Saylor Environmental Ethics
What is the Paris agreement?
12/12/2015 The Paris Agreement (French: L'accord de Paris)[3] is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, signed in 1998. 195 countries. So, to cut down co2.
Year: Invention of mass mining
1899
Date: The Endangered Species Preservation Act is created
1966 Congress passed the Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1966, providing a means for listing native animal species as endangered and giving them limited protection. ... The Act also authorized the Service to acquire land as habitat for endangered species
Date: The Environmental Defense Fund is established
1967 United States-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group. The group is known for its work on issues including global warming, ecosystem restoration, oceans, and human health, and advocates using sound science, economics and law to find environmental solutions that work. It is nonpartisan, and its work often advocates market-based solutions to environmental problems.
first earth day
1970 environmentalists started urging philosophers to consider the philosophical aspects of environmental problems
Year: Chernobyl nuclear disaster
1986
Year: James Hansen testifies before Congress about human-induced climate change
1988 James Edward Hansen (born March 29, 1941) is an American adjunct professor directing the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions[4] of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is best known for his research in climatology, his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming, and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change.[5][6][7] In recent years he has become a climate activist to mitigate the effects of global warming, on a few occasions leading to his arrest.
Define carbon footprint
A carbon footprint is historically defined as the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent.[1] Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbon dioxide and methane, can be emitted through the burning of fossil fuels, land clearance and the production and consumption of food, manufactured goods, materials, wood, roads, buildings, transportation and other services.[2]
Why did local residents near the Chevron Oil Refinery in Richmond, California, believe that the response to a refinery fire in 2012 was not treated as seriously as it could have been?
A large number of the population are a minority race, and as such experienced environmental injustice. Community mostly black, hispanic, asian. Claimed Chevron put profits and exec pay over safety. Places near refineries are polluted and therefore cheap, which means minorities and poor must live there.
What are some examples of non-renewable resources?
A non-renewable resource (also called a finite resource) is a natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a quick enough pace to keep up with consumption [1]. An example is carbon-based fossil fuel. The original organic matter, with the aid of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such as oil or gas. Earth minerals and metal ores, fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, natural gas) and groundwater in certain aquifers are all considered non-renewable resources, though individual elements are always conserved (except in nuclear reactions).
John Evelyn wrote a famous treatise that foreshowed the detrimental effect of industrialization. What environmental issue did he highlight?
Air pollution
Who suggested that throughout the history of ethics there has been an underlying theme of moral extensionism. From this, an ethic for nature (i.e., the land) can evolve.
Aldo Leopold. He suggested that throughout the history of ethics there has been an underlying theme of moral extensionism. From this, an ethic for nature (i.e., the land) can evolve. This ethic would be philosophically based but also, importantly, ecologically based.
Who pushed for government regulations concerning toxic industrial chemicals?
Alice Hamilton
Religion: Climate has a significant effect on human health, temperament, and intelligence.
Ancient Greece
Essay: Can anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric environmental ethics be reconciled? Present arguments made by ethical theorists such as Aldo Leopold and Arne Naess that address this issue.
Anthropocentric ethics considers humans the sole possessors of moral consideration. Non-anthropocentric (ecocentric or biocentric) ethics believes that non-humans also deserve moral consideration. The closest approach to reconciliation between these schools of thought comes from Utilitarianism, which is largely anthropocentric in its approach, but believes that animal pain is a moral consideration. The Land Ethic, by Aldo Leopold, was the first of the ecocentric theories and claimed that an act is good if it promotes the beauty, integrity and stability of the ecosystem, and bad if it harms it. According to this ethic, the ecosystem has the highest moral value and if necessary, human interests can be secondary. Deep Ecology, by Arne Naess, is a holistic ethical theory that believes we need to reevaluate our notion of self in order to address the ecological crisis. It involves a sense of identification with the entire planet, in which the individual's true self is recognized as identical with the cosmos. The "depth" of Deep Ecology lies in its rejection of the anthropocentric approach that believes the living environment exists to support human use. The two theories cannot be reconciled when there is a conflict of interest between ecological preservation and human use. An example of this is whale hunting. A non-anthropocentric approach would recognize that whales have been driven to near-extinction and regulation of their hunting should be enforced to prevent their disappearance for future generations. An anthropocentric perspective would claim that human benefits trump saving whales. From Wikipedia: Deep ecology's core principle is the belief that the living environment as a whole should be respected and regarded as having certain basic moral and legal rights to live and flourish, independent of its instrumental benefits for human use. Deep ecology is often framed in terms of the idea of a much broader sociality; it recognizes diverse communities of life on Earth that are composed not only through biotic factors but also, where applicable, through ethical relations, that is, the valuing of other beings as more than just resources. It describes itself as "deep" because it regards itself as looking more deeply into the actual reality of humanity's relationship with the natural world arriving at philosophically more profound conclusions than those of mainstream environmentalism.
