Environmental Issues as Moral Concerns
Paternalistic laws are passed to protect people from harming themselves, and the same goes for laws protecting the environment from human harm. Emissions testing for cars, smoking and fire bans in National Parks, littering penalties, are all examples of laws made to protect us from the harm we inflict on our own environment. These laws extend to protect not only the environment in itself, but also the resulting harm it causes on people. As in the case of emissions tests for cars, which protect air quality from pollutants and in turn people breath cleaner air.
The studies in biology of ecological systems have revealed the direct effect of the environment on human health. Conversely, these studies have also shown the effect of industrial society on the environment. The less we do to prevent the harm people cause on the environment, the more harm we do to ourselves. Take as an example the effects of acid deposition (acid rain), caused as “a result of the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, as well as gasoline”, which cause, “reduction of agricultural yields, damage to buildings, and illnesses in humans”, (Mader, pg.30).
Herein lies the need and reason for laws that protect not only the environment from people, but protects people from the environment they have damaged. It is laws derived from a moral sense of duty to humankind that prevent harm done to others. It is this same moral sense of duty that, when applied to issues of the environment, enacts laws to prevent harm to the earth. Consequently, environmental concerns should be considered no different from that of a moral concern because both aim to protect the quality of life for people.
What is a Moral Concern/ or a Definition of Moral?
Before farther making the connection between human’s and their environment, a clear concept of a moral concern must be established. To define moral is simply to recognize the difference between right and wrong. Right is what a society deems acceptable in the actions of others and wrong is the actions that may cause harm deemed not acceptable. The aforementioned ‘moral sense of duty’, applies to the learned traits humans acquire whether from family, education, religion or experience. When a person’s moral character decides what is right from wrong, nowhere in the definition of moral does it require that it be right or wrong for a human being only.
It is true that human’s are the only beings capable, and therefore necessary in making moral choices. When it comes to environmental concerns does nature require moral judgments from that of humans? As William F. Baxter argues the “questions of ought are unique to the human mind”, and he rejects “that there is a ‘right’ or ‘morally correct’ state of nature”, (Bonevac, pg.130). It can also be argued that if humans are just a link in earth’s ecological system then moral application is meaningless in nature’s order. Even still, if moral concerns are those that can only be found as human concerns, are nature and the environment not of human concern? If, as biologists and ecologists have proven, humans cause harm to the environment, moral judgment and guidance becomes necessary. If not necessary for the sake of the environment itself, then necessary for the quality of the natural resources that humans’ use.
With this necessity, it becomes clear that an environmental concern is the same as a moral concern as they are both of human characteristics. They are both concerns that have effects on human life and from human life. It is not a matter of is the environment something that has moral properties, but a matter of is the environment due moral consideration from humans.
Survival as a species in the Environment
In order to give moral consideration to the earth’s environment one must see the benefit in so doing. These benefits may be as plain as day for someone who lives off the land or studies the natural sciences. Yet the industrialized world sees progress as primary at the expense of the environment and humans’ knowledge of it. All that human beings have is what the earth provides and these resources stay plentiful from that of a healthy environment. Just as moral laws exist to sustain the relationships of civilization, natural laws exist to maintain the environment and one must understand and abide by these laws to survive.
An individual who has refined their moral sense to humankind will see that there also exists a moral obligation to the environment. This awareness of one’s moral obligation to the environment overcomes the ignorance that causes damage to it. Much of today’s human existence does not allow for an innate sense of nature, so education is essential to awareness. Once realized, the awareness will allow one to harbor environmental concerns in the context of a moral consideration.
Though one could argue that because humans have outlived the extinction of many other species and continue to survive amongst natural disasters, existence is Darwinian. If so then all that matters is that we survive at all costs, regardless of human interaction with the environment. Conversely, with this it is understood that knowledge of the environment and ecology is key to being fit for survival in humans. This same knowledge is what informs us of the harm inflicted to the environment, thus it should inform the individual as moral concerns. If each individual is informed and aware, a collective of moral decisions made towards the environment will result in our survival as a species.
It can be said that this is a utilitarian approach, in that each individual should act for the greatest good for the greatest number so that the individual harmonizes with the whole of existence. Aside from philosophical labels, individual concern for the environment is in everyone’s best interest for the human race to survive on earth. This being further reason for issues of the environment to be included in each person’s moral considerations.
The impact of the Individual on the Environment
As mentioned, harmful effects come full circle to humans when pollutants are allowed to enter the ecological system. Industrious nations pollute the atmosphere, bodies of water, and lands that make up the human habitat. Though we are a complex life form that has a dominating presence on earth, this widespread influence causes disturbances in the delicate balance of nature. It is when society collectively disregards worldwide environmental concerns that the greatest harm is posed to individuals.
Most of what people have today is due to the conservation and forward thinking of past populace. With the advent of recycling and non-polluting energy sources, we continue to insure life on the planet for the future. Once people realize the importance of these environmental concerns, they realize the influence an individual can have just in their life choices. The air we breathe, water we drink, and food we eat, are all affected when we support industry that allows pollution.
The individual does have a hand in how the environment impacts life on earth. Awareness, restraint in over consumption, and participation in conservation are all moral decisions that are made when one is educated and informed. It is the choice or action that is deemed moral, not what is being decided on. So it is true, to rephrase Baxter, that morality is unique to humans, but since we have this power our actions cannot be left unaccountable when it harms the very substance of life itself.
Works Cited
(Mader, pg. 30)Inquiry into Life, 10th Edition
By Sylvia Mader
McGraw Hill Companies, 2003
(Bonevac, pg.130)Today’s Moral Issues, 4th Edition
from People or Penguins
By William F. Baxter
Edited by Daniel Bonevac
McGraw Hill Companies, 2002
