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This article provides and reflects on an original lesson plan for engaging high school, undergraduate, or graduate students in learning fundamental concepts of environmental ethics. Implementation of this lesson plan effectively promoted critical analysis, reflection, and communication of environmental ethics issues in a seminar for second-year undergraduate students focused on theoretical frameworks and research methods in the field of sustainability. After reading background information about environmental ethics, students worked in small groups to answer questions about ethical issues related to the Dakota Access Pipeline in the midwestern United States. To further apply knowledge about ethics, students independently investigated a second environmental issue of their choosing, using news reports and scholarly publications to identify key ethical questions and interested parties affected by them, then wrote a position paper about how well principles of environmental ethics were upheld in their chosen scenario and how the application of ethics could be improved. In their work, students demonstrated adequate to exceptional ability to communicate knowledge of and apply relevant ethical principles, although the scope and depth of knowledge demonstrated varied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public schools and districts use social media to share announcements and communicate with parents and the community, but alongside such uses run risks to students' privacy. Using a novel data set of 18 million posts on Facebook by schools and school districts in the United States, we sought to establish how frequently photos of students were shared. Through sequential mixed-methods, we estimated that around 4.9 million posts included identifiable images of students and that approximately 726,000 of these posts also included students' first and last names and their approximate location. We discuss these findings' implications from a data ethics perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "countering violent extremism" (CVE) refers to a suite of proactive actions to counter efforts by extremists to recruit, radicalize, and mobilize followers to violence, and thus prevent extremist violence from occurring. In this article we explore the ethics of CVE. We begin with a description of CVE, framed within a discussion of the history (and issues) with counter-terrorism efforts post 9/11. We also outline the many and varied techniques and practices that the term CVE describes. We argue that the fundamental ethical tension in many of these forms of CVE is between the purported benefits of addressing the conditions that most likely contribute to recruitment and radicalization by violent extremists; and the potential risks of upstream interventions that might unfairly target communities and individuals or produce counterproductive outcomes. We then mount a defense of CVE on ethical grounds. Drawing from literature in public health ethics, we argue that violent extremism is a "social contagion" that shares relevant features with infectious diseases that motivate arguments for publicly-funded and even enforceable vaccination schedules. CVE is justified, we argue, to the degree it is necessary, effective, proportionate, minimally infringing on individual rights, and subject to public accountability. We assess these criteria and demonstrate that, while there are cases in which CVE is performed in an unjustifiable manner, the practice itself is in principle justified. This article concludes with an applied test of the model on a newly formed CVE program in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconnecting to nature is imperative for the sustainability of the planet and outdoor experiential programs are an ideal context to operationalize and study sustainability interventions. The purpose of this research is two-fold. First, we investigate the extent to which types of connections to nature are expressed by participants who completed an outdoor experiential NOLS course in the western United States. Second, we examine the extent to which a connection to nature includes a future intention to engage in pro-environmental behavior. This research affirms, empirically, the intention of NOLS to foster an environmental ethic. Key findings provide insights into how some connection themes (e.g., concern and protection) may have more potential to engender future positive intentions than others (e.g., beauty and appreciation). Albeit exploratory in orientation, it is a first important step in empirically establishing relationships between types of nature connections experienced in NOLS and future stewardship actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing attention to climate change and health has re-centered environmental ethics on the medical industry and biomedical ethics on the environment. Yet, without a belief in climate change, there is little reason for sustainability in medicine. In the United States, about one-quarter of all adults self-identify as Evangelical Christians, with a sizable subset of "climate change deniers." In order for millions of Evangelicals to be persuaded about the importance of sustainability in medicine, there must be a theological justification. This article will lay the foundation for an Evangelical environmental bioethic. I will first provide a brief history of environmental bioethics. Then, Christian theology will be introduced. In the following section, the work of Richard Bauckham—as a representative of Evangelical ecological theology—will be explored. His scholarship on biblical limitation can form the basis of an Evangelical environmental bioethic. The views and actions of American Evangelicals demands special attention, not only because of their number, but also because of their influence in one of the most environmentally noxious countries