EMSC 302
Orientation to Energy and Sustainability Policy

Environmental Dimensions of Sustainability Ethics

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rusty shopping cart turned upside down with trash under it on the beach

Credit: "Human Waste" by Alan Cleaver is
licensed under CC BY 2.0

Our Role as Humans

Here in the United States, the environmental movement and awareness of environmental ethics are largely associated with the popularity and awareness that resulted from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.  However, decades earlier, Aldo Leopold laid the groundwork for environmental ethics with his “Land Ethic” philosophy in which he suggested that there is an ecological (interdependent) nature of human’s relationship with the land, saying we’re an “interconnected web of inorganic elements and living beings,” that deserve “to be treated with love and respect, for it [all] has not only instrumental, but also intrinsic value.” (p. 96)

Leopold was one of the first people to speak out for the land itself, promoting it as less of a utilitarian resource to be used as an economic vehicle only, and more of an integral player in our well-being; more a part of us versus something to be conquered. In doing so, he attempted to move our land use away from anthropocentric focused endeavors to more ecocentric considerations. He believed that environmental decisions should be made with consideration of what is best for nature, and not what is “most convenient, useful or economically” valuable to people.

Please watch the following video that more thoroughly explains anthropocentrism and ecocentrism and provides an example of when the two ideals collide.

Video: Environmental Humanities MOOC - 10 What is anthropocentrism? (3:15)

Environmental Humanities MOOC - 10 What is anthropocentrism?
Click for a transcript of the "What is anthropocentrism?".

Every year a ballet of sorts plays out in the Southern Ocean. A Japanese whaling fleet scales the ocean hunting whales, under the guise of a scientific research program. In opposition to this activity, the activist environmental organization, Sea Shepherd, sent out a number of its own boats from ports in Australia with the specific intent of protecting the whales by interrupting the Japanese operation. For this campaign, Sea Shepherd has widespread support in Australia and other parts of the world. Politics and ethics of the Southern Ocean clash over Whales. Aside, this scenario provides some insights into values and perceptions of society and how they shape environmental outcomes. It is a clash between an anthropocentric Japanese program and an ecocentric sea Shepherd campaign.

Anthropocentrism is a term that characterizes a position which accepts human beings as being the most significant species on the planet. Implicitly, humans are considered to have a moral status or value higher than that of other animals due to their level of sentience, their presence of a human soul, and notions of human dignity. Such anthropocentric perspectives are deeply embedded in many modern human cultural and conscious acts, with human considerations being at the center of environmental concerns. Nature, seen as an external environment is generally viewed as having instrumental values and thus its preservation or conservation is premised on its value for human needs, such as its use as a resource or the ecosystem services that it provides.

In parts of Japanese society, hunted whales are seen to have an instrumental value in the form of a food delicacy and also, at least according to the whaling program, for science. Whales are valued for their human use. Anthropocentrism is often contrasted with ecocentric perspectives; a term for a wide variety of beliefs that see humans as a part of, rather than separate from, nature. In this conception, nature is understood as having an intrinsic value - value irrespective of it's used to humans. And therefore human decisions must take this into account.

Sea Shepherd views whales as having a right to live regardless of their instrumental value to humans. There are, of course, shades of gray between these perspectives. For example, a custodian approach where humans are seen as having some obligation to protect nature for its intrinsic value, yet human concerns still remain central. A form of human exceptionalism still exists. Perspectives can also vary in terms of subjects of study and across time. Using the above example of Whales, for instance, in Australia over 100 years ago whales were predominately seen in terms of their instrumental values. They are hunted for their blubber, which was used to make candles, soaps, and cosmetics. Shifts in values over the past century has meant that Whales in Australia are now widely seen for their intrinsic values: their beauty and their sentience. They are not valued for their direct use to humans.

In the environmental humanities, we seek to unsettle strong anthropocentric perspectives, challenging the assumption that humans and society as somehow been distinct and separate from nature. We explore new stories and understandings of the world and the ways in which we can start to imagine different social and environmental futures.

Optional Reading

  • Working Toward Sustainability: Ethical Decision Making in a Technological World, section on "The Emergence of Environmental Ethics" (p.95-99)
    You can find a free electronic version under Library Resources in Canvas.
  • You can read more about Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson in Chapter 5: Environmental Dimensions of Sustainability Ethics of our textbook: Working Toward Sustainability: Ethical Decision Making in a Technological World.
    You can find a free electronic version under Library Resources in Canvas.