Date: First Earth Day in the United States is celebrated
April 22, 1970
moral (ethical) extensionism
Argues that moral standing should be extended to other beings. For example, extending our ethical duty to include animals or the land.
Where would you find the most cases of environmental injustice based on income inequality as the governing factor? Answer was New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. But, why?
Aug 2005 - The government response to send help and supplies in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was slow and marred by indecision and misjudgment. This lead to the worst of the human tragedy falling upon the residents of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, the elderly population of the city, and the otherwise immobile (due to illness or lack of means to leave the city). Many people compare the mobilization of efforts to help the majority Black city of New Orleans after Katrina to the mobilization after Hurricane Sandy, which did the most damage to costal New Jersey and New York City.
Love Canal / Niagara Falls case 1978 toxic tort
Beginning in the 1970s, residents of a neighborhood built on what was once a chemical dump site of the former Hooker Chemical Co. at Love Canal noticed foul odors and chemical residue and experienced increased rates of cancer and other health problems. More than two decades after Love Canal was no longer used as an industrial dump, more than 80 compounds — some of them suspected carcinogens such as benzene — came up through the soil and into the backyards and basements of hundreds of homes and a public school. President Jimmy Carter declared the first of two federal environmental emergencies for the site in 1978 and financial aid was approved. Some 950 families were evacuated from their homes within 10 square blocks surrounding the landfill. A state emergency was declared there, as well. It led to the creation of federal legislation, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), which now helps manage the disposal of hazardous waste.
What is beneficence?
Beneficence is a concept in research ethics which states that researchers should have the welfare of the research participant as a goal of any clinical trial or other research study. The antonym of this term, maleficence, describes a practice which opposes the welfare of any research participant.
Word: As contaminants move farther up the food chain, _______ results in increased contaminant mass and concentration
Bioaccumulation
Religion: Believers are not to kill any living creature in the environment because the separation of humans as something distinct from the environment is an illusion.
Buddhism
In 1959, _________ presented a lecture in which he suggested that the critical intellectual weakness of the latter part of the 20th century was the separation of humanities from sciences
C.P. Snow
Which groups face higher risks of environmental violence and environmental injustice? (Select two answers.)
Children and adolescents under age 15 Women in low income urban neighborhoods
Religion: Believers are supposed to be "stewards of the Earth" and environment.
Christianity
Which legislative Act was passed in the United States in 1963 and then further expanded upon in 1970 by the EPA? The Act would later be adopted by many different countries throughout the world, all wishing to regulate the amount of human-produced carbon dioxide in the air.
Clean Air Act
Much of the emphasis on clean water initiatives in the 1970s was prompted by the
Cuyahoga River in Ohio catching on fire 13 times, most famously on 6/22/1969
Who was David Brower?
David Ross Brower (/ˈbraʊ.ər/; July 1, 1912 - November 5, 2000) was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations, including the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, Friends of the Earth (1969), Earth Island Institute (1982), North Cascades Conservation Council, and Fate of the Earth Conferences. From 1952 to 1969, he served as the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club, and served on its board three times: from 1941-1953; 1983-1988; and 1995-2000. As a younger man, he was a prominent mountaineer.