in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of scientific writers have proposed manipulating the ecology of Mars in order to make the planet more comfortable for future immigrants from Earth. However, the ethical acceptability of such 'terraforming' proposals remains unresolved. In response, in this article I explore some of these scientific proposals through the lens provided by Buddhist environmental ethics that are quantitatively expressed by practitioners in the ethnographic field of the United States. What I find is that contemporary Buddhists combine philosophical notions of interconnectedness with moral considerations not to harm others and then creatively extend this combined sensibility to the protection specifically of abiotic features of Mars. In so doing, these Buddhists significantly reject proposals to alter the Martian ecology planet-wide as beyond the ethical right of humans. Along the way these Buddhists also, importantly, provide an innovative basis for enriching Buddhist environmental ethical protection of abiotic locations, and this strengthening can assist in mitigating climate change on Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the individual and contextual influences shaping the environmental ethical decision intentions of a sample of managers in the U.S. metal-finishing industry in this study. Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior and Jones's (1991) moral intensity construct grounded our theoretical framework. Findings revealed that the magnitude of consequences, a dimension of moral intensity, moderated the relationships between each of five antecedents--attitudes, subjective norms, and three perceived behavioral control factors (self-efficacy, financial cost, and ethical climate)--and managers' environmental ethical decision intentions. We then developed implications for theory and practice in environmental ethical decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landslide victory of Michigan's "bottle bill' by popular vote contradicts previous findings regarding the small size of the ecologically concerned consumer segment. A survey of voter preference conducted just prior to the 1976 general election addresses this contradiction and some broader aspects of consumer environmental behavior. Implications for ecological marketers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on the culture of competitiveness at U.S. universities and colleges and how they became complicit in the promotion of colonial, sexist and non-environmentally conscious way of thinking. Topics covered include competitiveness in the admissions process and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports, and how the culture of competitiveness will continually allow universities and colleges to be complicit in furthering behaviors they reject.

Since environmental ethics research started in China in the 1980s, it has been deeply influenced by environmental ethics theory in the United States. Some Chinese environmental philosophers have adopted the key concept of intrinsic value to construct Chinese environmental ethics. However, in recent decades, the concept of intrinsic value has been criticized by scholars in both the United States and China. Many Chinese have found that environmental ethics in the United States that is founded on the concept of intrinsic value is incompatible with Chinese philosophy and culture. They have begun a new effort that is aimed at developing a localized environmental ethics based on traditional Chinese philosophy. However, the Chinese scholars' theoretical effort neglects the important concept of wilderness that is emerging from preservation and conservation practices in China. In this context, the emotion of wonder and its interrelationship with intrinsic value is the new paradigm for constructing a Chinese environmental ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perception of modern environmental ethics in China has been greatly influenced by two factors: scholarship of environmental ethics in Europe and the United States on the one hand, and ideological resources from traditional Chinese culture on the other. In practice, while Chinese governmental agencies, enterprises, and social organizations are paying more and more attention to the perspective of environmental ethics in technology assessment and social governance, they are still faced with the challenge of a large number of realistic problems. Behind these intellectual features, there is the potential impact of cultural backgrounds, including traditional views of nature, epistemology, methodology, and axiology in China. Modern environmental ethics in China is growing into a kind of environmental ethics with the characteristics of the philosophy of organism, which can meet the requirements of sustainable development and responsible innovation, so that it may play its unique role in the era of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers can be important active contributors to a sustainable society by selecting food choices that are both healthy and produced respecting environmental and socially ethical standards. The current study investigates five consumer behavioural factors - namely, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE); environmental conscious behaviour; concerns for ethical food production; health conscious lifestyle; and healthy dietary patterns. The key interest of the study lies in exploring the moderating role of PCE - the extent to which the consumer believes that his/her own efforts can make a difference - in these interrelationships. The empirical analysis was conducted through an online survey of food consumers implemented in three markets - the US, the UK and Germany. Findings indicate that for individuals with higher levels of PCE, who are environmental conscious and ethically concerned, information on food labels relating to environmental and social