Environmental Philosophy

What is the nature of reality? The truth is that no academic anywhere in the world really knows the answer to this question. As long as this remains the case, one can exclude neither the possibility that parallel universes, spirit ontologies, or telepathy exist nor the possibility that reality could be a time-space transcending non-local awareness. Neither scientists nor scholars can, therefore, ever reject epistemologies based on any of these presumptions. Enlightenment-based rationalists and empiricists, however, did just that. The point (...) of departure of Roothaan’s deconstructionist environmental philosophy is, on the contrary, that since reality itself is unknown, the question of what nature remains undefined at best. Human relationships towards nature in various cultures and eras can then be perceived as the outcome of an ongoing negotiation. In this way, Roothaan aims to open up a space for intercultural philosophical and dialogical thinking about the contributions and limitations of various epistemologies that philosophers and others have used to discuss the relations to their environment. (shrink)

What is the normative significance of school gardening for environmental activism and activists today? Philosophical treatments generally highlight gardening's importance for human well-being, aesthetic theory, and urban landscape design. Several accounts of John Dewey's educational philosophy draw attention to the school gardens tended by students at the University of Chicago's Experimental School. However, these typically neglect the social and political significance of Dewey's writings on school gardening. One way to bring the normative dimension of school gardening to the fore is (...) to compare Dewey's work on the topic with more recent scholarship on the politics of gardening movements. In this paper, the object of comparison is an essay by the Community Studies scholar Mary Beth Pudup. While Pudup's and Dewey's approaches are not identical, the comparison proves fruitful in so far as it exposes the political reasons for gardening education, relates school gardening to contemporary gardening movements and gives the call for creating more school garden projects greater normative force—or so I argue. (shrink)

The concept of the environment appears to be indispensably involved in adaptive explanation. Quite what its role is, however, is a matter of some dispute. The environment is customarily viewed as the dual of the organism; a wholly external, discrete, autonomous cause of evolution. On this view, the external environment is the principal cause of the adaptedness of form, and the determinant of what it is to be an adaptation. I argue that this conception of the environment neither adequately explains (...) nor individuates evolutionary adaptations. Instead, adaptation, properly construed, is an evolutionary response to affordances. The environment, traditionally construed, underdetermines an organism’s affordances. Instead, I argue that the environment takes its place in evolutionary models not as a discrete causal entity, but as an abstraction. (shrink)

Globalization, the effective erasure of national boundaries for economic purposes, risks standards-lowering competition, an increased tolerance of mergers and monopoly power, intense national specialization, and excessive monopoliza tion of knowledge. The better alternative to globalization is internationalization, which advocates that the basic unit of community and policy remain the nation.

Is the argument that we can only conceive of the ‘environment’ in political terms far‐fetched? Is an objective understanding of the concept of the ‘environment’ possible? By an analysis of three phases in the relationship between Zionism and the environment, it can be argued, first, that not only the developmental but also the romantic attitudes to the environment regard the latter instrumentally and both constitute political definitions of the environment; and second, that a direct transition from a romantic‐ruralist attitude to (...) the environment to a modern, scientifically‐based environmentalism is — at least in Israel ‐ impossible, and that the anti‐thesis of the ethos of development has been necessary for the instrumental and political approach to the environment to be abandoned and the environment related to as it is. Further, the shift from the objective to the political conception of the environment raises certain general theoretical questions. (shrink)

Moral dilemmas that arise from environmental policies are varied. Over and above relations between human beings and either animals or nature, these include relations between contemporaries and future inhabitants of our world. In that sense many environmental policies can be seen as a matter of distribution of access to goods between contemporaries and future generations. In light of this argument a comprehensive theory of justice between generations seems needed to enable political theorists to evaluate environmental problems and to discuss ecological (...) questions with a new approach. (shrink)

