Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Define environmental ethics in introduction.
• Elaborate on its significance for man and environment.
• Conclude by giving emphasis on the need to understand the environment ethics for survival of mother earth.

Introduction

• Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including the non-human world.
• It focuses on questions concerning how we ought to inhabit the world; what constitutes a good life or a good society; and who, where, or what merits moral standing

Body

Significance of Environment Ethics:

• Environmental ethics consider the moral relationship between humans and the environment. It concerns not only the needs of each person today, but also those who will come after us. A concept which is closer to Sustainable Development.
• With environment ethics, we can ensure that we are doing our part to keep the environment and its resources safe and protected.
• Within our world there are variety of living beings, species, the plants and animals that share our earth’s resources and living spaces with us. All these variety of living beings have a right not only to live but a dignified life. 
• The present generation does not own the world’s resources to do whatever we please with them. Just because we are in possession of all the natural resources does not mean that we can use those resources in any manner in which we choose without keeping anything for the future generations
• The problem is how much of the wilderness can we preserve in the presence of an ever-growing hunger and greed for land and resources for its utilization values. Yet, unless we begin to see the ecological values of wilderness, an ethic for its conservation cannot become part of our daily lives. And without the wilderness the earth will eventually become unlivable.

Conclusion

• The problem of environmental ethics is closely connected with the relation between man and nature, especially man’s relation with the environment. Unless, we understand clearly the relation between man and nature, it may not be possible to find a plausible solution to environmental issues confronting man, or threatening human survival.