issues represents value by itself. Interestingly, health and nutrition information on food labels was not perceived valuable by consumers with high PCE. The predictive effects of various socio-demographic variables on PCE, consumer environmental and health consciousness are discussed. Cross-cultural differences are also outlined. The results of this research may contribute to the development of environmental policies and communication strategies of the food industry to enhance perceived consumer effectiveness among consumers. Improved PCE, in turn, may catalyze consumers' environmental behaviour and ethical concerns in relation to consumption of food products with environmental and social information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation infrastructure tremendously affects the quality of life for urban residents, influences public and mental health, and shapes social relations. Historically, the topic is rich with social and political controversy and the resultant transit systems in the United States cause problems for minority residents and issues for the public. Environmental justice frameworks provide a means to identify and address harms that affect marginalized groups, but environmental justice has limits that cannot account for the mainstream population. To account for this condition, I employ a complex moral assessment measure that provides a way to talk about harms that affect the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with studying the peculiarities of environmental education system in the USA. It has been defined that US environmental policy includes governmental actions at the federal, state and local level. It has been identified that US environmental education is characterized by an extraordinary variety of forms, directions and methodological approaches, deep penetration of the ideas of environmental ethics in the content of all the disciplines, extensive involvement of communities and, in particular, public non-governmental organizations in the process of forming US citizens' careful and responsible attitude to the environment. It has been stated that the system of US Environmental Education aims to provide a solution to such problems: to ensure citizens' close contact with the environment; to contribute to the forming of environmentally friendly styles of behaviour and activities; to form a set of knowledge about the environment as a system of interconnected natural, economic and social factors; to involve students in solving local environmental problems. It has been found out that since 1970 Environmental Protection Agency has been operating in the USA. It has been mentioned that Environmental Protection Agency implements an environmental law by writing regulations and set national environmental standards. It has been indicated that Environmental Protection Agency has created the Office of Environmental Education so that national leadership may be provided and environmental literacy may be increased. It has been denoted that main goals of the the Office of Environmental Education include design and implementation of curricula and training programs for environmental education for both pupils and adults; organization of seminars, conferences and discussions on ugent environmental issues; cooperation with state education departments and other agencies. Consequently, recommendations that may be used by native educators to improve the national system of environmetal education have been presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"[E]ver since the dawn of civilization, people have not been content to see events as unconnected and inexplicable. They have craved an understanding of the underlying order in the world. Today we still yearn to know why we are here and where we came from. Humanity's deepest desire for knowledge is justification enough for our continuing quest. And our goal is nothing less than a complete description of the universe we live in." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2010 BP oil spill is the largest human-caused disaster in U.S. history. Using nationally representative panel data measured before, during, and after the spill I find that rather than giving time and money to actual relief efforts, Americans responded primarily through dramatic increases in time and money given for environmental causes. This expands current understandings about how and why Americans respond to large-scale catastrophe. I argue that this phenomenon can be made sense of theoretically by focusing on the cultural context of "moral shock" precipitated by historic environmental harm and corporate negligence, both of which were amplified in the wake of the spill by national media. This heightened emotional climate interacted with Americans' empathetic identities, practices and habits, politics, and culture to produce different pathways to philanthropic engagement. Consistent with this argument, the results show that all four of these factors mattered for predicting generous behavior in this case, but did so at different points in time. I close by outlining the substantive and theoretical implications of my argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article makes two sets of observations about the moral bases of opposition to nuclear power. First, the article distinguishes between survivalist opposition to nuclear power (built on a conviction that the central moral fact about nuclear power is the cataclysmic threat it represents) and a more political opposition that focuses on matters of justice and democratic equality. Second, the article notes that the tension between these two styles of moral reasoning reflects a more general tension in the environmental movement as a whole. The movement against nuclear power therefore provides an illustration writ small for why environmentalists would do well not to rest their politics entirely on claims about human (and