While some work had been done on the linkages between human populations and the environment, the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development represents the most significant impetus yet for galvanizing government and nongovernmental policy, campaign and field activities on this complex and timely issue. The UN ICPD has accomplished the task of providing a consensus document, a "Programme of Action," which broadly appeals to the array of signatory governments, yet still provides enough new, enforceable and actionable points to (...) achieve the stated goals of global population stabilization and environmental sustainability. The real challenges now lie with government and nongovernmental follow-up and ICPD implementation. To meet the goals of the ICPD, funding must be made available and concrete actions taken to incorporate population-related impacts on the environment into policy and field programs at international and local levels worldwide. This can be done through a combination of measures as stipulated by the ICPD. These include stabilizing human population globally by noncoercive and voluntary means; identifying critical environmental limits to support life in order to maintain the balance between people's needs and demands and the planet's capacity to respond; achieving sustainable natural resource use globally; reducing and eliminating over-consumption and concomitant pollution by a combined effort of individual consumers, retailers, producers, industries, businesses, and governments worldwide; and utilizing adaptive strategies which address the current and near-term inevitable population and consumption pressures on the environment. (shrink)

The object of this article is to explore whether ecological utopias are capable of providing a useful contribution to our quest for an ecologically responsible future and a sustainable society and, if so, in what specific ways. The author develops a model of ecological utopias as a distant point of orientation, or as a “navigational compass.” In this model, ecotopias may influence the course of concrete decision making in the direction of a future sustainable society. After an analysis of the (...) current social debate in western Europe on sustainable development, it is argued that ecological utopias can help us to “monitor” environmental problems and that they provide “inspiration” for a cleaner society. Ecotopias also allow us to imagine a “virtual reality” of a possible ecologically stable society and are a justifiable means of visionary imagery of a better future. (shrink)

Inspired by the Green Movement and invoking many of the analytical concepts of ecological science, environmental historians have offered trenchant criticisms of modern society and its relations with nature. Recently however, their position has been eroded on several fronts. Revisionists in ecological science have repudiated the idea of stable, holistic ecosystems used by many environmental historians and other Green critics to measure and assail the environmental damage wrought by society. Various assaults on the authority of science and history to represent (...) nature and the past have also undercut the exclusive claims to knowledge that environmental historians rely upon to legitimate their critique. I review these various challenges and the responses to them in turn. In the final part of the essay, I advance the position that environmental historians and other Green critics should end their search for foundational authority, be it in science or elsewhere, and appeal instead to diverse moral, political, and aesthetic criteria to arbitrate between particular representations of nature in particular situations. This situation does not rule out appropriations from ecological science or other fields of knowledge where they prove useful and convincing, because ultimately, environmental narratives are not legitimated in the lofty heights of foundational epistemology but in the more approachable and more contested realm of public discourse. (shrink)

This paper aims to achieve insight into various ecological theories in the Netherlands which have different, and sometimes opposing, views on the conservation of nature. Interviews, publications and archival research brought to light four separate.

Christianity has contributed to the development of a strong anthropocentric ethic. Christian theologians have developed new ways of thinking about the place of humans in nature, often by focussing on the Godhumanity relationship. Thinking about the third component of the metaphysical trinity, nature, has largely remained unchanged. Christian theology needs to make an ontological detour or tour de force to overcome lingering materialist and dualist conceptions of nature, and to embrace key aspects of process thought, most notably panexperientialism. This will (...) pave the way for the required weak anthropocentric ethic. (shrink)

In March 1981, six researchers started production of natural interferon in a modest building adapted as a laboratory. By May the first yields of this protein were achieved. Applications of this interferon were already taking place in 1981 in the first clinical trial with the drug in the country. In June, the top level of the government decided to organize the Biological Group. In January, 1982, a new institution began work with about 30 scientists and developed activities in gene manipulation, (...) molecular virology, work with monoclonal antibodies, immunochemistry and tissue cultures. By 1983 interferon genes were cloned and expressed, and the group continued working, increasing the number of personnel. A decision was made in 1984 to build a new center, the CIGB. In July 1986, the center was officially inaugurated. Between 1986-89 important results were achieved by members of the biological group, among which was a vaccine against meningococcal meningitis. Three years later, in July 1989, the CIGB produced 15 new recombinant proteins, drugs, enzymes and antigens for diagnostic purposes. With the application of the most advanced technology, research has been conducted in areas such as gene regulation, bacterial and yeast genetics, protein structure and mammalian development. In addition, 43 types of monoclonal antibodies were produced as were 38 types of restriction enzymes, as well as several linkers, markers, and phages. Interferons, monoclonal antibodies, restriction enzymes, and epidermal growth factor, among others, are all being marketed. The CIGB became the leading institution in the country for work in modern biotechnology, generating new work styles in the country and developing a special selection procedure to include young scientists on the staff, simultaneously providing intense training in the center and abroad. This provided the stimulus of participating in the achievement of important results for the country, producing a positive feedback loop to maintain high standards. Interferon has been applied in more than 10,000 cases in the country. The diagnostic kit for AIDS based on recombinant proteins has been used in millions of tests and epidermal grow factor is already registered as a drug after fulfilling all the requirements of the preclinical and clinical testing with hundreds of patients in different clinical trials. A close connection with different institutions working in the field of biotechnology and with different universities has provided a greater strength for the work in modern biotechnology in Cuba. (shrink)