Date: The Environmental Protection Agency is established
December 2, 1970 It is an agency of the United States federal government whose mission is to protect human and environmental health. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the EPA is responsible for creating standards and laws promoting the health of individuals and the environment.
What is deontology?
Deontology, derived from the Greek word deon, refers to the philosophical study of our obligation or sense of duty to act in a certain way. The philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) argued that we determine the value of our actions by examining our motives, or whether we acted from a sense of commitment or duty. For example, does a passersby have a duty to help an individual who is sick or needs help? Do we have a moral obligation to help?
Massachusetts v. The Environmental Protection Agency, 2007
Does the government have an obligation to regulate the release of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases The Bush Administration argued that it did not have the right (and would not exercise the authority if it did) to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. The Supreme Court disagreed, arguing that it needed to be proven that greenhouse gases do not contribute to climate change — or a reasonable explanation needed to be provided as to why the government would be incapable of restricting pollution. The verdict definitively stated that action needed to be taken to combat climate change, and it needed to be taken immediately. The ramifications of this verdict have been extremely positive for environmental litigation. The verdict validated the perspective that the government has a responsibility for addressing climate change.
What are ecosystem services?
Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans gifted by the natural environment and from healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystems, grassland ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems. These ecosystems, functioning in healthy relationship, offer such things like natural pollination of crops, clean air, extreme weather mitigation, human mental and physical well-being. Collectively, these benefits are becoming known as 'ecosystem services', and are often integral to the provisioning of clean drinking water, the decomposition of wastes, and resilience and productivity of food ecosystems.
The creation of the _______ was part of the response to growing public concern and a grassroots movement to "do something" about the deteriorating conditions of water, air, and land in the United States.
Environmental Protection Agency
What is the name of the agency of the US federal government which was created on December 2, 1970, for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulation based on laws passed by Congress?
Environmental Protection Agency
Define environmental ethics
Environmental ethics refers to the moral relationship human beings have with their world. Polluters are no longer the only recipients of blame. Doesn't everyone have a special duty, obligation, and responsibility to protect our planet and natural species? Shouldn't we take every precaution to ensure impoverished and disconnected communities are not subject to undue harm and stress? Environmental ethicists discuss ways to to minimize the stress, pain, injury, and death environmental degradation imposes on our ecosystems. They seek to improve and promote a clean and healthful environment and sustain properly-functioning ecosystems which include agroecosystems, forest ecosystems, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. They argue that we, as human beings, are responsible for our environment because we have the freedom and rational capacity to make ethical and moral choices.
Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC, drafted and adopted 17 principles of environmental justice. Which of the following statements are included among these 17 principles? (Select two answers.)
Environmental justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural and environmental self- determination of all peoples Environmental justice opposes the destructive operations of multi-national corporations. Definition by EPA: Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation [sic]. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.[3]
What is environmental justice?
Environmental justice emerged as a concept in the United States in the early 1980s. The term has two distinct uses with the more common usage describing a social movement that focuses on the "fair" distribution of environmental benefits and burdens. The other use is an interdisciplinary body of social science literature that includes theories of the environment and justice, environmental laws and their implementations, environmental policy and planning and governance for development and sustainability, and political ecology
How does the Environmental Protection Agency define environmental justice?
Fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
Law: Established national standards for regulating the emission of pollutants from stationary and mobile sources
Federal Clean Air Act 12/17/1963
Law: Established water quality standards; provides for the regulation of the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters and for the protection of wetlands
Federal Water Pollution Control Act 10/18/1972 aka Clean Water Act
What is means ethics?
For example, is democracy inherently good (means ethics) or is it only good to the extent that it produces better results for society (ends ethics)? There's another way of looking at a means vs. an end form of procedural justice: Should just processes be an end that people strive for, using whatever means (ends ethics) or should people strive to use just processes, regardless of what ends result from it (means ethics)?
Which philosopher compiled a list of eight principles that are basic to deep ecology?
George Sessions.
teleology
Gr telos "end, aim, goal" Irrespective of human use or opinion, natural things and beings have intrinsic purposes. So it's all part of a larger picture and each being contributes in some way to the greater good.