broader ecosystem) survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forty years ago, at the birth of environmental law, both legal and philosophical luminaries assumed that the new field would be closely connected with environmental ethics. Instead, the two grew dramatically apart. This Article diagnoses that divorce and proposes a rapprochement. Environmental law has always grown through changes in public values; for this and other reasons, it cannot do so without ethics. Law and ethics are most relevant to each other when there are large open questions in environmental politics: lawmakers act only when some ethical clarity arises; but law can itself assist in that ethical development. This process is true now in a set of emerging issues: the law of food systems, animal rights, and climate change. This Article draws on philosophy, history, and psychology to develop an account of the ethical changes that might emerge from each of these issues, and proposes legal reforms to foster that ethical development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in environmental education in the United States reveal a noticeable tendency toward the position that every institution of higher education should make the cultivation of ecological intelligence an essential part of every student's learning experience. But a theoretical study of the history of the idea of sustainability in the Western philosophical tradition shows that this concept has been relatively neglected in favor of the notion of a human subjugation of nature. For the idea of a human life according to nature was cultivated by a few ancient thinkers but subverted by various modern notions of the hegemony of man over nature. In light of the clear fact that sustainability is a concern increasingly shared by industry, government, and academe, there is cogent empirical evidence that a life according to nature is an idea whose time has finally come. This paper seeks to act as a catalyst for environmental education by identifying primary sources, providing theoretical frameworks, and supplying practical counsels for determining viable approaches to sustainability useful to industrial actors, governmental policy-makers, and environmental professionals. Thus the paper aims to start a dialogue between various constituencies, especially industrialists and ecologists, about the theoretical foundations and practical implications of sustainability. In doing so, the paper presents elements applicable to the education and training of interested environmentalists at different levels and in different fields, be it formal or non-formal schooling of academics, specialized training or retraining of decision-makers, or common-ground communication to the general public. Finally, the paper suggests that not only the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the technical studies, but also the humanities disciplines can make indispensable contributions to sustainability studies, and that therefore the best practices in this area will inevitably be interdisciplinary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the national interest and ethical obligations of the U.S. in relation to its climate change policy. It also examines the important role to be played by religious groups in the definition of ethical principles in terms of the debate on global warming. The Catholic and evangelical perspectives towards environmental issues are discussed in which both groups are said to have the voting power to enact solutions for climate change. It is concluded that the U.S. possesses an ethical obligation to lead others in addressing global warming.

American environmental legislation cannot be fully explained under traditional interest-group theory, which emphasizes the success of well-financed, organized interests. One alternative explanation holds that the American public accepts a new environmental ethos that is protective of the natural world and human health. This study examines 100 years of state-level ballot questions on environmental policy and empirically establishes the emergence and persistence of this new environmental ethos as well as the changing nature of American support for environmental policy. This ethos emerges in 40 years, environmental policy making of this type has been increasingly citizen-led, inclusive of a wider variety of environmental problems, while embracing a greater range of policy solutions including those premised on more radical notions of humanity?s relationship with the natural world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental ethicists speak fervently about the impact of human activity on the sustainability and survivability of Earth's community. But often these discussions fail to acknowledge one human activity more powerful and with the potential for greater destruction than any other-the United States military and its "empire of bases" encircling the globe. Military operations, both peacetime missions and contingency operations, and military installations stamp a large footprint on the earth's environment. From the atmospheric nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll to the removal of the coral reef at Diego Garcia, the environment of the Pacific Rim has been shaped by the demands of U.S. national security. This paper examines the environmental footprint of U.S. Pacific Command. Secondly, it suggests that the exigencies of U.S. military presence need to be included in discussions of environmental ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making young age groups conscious about environmental problems and responsibility does not only fall on the shoulders of schools and parents but also on media and film-makers. The changing methods of representations of varying environmental issues are discussed here, taking into consideration that in the past 70 years, animation-making has experienced several ideological shifts and