Offsetting is a very ineffective way to do good. Offsetting your lifetime emissions may increase aggregated life expectancy by at most seven years, while giving the amount it costs to offset your lifetime emissions to a malaria charity saves in expectation the life of at least one child. Is there any moral reason to offset rather than giving to some charity that does good so much more effectively? There might be such a reason if your offsetting compensated or somehow benefitted (...) the victims of your emission, since that could mean that you would satisfy the duty not to harm others by emitting and offsetting. But that is typically not true. If your emission harms some person and your offsetting benefits some person, then these are most likely different people. Hence, I conclude, we have a stronger reason to give to effective charities than we have to offset our emissions. (shrink)

In this article, we address the question of how to explain the difference between traditional design, engineering, and technology, which have exploited nature and put increasing pressure on Earth’s carrying capacity since the industrial revolution, and biomimetic design, which claims to explore nature’s sustainable solutions and promises to be regenerative by design. To answer this question, we reflect on the concept of mimesis, as it assumes a continuity between the natural environment as a regenerative model and measure for sustainable design (...) that is imitated and reproduced in biomimetic design, engineering, and technology. We first discuss how mimesis is conceptualized in the philosophical tradition to show that the concept cannot be understood with reference to classical categories like imitation and invention, but rather introduces a completely new category. We conceptualize mimesis in terms of two interdependent boundary conditions: differentiation and participation. We apply this conceptualization in the context of biomimicry and develop four characteristics of biomimicry as regenerative design, engineering, and technology: technological mimesis is a participative differentiation of nature; it supplements natural mimesis in biomimetic design; the participative differentiation of technological mimesis is constitutive of nature; the participative differentiation of technological mimesis is always limited. (shrink)

In de filosofische traditie is de materiële aarde als thema altijd onderbelicht gebleven. Van Aristoteles en Descartes tot Nietzsche en Heidegger blijkt de aarde altijd te zijn gedacht vanuit de vorm, vanuit het denken of vanuit de wereld. Hierdoor is de aarde als passief, inert of zelfs niet-bestaand beschouwd, maar niet vanuit zichzelf. In tijden van ecologische crisis en klimaatverandering is deze manier van denken niet langer toereikend. We moeten toe naar een nieuwe omgang met de aarde. Van wereld naar (...) aarde biedt hiertoe een eerste aanzet. -/- Ecologische ontologie Vincent Blok ontwikkelt een ecologische ontologie van de aarde in tijden van klimaatverandering. Hij gaat in tegen de filosofische traditie door zijn ontologie niet antropocentrisch, maar eco-centrisch te oriënteren. Vervolgens presenteert hij een speculatieve ecologie van de aarde als mogelijkheidsvoorwaarde voor de menselijke bewoning van de wereld. Zijn nieuwe perspectief op onze zorg voor de aarde biedt relevante inzichten voor de milieu- en techniekfilosofie. (shrink)

Strange weather is one of the growing ways human beings experience climate change phenomenologically or beyond abstract scientific data. Even those who do not “believe” in climate change experience it. Odd weather is also one of first things human beings talk about with one another or share, today and at least since the great flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh. This article considers how increasingly violent weather is ushering in a new type of narrative and art and announcing a new (...) political and climatic regime. It considers a series of contemporary works of art about strange weather as a more precise example or microcosm of a certain reinvention of epic in our time. It then considers how this shared narrative of violent weather is intruding on, disrupting, and reconfiguring our political systems at the same time as it is collectivizing, historicizing, and politicizing the public before the growing threat of climate change. (shrink)

This paper demonstrates the partial nature of individual academic disciplines with respect to natural resource management. The paper states the requirements of a satisfactory approach to natural resource management. It provides the philosophic justification for pluralism, pragmatism, and evolution in natural resource policy and thereby provides a framework for interdisciplinary communication.