What is Greenpeace?
Greenpeace is a non-governmental[3] environmental organization with offices in over 55 countries and an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.[4] Greenpeace was founded in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, Canadian and US ex-pat environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity"[5] and focuses its campaigning on worldwide issues such as climate change, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling, genetic engineering, and anti-nuclear issues. It uses direct action, lobbying, research, and ecotage[6] to achieve its goals.
Religion: Believers worship the sun, stars, rivers, trees and the animals.
Hinduism
NRDC v. Chevron 1984
In brief: The Environmental Protection Agency issued a regulation defining the statutory term stationary source for the purpose of implementing the 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act. Under the regulation, the agency allowed states to treat all pollution-emitting devices within the same industrial grouping as though they were encased within a single bubble or stationary source. The National Resources Defense Council sued the EPA and several companies in federal court, and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside the agency's regulation. The Supreme Court reversed this decision in favor of the agency, holding that the EPA's regulation was a permissible definition of the statutory term stationary source. Why it matters: The Supreme Court established the principle known as Chevron deference. This principle defines the extent to which a federal court, in reviewing a federal government agency's action, should defer to the agency's construction of a statute that the agency has been delegated to administer. Under Chevron, if a statute is silent or ambiguous on a particular matter, the court must decide if the agency's interpretation is "based on a permissible construction of the statute." According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Chevron deference further entails that "When Congress explicitly left a gap in a program to fill, the agency's regulations are given controlling weight unless arbitrary, capricious, or manifestly contrary to statute. When such a gap is implicitly left by Congress, the court is not to substitute its own construction of the statute as long as the agency's interpretation is reasonable."
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) v. Hill 1978
In previous suits filed by Environmental Defense Fund under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), TVA had been ordered by Judge Robert L. Taylor of the Eastern District of Tennessee to cease dam construction for 16 months until an environmental impact statement had been written.[8][9][2] Congress continued to fund the project under the annual Public Works Appropriations Act and Judge Taylor dissolved the injunction after a year and dismissed the NEPA suit. After the discovery of the snail darter, Hiram Hill, Zygmunt Plater, and local attorney Joseph Congleton[10] submitted a petition to the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the snail darter as endangered. In the Federal Register, the FWS ruled that the species was indeed endangered and designated mile 0.5 to 17 of the Little Tennessee River as critical habitat for snail darters. TVA rejected the Fish and Wildlife Service's interpretation of ESA and continued to receive funding for the Tellico Dam. On February 28, 1976 Hill et al., filed a citizen's suit seeking an injunction and claimed that TVA was in violation of the Endangered Species Act. Judge Taylor presided over the case and on May 25, 1976 he found that the dam would eliminate the fish and its habitat, but he refused to consider balancing the alternate development of the river, and refused to enjoin completion of the Tellico Dam.[11] On January 31, 1977 the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Judge Taylor's decision and issued an injunction forbidding the completion of the dam.[12][2] During this time TVA petitioned the FWS to remove the snail darter from the endangered species list and also petitioned for a writ of certiorari from the United States Supreme Court.
Rapanos v. United States 2006
In the late 1980s, Rapanos filled 22 acres (8.9 ha) of wetland that he owned with sand, in preparation for the construction of a mall, without filing for a permit.[1] He argued that the land was not a wetland and that he was not breaking the law, but his own consultant and state employees disagreed. Rapanos claimed that his land was up to 20 miles (32 km) from any navigable waterways.[2] However, the term "navigable waterway" has been broadly interpreted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to include areas connected to or linked to waters via tributaries or other similar means. Because no single opinion garnered a majority of the votes, it is unclear which opinion sets forth the controlling test for wetlands jurisdiction. Chief Justice Roberts observed that the lower courts would likely look to Marks v. United States[19] to guide them in applying the competing Rapanos standards. Marks provides, "When a fragmented Court decides a case and no single rationale explaining the result enjoys the assent of five Justices, the holding of the Court may be viewed as that position taken by those Members who concurred in the judgments on the narrowest grounds."
Religion: All life is "creatures of God" and therefore animal abuse, factory farming, vivisection, and hunting are viewed unfavorably.