has opened up a channel to address adults as well. This switch makes it possible to incorporate themes from the field of environment. To exemplify their representation, films from the 1990s onward are discussed from mostly the palette of American animation, with some previously produced film examples as a historical reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the heart of American adventure sports is the appeal of personal challenge that has roots in 19th-century "wilderness cults." Preserving wilderness and testing oneself against it were part of a search for moral, physical, and even national purity. But, as critics have begun to argue, racism, expansion, and exclusion underpin the wilderness movement. Although these exclusions have been identified, there has been less attention to these exclusions in contemporary adventure culture and environmental thought, which borrow values from the early wilderness movement and suggest that an environmental ethic arises from risking the body in the wild. By examining adventure culture through disability studies, this article exposes the relationship between environmentalism and ableism. It argues that disability is the category of "otherness" against which both environmentalism and adventure have been shaped and revises environmental thought to include all kinds of bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that teachers of environmental ethics must more aggressively entertain questions of private property in their work and in their teaching. To make this case, it first introduces the three primary positions on property: occupation arguments, labor theory of value arguments, and efficiency arguments. It then contextualizes these arguments in light of the contemporary U.S. wise-use movement, in an attempt to make sense of the concerns that motivate wise-use activists, and also to demonstrate how intrinsic value arguments miss the mark. Finally, it offers some suggestions about further directions for environmental ethics, reasoning that there is a good deal of headway to be gained for environmental ethics by accepting that nature can be owned as property, but nevertheless engaging the idea of private property critically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild horse protection policies in the United States and the Netherlands reflect ethical claims and scientific arguments, often cast as opposing positions favoring the integrity of self-sustaining ecosystems versus the welfare of individual animals. Neither holistic eco-centric, nor individualistic bio-centric ethical claims provide guidance to public sector practitioners who care for wild horses removed from U.S. public rangelands and living in holding facilities awaiting adoption; or who manage herds of de-domesticated horses in Dutch nature reserves. Wild horses are becoming increasingly dependent on transitional environments that are neither wild nor domestic. New ethical and scientific arguments are therefore needed to support revisions to existing policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author focuses on Albert Borgmann's book, "Real American Ethics." According to the author, in its attention to physical, social and technological dimensions of moral life, the book emphasizes issues of central importance to environmental ethics. Particular attention is given to Borgmann's theories on philosophy, culture and every day life, as well as the influence of the book. Article topics include a review of the notable topics in "Real American Ethics," the concept of real ethics, a discussion on various personal and professional virtues as they relate to modern life, and the psychology of Americans. Excerpt from the book are also provided.

The article discusses the works of Meskwaki poet Ray A. Young Bear in the U.S. It examines Young Bear's poetics on the Meskwaki Settlement, especially his earliest published poems in the book "Winter of the Salamander: The Keeper of Importance." It then compares Young Bear's work with the work of white ethnographers and poets capturing the significance of the Meskwaki tradition. It further emphasizes the quality of Young Bear's poetry in honoring the Meskwaki tradition and an environmental ethics.

Despite the successes, and the considerable and continuing ethical disputes regarding wolf reintroduction in the United States, no clear, cogent, theoretically based ethical examination of the wolf reintroductions has yet been completed. Ecological feminist thought, particularly as articulated by Karen J. Warren, presents one way to create such an ethical assessment. Applying ecological feminist theories to wolf reintroduction also generates an intriguing instance of theoretical application in the "real world" and sheds insight on the pragmatic value of ecological feminist thought. While ecofeminism does not give a definitive and decisively defensible position concerning wolf reintroduction, it does offer a repeatable framework and set of conditions by which one can assess environmental practice and policy, evidencing yet another example of the relevance of environmental ethics for the assessment of environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates the degree of formal training in ethics offered to Canadian and American professional foresters and natural resource managers and technicians. The researchers proposed a framework for teaching forestry ethics including professional codes of ethics that are supplemented by environmental ethics and forest history. It was cited that environmental ethics provides a rich source of material to guide personal reflection and it clarifies the ethical attributes of a particular management decision. They concluded that forestry ethics is not consistently and coherently covered in forestry curricula. They further assert that incorporation of these issues in the training of foresters will increase understanding of the profession.

