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Summary: The Importance Of Environmental Ethics

1498 Words6 Pages

Why does environmental ethics matter?

‘The essence of an environmental crisis is a cultural and value crisis’ (Zheng, 2012, p. 89). Environmental ethics concern the study of ethical questions that arise in the relationships between humans and the non-human environment (Palmer, McShane, & Sandler, 2014). Whilst many different environmental philosophies exist anthropocentrism is the one most dominant in western culture and has important implications in terms of sustainability (Hens & Susanne, 1998; Palmer, McShane, & Sandler, 2014). To illustrate the importance of environmental ethics this essay will discuss anthropocentrism and demonstrate how its manifestation has meant that there are limited constraints placed upon how humans may use the environment (Hens & Susanne, 1998). This will be achieved with reference to case studies in which the short-sighted, selfish nature of humanity has caused potentially irreversible damage to the Earth’s delicate ecosystems. Firstly, attention will be drawn to the problem of overexploiting fishing stocks with particular reference to Pandan Bay in the Philippines and the power of creating …show more content…

Furthermore, to illustrate the importance of environmental ethics in the negotiation of lawmaking, attention will be turned to deforestation in particular East Gippsland, Victoria where

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