Islam
Why is A Sand County Almanac considered an important book in the environmental field?
It promotes the idea of a "land ethic." A land ethic is a philosophy or theoretical framework about how, ethically, humans should regard the land.
Which philosopher was known for arguing Gaia hypothesis
James Lovelock
Religion: Teaches that the environment, like humankind, has certain unalienable rights that are endowed to it by its Creator. As such they should not be summarily dismissed or violated.
Judaism
Date: Fire on the Cuyahoga River
June 22, 1969 As Cleveland emerged as a major center for manufacturing, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so much so that it "caught fire" at least 13 times, most famously on June 22, 1969, helping to spur the American environmental movement.[12]
_________ argued for a biocentric or "life-centered" environmental ethic.
Kenneth Goodpaster. Not an extremist. The answer is not Paul Taylor because he argues for the rather radical view that all living things have inherent value, and as such they are equally deserving or moral respect.
_______ consist of residues from the mining and extraction of uranium from its ore.
Mill tailings Tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore.
Religion: "Knowing the land" is the basis for environmental respect and responsibility.
Native American
Which philosopher argued biocentric egalitarianism?
Paul Taylor. Extreme view that all living things equally valuable with humans. 1986 book respect for nature: a theory of env ethics. related to deep ecology. defends biocentrism, life-centered approach. all living things have value and deserve moral concern.
Who proposed the definition of justice to mean "giving to each what is owed"?
Polemarchus
What is procedural justice?
Procedural justice is the idea of fairness in the processes that resolve disputes and allocate resources. One aspect of procedural justice is related to discussions of the administration of justice and legal proceedings.
Law: Established cradle-to-grave regulations for the handling of hazardous wastes
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 10/21/1976
Which President signed the Clean Water Act to strengthen water pollution laws?
Richard Nixon 10/18/1972. Nixon was in office 1969-74.
Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) v. Army Corps of Engineers 2001
SWANCC, a consortium of Chicago-area cities and villages, sought to develop landfill for baled nonhazardous solid waste on a 533-acre (2.16 km2) parcel in Illinois. The parcel had been used for sand and gravel mining until about 1960. Since then, the excavation trenches from the mining had evolved into ponds ranging in size from a 'few feet across to several acres. SWANCC obtained the needed local and state permits, but the Corps, on the basis of the ponds and their use by migratory birds, asserted jurisdiction under section 404 and denied a permit. Estimates of waters and wetland acreage likely to be removed from the section 404 permitting program as a result of the SWANCC decision are very difficult to assess, in part because of questions about Corps and EPA interpretation of the ruling, but the decision may affect up to 79% of wetland acreage. One likely result is that case-by-case evaluations will then be required to determine if regulatory jurisdiction exists,
Earth Day is an annual event that was first celebrated by the United Nations on March 21, 1970. It was then founded in the United States by ___________ to occur every April 22 as a way to recognize the global effort for environmental protection. Earth Day is currently celebrated by almost 200 countries.
Senator Gaylord Nelson
What book, written by Rachel Carson in 1962, exposed the dangerous effects of manmade pesticides, particularly DDT, on the environment? Carson was particularly concerned with the bioaccumulation of these pesticides and their effect on bird populations. (Capitalize each word of the book's title.)
Silent Spring Written 1962. The book was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, but, owing to public opinion, it brought about numerous changes. It spurred a reversal in the United States' national pesticide policy, led to a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses,[2] and helped to inspire an environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.[3][4]
Social change is the result of a clash between what two groups?
Social Movements and Machiavellians
Word: The immediate results of radiation exposure
Somatic effects
The collective strategies of design and fabrication of products that minimize the amount and toxicity of generated waste
Source reduction
What event in 1910 threatened the work and progress of the United States Forest Service?