In the USA, many environmental educators have paid little attention to Western Christian and Jewish ecotheology, in spite of its being a potentially rich resource for environmental education. In part, this neglect can be attributed to popular misconceptions about the influence of religious beliefs on environmental values. This essay reviews the results of relevant empirical studies within the environmental sociology literature since 1977 to clarify common misconceptions. Conclusions from these empirical studies and other sources may make it easier for environmentalists to reconsider the resources of ecotheology. Reconsidering ecotheology is also practical in that it provides environmental education a means of better connecting with the primary values of many citizens, offers new partnership possibilities for building environmental education infrastructure, and broadens the pluralistic base for environmental ethics. Several basic tenets of ecotheology offer starting points for educators by providing common ground between theology and environmental education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The death of American environmentalism has recently been proclaimed by some commentators (Schellenberger and Nordhaus 2005). Such declarations tend to be limiting because they fail to explore and evaluate the historical context of international, national, and regional social forces and social changes that shaped the American environmental movement over the past century. In this essay, I propose to explore the important question of the decline of American environmentalism within the context of a recurring theme pursued by the American movement: the protection of places wherein we dwell. David Brower has called this the practice of Conservation, Preservation, and Restoration, or CPR (Brower 1995). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific evidence and understanding underpinning societal responsibility for the accelerating pace of climate change has become increasingly strong over the past hundred years. Although many nations have begun to take actions that have the potential to eventually slow the pace of change, contention over the issue continues in the United States, particularly in the nation's capital. A major cause appears to arise from different interpretations of the evidence arising from different perspectives on the issue, including those of the scientific, environmental, fossil-fuel generating, technological, economic and ethical communities, In addition, the public encounters a cacophony of intermixed perspectives from the media and elected officials. While each perspective provides some useful insights, each alone contributes to inhibiting development of the national political consensus needed to responsibly address climate change. Without leadership that balances and reconciles competing perspectives, it is unlikely that a sufficient limiting of emissions will be enacted to prevent significant changes in climate that will impose increasing challenges for those in both developing and developed nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's assessment on the concept of environmental justice and feminisms which she discussed to her class in the U.S. The author tackled issues where she took active participation in promoting environmental consciousness and feminism. The course has enable students to become aware of their existence. It paved way for their direct understanding on distinct differences among people. Indeed, the writer has effectively disseminated valuable information to her class which are vital in students' valuation to life diversity and natural wonders.

There exists in the United States a popular account of the historical roots of environmental philosophy which is worth noting not simply as a matter of historical interest, but also as a source book for some of the key ideas that lend shape to contemporary North American environmental philosophy. However, this folk wisdom about the historical beginnings of North American environmental thinking is incomplete. The wilderness-based history commonly used by environmental philosophers should be supplemented with the neglected story of garbage and sanitation in North American urban areas during the nineteenth century. This supplemented history changes the conceptual territory over which North American environmental philosophy roams. This new territory is better suited to a number of important local and international environmental challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While agriculture in the midwestern United States has often been associated with deleterious effects on stream ecology and geomorphology, identifying appropriate mitigation strategies requires an understanding of the values and ethical beliefs motivating such behavior. Fifty-five open-ended interviews with farmers in central Illinois reveal that environmental modifications such as agricultural drainage can be seen as a rational expression of local environmental valuation. Personal definitions of progressive or successful farming, aesthetic characteristics of the farm such as neatness and order, and ethical understandings of environmentally responsible behavior all drive farming decisions affecting the environment. Debate and dissent create a rich constellation of environmental values, which are constantly renegotiated. Illustrating the complex ways in which farmers perceive and interact with environmental systems allows for a better understanding of these important agents of change in agricultural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with the nineteenth-century critiques of slave agriculture, African American writers have been centrally concerned with their relationship to the American landscape. Drawing on and responding to the dominant ideology of democratic agrarianism, nineteenth-century black writers developed an agrarian critique of slavery and racial oppression. This black agrarianism focuses on property rights, the status of labor, and the exploitation of workers, exploring how racial oppression can prevent a community from establishing a responsible relationship