In this article, the author constructs a sociological narrative as a means of describing and analyzing a project to incinerate an estimated 700,000 tonnes of toxic sludge created as a byproduct of a century of steel making in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. On one level, the author’s objective here is to document some of the events that have taken place at what is considered one of the worst toxic sites in Canada. On another level, though, the author attempts to outline (...) a method through which we maybetter understand the dynamics of environmental movements. Specifically, in this case, the author uses a multidimensional conceptualization of success and failure that includes scientific, technological, economic, political, social, and cultural components. (shrink)

Three models for thinking about our responsibilities with respect to climate change are compared and evaluated. One is concerned with maximizing the present discounted value of consumption; the second views climate change through the lens of the tragedy of the commons. Both of these approaches are found to rest on implausible assumptions. A third model, based on the conception of a fiduciary trust is found to be more credible, and not to require overly burdensome policies.

Harry Barton examines a 1991 proposal to embark upon the largest mining project in Europe, on the remote island of Harris and Lewis in Scotland. He argues that different groups perceive their environments differently, and pleads for a wider recognition of this diversity, as well as expansions of concepts of development and sustainability.

ABSTRACT Despite recent strides in the direction of achieving a more equitable and genuine place for Indigenous voices in the conservation conversation, the conservation movement must more deliberately and thoroughly grapple with the legacy of its deeply settler colonial history if it is to, in actuality and not merely in rhetoric, achieve the aim of being more equitable. In this article, we show how the conservation movement, historically and still largely today, traffics in certain ethical and political values that are, (...) in principle or in effect, anti-Indigenous. Through this examination, we hope to reveal how present-day conservation efforts, even if ‘well-meaning’ or nominally deferential regarding Indigenous peoples and perspectives, in fact reinforce settler colonial structures. In particular, we critique the notion of the uninhabited wilderness as a conservation ideal and the disavowal of originary violence in the articulation of conservation historicity and the founding of conservation movements. We conclude by offering some steps conservationists can take to alter their practices, methods, and values in ways that recognize, respect, and reciprocate with Indigenous peoples. (shrink)

The Concept of Milieu in Environmental Ethics discusses how we can come together to address current environmental problems at the planetary level, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, transborder pollution and desertification. -/- The book recognises the embedded individual sociocultural and environmental contexts that impact our everyday choices. It asks, in this pluralism of worldviews, how can we build common ground to tackle environmental issues? What is our individual moral responsibility within the larger collaborative challenge? Through philosophical reasoning, this book (...) pragmatically addresses these questions and builds a framework to support sustainable ways of living. At the core of the book, it draws on the concept of milieu (fūdo) inspired by the Japanese philosopher Watsuji Tetsurō, which captures how we act within and perceive our surroundings as a web of culturally, historically and geographically situated meanings and values. It argues that the milieu connects us as individuals with community, past and future history, and the natural world, providing us with common ground for global environmental ethics. -/- This book will be an engaging and interesting read for scholars, researchers and students in environmental ethics, philosophy and sustainability. (shrink)

Earthquakes are among the world’s deadliest natural phenomena. On an increasingly crowded Earth, earthquake risk management therefore should be taken seriously as a global policy problem. Thus, this chapter discusses some of the ethical dimensions of earthquakes as a phenomenon of planetary significance in the Anthropocene. I do not attempt an exhaustive survey, but consider one background ethical issue: the kinds of harms that occur when an earthquake impacts human habitation. We may distinguish three categories of human-related harms: personal harms, (...) which accrue to individual humans; social harms, which impact on social relationships between humans; and institutional harms, which compromise the ability of institutions to respond to the quake. This analysis will help us better appreciate the moral salience of earthquakes as a global policy imperative in the Anthropocene. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Western dominant global conservation is generally conceived of and understood as an unqualified ‘good’. The dark side of this so-called unqualified ‘good’ is told explicitly by listening to the testimonies of Indigenous peoples, the world over, who bear witness to and enact resistance against the practices of dispossession, eviction, and forced incorporation into a capitalist economic underclass that serve as the means of achieving ‘conservation’. This article offers a limited genealogy of this exclusionary conservation. It does so through focusing (...) on the Euro-Western values integrated into this model that are steeped in histories and continuous practices of colonial dispossession. (shrink)