The "Forest Fire Storm" of 1910 formed 2/1/1905. The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages 193 million acres (780,000 km2) of land.[3] Major divisions of the agency include the Chief's Office, National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Business Operations, and Research and Development.[4] The agency manages about 25% of federal lands and is the only major national land management agency not part of the U.S. Department of the Interior,[5] which manages the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
Essay: In the landmark 1992 case, Lucas v. South Carolina, the Supreme Court of the United States laid out precedent principles in the application of "regulatory taking." Explain what this important environmental case was about and discuss the meaning of "regulatory taking."
The Fifth Amendment states that private property shall not "be taken for public use without just compensation." Federal courts have interpreted this clause to ban not only the literal taking of private property but also "regulatory taking." Regulatory taking occurs when the government, by law or regulation, deprives a land owner of all or some economic uses of his or her property. A builder named David Lucas bought two beach front lots on the South Carolina coast with the intent to build houses. Before he could build, South Carolina passed a law prohibiting building on critical areas or near beaches and denied him a building permit. Lucas took the state agency that grants permits to court. Although the State said the denial was not a regulatory taking, a lower court ruled in the builder's favor and awarded him a cash settlement. After the Supreme Court of South Carolina overturned the lower court's decision, the case went to the Supreme Court of the United States, who decided that the Supreme Court of South Carolina had erred when they ruled that the case was not a regulatory taking. Lucas was allowed to build houses on his beachfront property. This set the following precedent for environmental law: A regulation that deprives a land owner of all economically beneficial uses of land constitutes a regulatory taking.
Law: Discouraged cultivation of environmentally sensitive lands, especially wetlands, and authorized incentives for farmers to withdraw highly erodible lands from production
The Food Security Act 12/23/85 aka farm bill
Which of the following statements pertains to the US Forest Service? (Select two answers.)
The Forest Service motto is "Caring for the Land and Serving People.", The Forest Service Mission is sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.
What is the kyoto protocol?
The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part one) global warming is occurring and (part two) it is extremely likely that human-made CO2 emissions have predominantly caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There are currently 192 parties (Canada withdrew from the protocol, effective December 2012)[4] to the Protocol.
Which act gave power to all branches of the government to give proper consideration to the environment and was the first time a national framework was given to preserve the environment before building airports and large structures?
The National Environmental Policy Act 1/1/1970
Law: Established the President's Council on Environmental Quality on January 1, 1970?
The National Environmental Policy Act 1/1/1970 The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is a division of the Executive Office of the President that coordinates federal environmental efforts in the United States and works closely with agencies and other White House offices on the development of environmental and energy policies and initiatives.
Which of the following best describes sustainability?
The ability for something to continue and last, to be long-lived, and not be quickly or easily used up or abused The answer was NOT "Preserving and renewing, when possible, human and natural resources". This seems to be because this description implies not using the resources.
Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe 1971
The case concerned the decision by the Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe to construct Interstate 40 through Overton Park in Memphis, Tennessee. During the interstate highway system's late 1950s and early 1960s building boom, public parks had been viewed as desirable to build through because doing so didn't require the federal government to use the power of eminent domain. That changed in the mid-1960s, under § 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966, a federal statute commonly called "Section 4(f)." It required the government to demonstrate that there were no "feasible and prudent" alternatives to building through public lands. On March 3, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, upholding the "feasible and prudent" clause
What important project helped John Muir and Gifford Pinchot articulate their ethical positions on preservation or conservation for the general public?
The flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley
What does a geomorphologist study?
The shape of the landscape and combines the information of endogenic processes (processes from within the earth), with the erosive power of water, wind and other exogenic influences
Essay: Define environmental justice and discuss the issues related to environmental justice with regard to the effects of pollution, land use and climate change on developing nations.