to the land. Black agrarianism serves as an important starting point for understanding black environmental thought as it developed in the twentieth century, and for illuminating the connections between social justice and environmental stewardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental philosophers should look beyond stereotypes to consider American suburbs as an environment worthy of serious philosophical scrutiny for three reasons. First, for better or worse, the suburbs are the environment of primary concern to most Americans, and suburban patterns of development have caught on elsewhere in the industrialized world. Second, the suburbs are much more of a problem than many environmental theorists suppose, in part because suburban patterns of development are entrenched and difficult to change, and in part because they pose an important challenge to the very idea of an environmental ethic. Third, the search for sound policies and practices for metropolitan growth involves two crucial tasks for which philosophers may be particularly well suited: grappling with the ethical complexity of the suburbs, and fostering a robust and nuanced normative debate about the future of the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of shoreline dune systems in the Great Lakes has long been contested. Some parties have viewed them as a consumable resource, while others have argued for their preservation. These differences arise out of con-trasting views about both the value of the dunes as well as which kind of value overrides which. Some of their value has been seen as residing in their geomorphic uniqueness, an interpretation based on older (largely qualitative) field studies that suggest they are fossil landscape features. Recent findings indicate, however, that most dunes arise from episodic, ongoing processes. Contradictory management implications of this new research can flow either from the heightened empirical uncertainty it has created (which gestures toward preservation) by undermining the prevailing views of dune development and chronology, or from diminished-value arguments it has stimulated (which lessen constraints on consumptive use) by calling into question older views about the geomorphic uniqueness of the dunes. Faced with such a dilemma, for practical guidance on the management of special places we turn to environmental ethics literature, where we find that long-standing disputes about where value in the environment is seated provide little further guidance. Accordingly, we propose that the ethical principle of respecting what others value out of respect for them be applied in such matters. This principle is consistent with both moral intuition and widespread practice, and its application in environmental policy would bypass some of the recalcitrant questions left open by other analyses of environmental value. With certain qualifications, this view then supports preservation of special places like lakeshore dunes regardless of the signal from empirical certainty or uncertainty or disagreement about just why valued places are valuable in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the text of the speech delivered by Rabbi Lawrence Troster on environmental ethics on June 25, 2003 at the National Association of Environmental Professionals in San Antonio, Texas.

The article focuses on the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly that opened in New York City on September 16, 2003 with the attendance of many Heads of State and Government, and against the background of the situation in Iraq. In his address to the General Assembly, Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, outlined what he thought had to be changed in the structure of the whole institution and in the work of the General Assembly in order to deal with the new challenges confronting the Organization. The aim of this article is to summarize only those topics of interest that concern environmental matters, and relevant decisions or resolutions adopted.

Establishing that nature has intrinsic value has been the primary goal of environmental philosophers. This goal has generated tremendous confusion. Part of the confusion stems from a conflation of two quite distinct concerns. The first concern is with establishing the moral considerability of the natural world which is captured by what I call "intrinsic value[sub p]." The second concern attempts to address a perceived problem with the way nature has traditionally been valued, or as many environmentalists would suggest, undervalued, what I call "intrinsic value[sub v]." In this paper I argue against further development of both types of theories of the intrinsic value of nature. There are, I believe, intermediate valuations that have been almost entirely overlooked in discussions of value. Much of the confusion currently plaguing environmental ethics can be avoided by abandoning intrinsic value and refocusing environmental ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on a case study involving construction of a new petrochemical plant near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the controversy surrounding its location. The paper will explore ethical issues raised by this plant, utilizing a pragmatic perspective that differs from traditional ethical frameworks. In developing and exploring the implications of this case, the complexities of its moral dimensions will be discussed, as well as the way the insights of classical American pragmatism provide a useful orientation for trying to come to grips with these complexities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the issue of ecofeminism, lifeboat ethics and illegal immigration into the U.S. It states that the basic tenet of ecological feminism has a crucial link between the domination of women and the domination of nature within Western patriarchal societies. He states that the value dualisms plays a prominent role in ecological feminist critiques of Western patriarchal cultures. Further it states that ecological feminists argue that the nature dualism underlies the conceptual framework of Western patriarchal cultures.