Environmental Ethics (4)

Outline attempts that have been made to conserve the living environment, and explain why some people believe that these have become necessary.

Conservation efforts could include some of the following:

• conservation of wetlands, forests and seas
• projects fuel efficiency; alternatives to fossil fuels; improved energy efficiency
• safeguarding from toxic chemicals / poor air quality
• recycling / recovery of waste
• animal protection aimed at halting and reversing destruction of the natural environment
• specific reference to the work of bodies like the European Environment Agency; the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; the UN Environment Programme; Friends of the Earth; Greenpeace

These have become necessary through the effects of pollution / global warming, etc. These could be explained in two ways, either or both of which would be appropriate:

• aesthetic, moral, religious, scientific reasons, particularly prudential ones of ensuring the survival of the earth and its species
• specific reasons based in climate change, deforestation, loss of…