There is an inequitable distribution of environmental hazards around the world. The rise of economic globalization, marked by liberalized trade rules and the dominance of multinational corporations, has played a key role in shifting environmental pollution from industrialized to developing countries. This shift can be seen most prominently in the export of polluting industries and hazardous wastes from developed countries to poor, developing countries in Africa, South America, and Asia. Weak environmental regulations and lax enforcement of laws foster this shift, supported by trade rules that force developing countries to make trade-offs between environmental protection and economic prosperity. Despite attempts to regulate the international waste trade by treaty, illegal exportation of hazardous wastes to developing countries continues to flourish. In addition, the negative effects of widely recognized environmental degradation (ozone depletion, climate change, declining biodiversity, deforestation) are disproportionately borne by developing countries and poor populations across the globe. The United States is responsible for 25% of the world's greenhouse gases, even though it has only 4% of the world's population. In contrast, developing countries have only recently started down the path to industrialization, and their per capita emissions of greenhouse gases are comparatively low. Developing nations are especially vulnerable to climate change and other adverse impacts. They also have fewer resources to respond to these problems, and stand to lose the most ground in their development efforts, threatening to entrench existing global economic and social inequalities.
What is the purpose of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA)?
To promote informed decision-making by federal agencies by providing detailed information concerning environmental impacts
What was the main purpose of the Endangered Species Act of 1973?
To protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend
Law: Provided for the regulation of chemical substances by the EPA and the safety testing of new chemicals
Toxic Substances Control Act 10/11/1976
Word: A basic goal of all waste management strategies
Waste prevention
How can oppression be defined in a framework for environmental justice?
When people are not only distinguished between but are also subject to physical and psychological brutality, to include worse living conditions due to pollution; greater risk of environmental catastrophe and more severe outcomes from environmental events; and more difficult access to green spaces and healthful food, water, air, etc.
Deepwater Horizon Litigation, Ongoing BP Oil Spill 4/20/2010
When the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on the Gulf of Mexico exploded due to negligence on the part of BP, 11 people were killed and the equivalent of nearly 5 million barrels of oil were spilled into the Atlantic Ocean. Not only did the explosion have a profound effect on nearby people — 30 percent of all locals suffered from mental illness in the wake of the event — the accident had a global impact, affecting an untold number of people. While BP allotted $3.5 billion to the case, the actual costs have skyrocketed beyond that figure; in addition to the $28 billion already spent in cleanup costs and paid out in claims, it may be subject to $18 billion more in penalties. For far too long have fossil fuel lobbyists protected corporations from being held responsible for their impact on the environment. This litigation provides a clear message in a language that Big Oil and its investors understand: You have a responsibility to protect the planet and the people
Which philosopher says that value is not inherent, but rather assigned to things by humans?
Wilhelm Windleband -- silly like his name
E.O. Wilson
Wrote Consilience. Biologist who co-coined, with Robert MacArthur, the theory of island biogeography, which identifies factors that regulate species richness on islands. This means the total number of different species present.
The creation of this first National Park, in 1872, changed the course of environmental attitudes because it paved the way for more National Parks to be created and provided a way for environmental preservation to be practiced in the United States in the years to come. People began to see the environment as an asset that should be conserved so that all may enjoy it.
Yellowstone
def of env ethics
a discipline in philosophy that studies the moral relationship of human beings to their phys surroundings
ecocentrism
a point of view that recognizes the ecosphere, rather than the biosphere, as central in importance, and attempts to redress the imbalance created by anthropocentrism.
descriptive ethics
aka comparative ethics. studying what people think about morality. different from normative, which tells people how to act. also different from meta, which examines the terms themselves (ie, what does "right" even mean?) descriptive: asking sb, should a man steal a drug to save his wife's life?
normative ethics
aka prescriptive ethics. how should people act, morally speaking?
deep ecology
an environmental philosophy promoting the inherent worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, plus a restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas.
tom regan
argued for total cessation of use/killing of animals
virtue ethics
asks what a decision says abou tthe decider's character
ecology
branch of biology concerned with interactions between life forms and environments
Who was Arne Naess? What viewpoint in environmental ethics did he initiate?
deep ecology Arne Dekke Eide Næss (/ˈɑːrnə ˈnɛs/ AR-nə NESS; Norwegian: [ˈnɛsː]; 27 January 1912 - 12 January 2009) was a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term "deep ecology" and was an important intellectual and inspirational figure within the environmental movement of the late twentieth century.[6] Næss cited Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring as being a key influence in his vision of deep ecology. Næss combined his ecological vision with Gandhian nonviolence and on several occasions participated in direct action.
