remaining substances can
be degraded and rendered harmless by the water body itself. If
the secondary treatment of water has been carried out, then this
can be reused in sanitary systems and agricultural fields.
A very special plant, the Water Hyacinth can absorb dissolved
toxic chemicals such as cadmium and other such elements.
Establishing these in regions prone to such kinds of pollutants
will reduce the adverse effects to a large extent.
05 Land Pollution
Meaning and causes:
● Land pollution means contamination of soil and groundwater
with harmful substances so that it becomes unusable.
● Waste and poisonous and radioactive materials from the
factories are dumped and buried in land.
● Use of excessive fertilizers and pesticides resulting in soil
erosion and infertile lands.
Adverse Effects:
● Soil and water contamination
● Serious health problems to people living in the neighbourhood
● Danger to wildlife
● Decrease in agriculture yield.
Measures:
Use of three R’s:
Reduce (Minimization of waste
Reuse (Maximization of use of waste)
Recycle( Processing waste to create new products)
06 Air Pollution
Meaning and causes:
 Air pollution means contamination of air with harmful
substances like chemicals and gases.
 Deforestation (man made, e.g. Cutting down trees or due to
wildfires
 Emission of gases from motor vehicles contribute to air
pollution.
 Emission of gases from power plants using fossil fuels (e.g.
coal)
 Emission of dangerous gases from factories.
Adverse Effects:
 Serious health problems like lung diseases.
 Decrease in agricultural yield
 Global warming
 Depletion of ozone layer
 Acid Rain.
Measures:
 Use of less polluting fuels like CNG in motor vehicles.
 Use of renewable source of energy like solar, wind and tidal
energy.
 Use of latest technology in factories resulting in lesser emission
of gases
 Use of biofuels
 Encouraging Afforestation.
07 Global Warming
Meaning and causes:
 It means increase in earths temperature all over the world
 The main cause of global warming is the increase in the level of
greenhouse gases (because of burning of fossil fuels and
deforestation) in the atmosphere.

Adverse Effects:
 Higher Temperatures
 Glaciers will melt, causing sea levels to rise
 Expansion of world desserts
 Extinction of several species of plants and animals
 Reduced agricultural yield.
 Increase in the intensity and frequency of natural disasters such
as floods, droughts, hurricanes and wildfires.

Measures:
 Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases
 Plants and trees absorb carbon dioxide. Increasing trees and
forests can help taking out gases from the atmosphere.
08 Ozone Depletion
Meaning and causes:
 It means destruction of ozone layer which protects the earth
from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. It is a big threat to
human, animal and plant life.
 When chlorine and bromine compounds reach the stratosphere,
they destroy ozone molecules resulting in destruction of ozone
layer.
 Use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and other ozone depleting
substances such as Bromo fluorocarbons (Halons) , refrigerants,
solvents and insulations.

Adverse Effects:
 Severe health problems like skin cancer and eye diseases
 Adverse effects on aquatic life and animal life
 Destruction of agricultural crops and reduced agricultural yields.
 Adverse effects of trees plants and forests.
09 Acid Rain
Acid Rain:
Meaning and causes:
 Acid Rain as the name suggests can be said to be the
precipitation of acid in the form of rain in the simplest manner.
When atmospheric pollutants like oxides of nitrogen and sulphur
react with rainwater and come down with the rain, then this
results in Acid Rain.
 When chlorine and bromine compounds reach the stratosphere,
they destroy ozone molecules resulting in destruction of ozone
layer.
 Use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and other ozone depleting
substances such as Bromo fluorocarbons (Halons) , refrigerants,
solvents and insulations.
Adverse Effects:
 Acid rain is very harmful to agriculture, plants, and
animals. It washes away all nutrients which are required for
the growth and survival of plants. Acid rain affects
agriculture by the way how it alters the composition of the
soil.
 It causes respiratory issues in animals and humans.
 When acid rain falls down and flows into the rivers and
ponds it affects the aquatic ecosystem. As it alters the
chemical composition of the water, to a form which is
actually harmful to the aquatic ecosystem to survive and
causes water pollution.
10 Conservation of natural resources.
Meaning and causes:
 It means minimizing the use of natural resources to ensure their
adequate supply for future generations.
 It requires protection of natural resources like fossil fuels (such
as coal, petroleum and natural gas), mineral deposits, clean
water, soil, clean air, plants and animals.
Guidelines to Conserve natural resources:
 Increasing the awareness among business enterprises and
households about conservation methods. For example, Solar
energy and wind energy plants can be used as a substitute of
conventional sources of electricity.
 Increasing the awareness among business enterprises that
conservation leads to economic progress.
 Strict statutory regulations ensuring efficient use of scarce
resources.
THANK YOU!