Environmental Ethics

Al Gore, in Earth in the Balance, has a firm belief and commitment to a radical change in our way of life, if the world is to remain hospitable and a beautiful place. Some environmentalists believe that Gore is too drastic in his approach, citing Aldo Leopold who believes that the judgment of appropriate environmental behavior depends on value. Others believe that we need to focus on institutions, because they are easier to change than values. However, Dale Jamieson, in “Ethics, Public Policy and Global Warming”, believes that the diverse perspectives stem from the weakness of the science. One needs to realize that slowing global warming or responding to its effects may involve large economic costs and redistributions, as well as radical revisions in lifestyle. Some economists express doubt about the worth of trying to prevent substantial warming because not all of the facts may ever be in. Global warming is not just a scientific problem, but also one of ethics (values) and policies and science. In this paper, I will discuss five problems that Gore has addressed.

Climate change is something that my 82-year-old mother talks about all the time. Her major complaint is that there are no longer four seasons. It appears that we go straight from winter to summer and from summer to winter. Gore raises two central themes about climate change. Global climate changes are likely to be substantial and rapid. This is a result of continually adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. He also believes that we need corrective policies to have a substantial effect or impact on future atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and resulting global temperatures. Gore and others who are at the far end of the spectrum are driven by underlying beliefs. They see the greenhouse effect as a severe and immediate threat to the planet. Robert Balling (climatologist), a contributor in Environmental Gore, disagrees with Gore. He sees the climate system as a collection of robust and highly integrated components, whereas Gores sees it as a collection of fragile, but highly interrelated components. Balling refutes Gore’s opinion that immediate action is needed in order to avoid global disaster.

The huge injustice that is apparent in global warming has been termed by some as “environmental racism”. Affluent communities and nations that send their garbage and industrial waste to less affluent communities reek of social, environmental and moral injustice. Those that are less affected will also have the resources to deal with its problems. Laura, Pulido in “Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development in Southern California”, believes that when considering better policy making about the environment, one must first determine if inequalities do exist. There are social, economic and health implications that affect egregiously different socio-economic groups.

Gore’s belief surrounding recycling and disposal is that we need more than just that, but in addition, a new way of thinking about consumer goods. He prefers a reduction of consumption altogether. Nature is sustainable, as the waste of one species becomes useful raw material for another. In contrast, human consumption has accelerated in such a fashion, that our waste far outstrips in quantity and toxic potential. Gore does see technology as meeting our environmental changes, but he fails to realize that environmental economics and self-organizing economic decision-making processes would be extremely useful in addressing the problem. Lynn Scarlett, “Waste Not, Want Not”, also sees a throwaway society. She has an alternative vision where one emphasizes dynamic adjustments in the face of ever-changing prices and priorities. We need to understand our waste problem differently. The vision also includes decision-making processes, feedback loops and institutional incentives on human action.

Gore’s spirituality indicates that modern Western humans have become isolated from nature, lonely and dysfunctional. He calls for a rejection of man-centered morality of enlightened self-interest. Even though he is a deep ecologist, he does not accept all of the argument. He does not call for the elimination of humanity, but rather we must recognize that the earth has intrinsic value. Modern, scientific, industrial civilization is a scourge on the earth. Al Gore’s spirituality may be summed up in his words, “The old story of God’s covenant with both the earth and humankind, and its assignment to hum beings of the role of good stewards and faithful servants was…a powerful, noble and just explanation of who we are in relation to God’s earth.”

Finally, as Heidegger and Husserl saw the “philosopher” in all rational beings, Al Gore is no less or more a philosopher. His philosophical issues about the environment address fundamental questions about our purposes in life, to promote a change in our essential character and an environmentalism of the spirit. Rather than eradication human life, he opts for its denaturing. James Lennox, in “The Environmental Creed According to Gore: A Philosophical Analysis”, mentions Gore’s positive relationship with the philosophy of Sir Francis Bacon. Bacon believed that humans were separate from nature. The human intellect is different from the natural world. In fact, he believes that the world has intrinsic moral worth and, thus, a holder of moral claims. We have a basic duty not to violate nature. Our scientific knowledge should not be used to dominate nature with moral impunity.

Bibliography

Balling, Robert, “Global Warming: The Gore Vision Versus Climate Reality”,

Environmental Gore, John Baden, editor, Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, San Francisco, Ca. 1994, pgs. 107-137

Gore, Al, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit, Houghton Mifflin, 1992,

Boston MA.  

Jamieson, Dale, “Ethics, Public Policy and Global Warming”, Science, Technology and

Human Values Vol. 17, No.2 (spring, 1992), pp. 139-153

Lennox, James, “The Environmental Creed According to Gore”, Environmental Gore,

John Baden, editor, Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, San Francisco, Ca. 1994, pgs. 91-106.

Pulido, Laura, “Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban

Development in Southern California”, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 90, No.1 (March 2000), pp 12-40

Scarlett, Lynn, “Waste Not, Want Not”, Environmental Gore, John Baden, editor, Pacific

Institute for Public Policy, San Francisco, Ca. 1994, pgs. 171-192