What is moral relativism?
descriptive moral relativism holds only that people do, in fact, disagree fundamentally about what is moral
normative ethics composed of these 2
ethical theory and applied ethics
The variety of interactions between humans and animals is the subject matter of:
ethnozoology. The definition of ethnozoology may be deduced from the parts of this word. "Ethno" refers to race and culture. Zoology is a branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom. Thus ethnozoology looks at the relationship between humans and animals.
common goods utilized for private benefit will be subject to...
exploitation
deontology
from Gr deon (obligation, duty). The right act is the one required by moral law/series of rules, rather than being determined by the consequences. So this is essentially principled conduct and is similar to what we do as JWs.
The ancient Greeks valued the environment, as evidenced by their
having gods of nature
biocentrism
intrinsic value of all living things
A toxic tort is a particular type of personal injury lawsuit against a:
manufacturer or distributor of a chemical product which causes an injury or illness. A toxic tort claim is a specific type of personal injury lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims that exposure to a chemical or dangerous substance caused the plaintiff's injury or disease.
Sierra Club v. Morton, 1972
planned Disney ski resort in the Mineral King Valley inside Sequoia National Forest. The Sierra Club was opposed to the construction of the resort on the grounds that it interfered with the preservation of the national park, surrounding forest area, and local wildlife. the Supreme Court contested that the Sierra Club had no right to sue — it only had an interest in the problem. While Sierra Club took time to amend its complaint and show it had standing to sue, an important piece of legislation passed: the National Environmental Policy Act. This act required Disney to write an environmental impact statement detailing what impact the resort would have on the area. Disney, after reviewing the severe ecological impact of their plans, backed out.
father of env ethics
socrates note: socrates --> plato --> aristotle. so SPA.
strip mining
taking ore w/out concern for land. leads to erosion, deforestation. however, minerals enhance human life. "Strip mining" is the practice of mining a seam of mineral, by first removing a long strip of overlying soil and rock (the overburden); this activity is also referred to as "overburden removal". It is most commonly used to mine coal and lignite (brown coal). Although many countries require reclamation plans for coal mining sites, undoing all the environmental damages to water supplies, destroyed habitats, and poor air quality is a long and problematic task. This land disturbance is on a vast scale. In the US, between 1930 and 2000, coal mining altered about 2.4 million hectares [5.9 million acres] of natural landscape, most of it originally forest. Attempts to re-seed land destroyed by coal mining is difficult because the mining process has so thoroughly damaged the soil. For example, in Montana, replanting projects had a success rate of only 20-30 percent, while in some places in Colorado only 10 percent of oak aspen seedlings that were planted survived.
Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife 1992
the court held that a group of American wildlife conservation and other environmental organizations lacked standing to challenge regulations jointly issued by the U.S. Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce, regarding the geographic area to which a particular section of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 applied. The case arose over issues of US funding of development projects in Aswan, Egypt and Mahaweli, Sri Lanka that could harm endangered species in the affected areas. The government declared that the act did not apply to projects outside of the United States and Defenders of Wildlife sued. In [this] decision, hailed by the right and attacked by the left as well as by a broad swath of legal scholars, the Court made clear that plaintiffs must suffer a concrete, discernible injury—not a "conjectural or hypothetical one"—to be able to bring suit in federal court. It, in effect, made it more difficult for plaintiffs to challenge the actions of a government agency when the actions don't directly affect them.[1]
Product manufacturers accused of exposing the public to chemical concentrations in excess of "maximum contaminant levels," in violation of The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, is an example of environmental
toxic tort 1986 Proposition 65 (formally titled The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986) is a California law passed by direct voter initiative in 1986 by a 63%-37% vote. Its goals are to protect drinking water sources from toxic substances that cause cancer and birth defects and to reduce or eliminate exposures to those chemicals generally, such as consumer products, by requiring warnings in advance of those exposures.
3 major types of ethics
virtue, ends, and means
aldo leopold
wrote a sand county almanac. "the land ethic" is a chapter in it. conservation is harmony between humans and earth. "The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land." emphasized biodiversity and ecology. --moral extensionism