Environmental Ethics (1)

Explain both how and why attempts have been made to preserve the environment. Include reference to religious views in your answer.

For the ‘why’, students are likely to refer to a range of threats to the environment, such as: the threat from global warming and its effects on sea levels; loss of habitable land; pollution of seas and rivers from spillage, effluent, toxic waste, sewage, etc.; loss of trees from acid rain, made worse by deliberate clear-felling; loss of habitat for wildlife / loss of bio-diversity, etc.

Students might also refer to some of the following:

• religious teachings about protection/preservation of the environment / harm to God’s originally-perfect world / stewardship;
• general ethical ideas about the environment;
• the argument that, as the dominant species, humans have both a right and a responsibility to preserve the environment;
• utilitarian arguments about preserving the environment for future generations;
• concern about the extinction of species;
• aesthetic concerns.

For the ‘how’:

The range of possible…