Chapter 5. Environmental Ethics: Further Case-Studies
- John Bryant Professor3,
- Dr Linda Baggott la Velle4,
- Revd Dr John Searle5
Published Online: 18 APR 2002
DOI: 10.1002/0470846593.ch5
Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Book Title
Bioethics for Scientists
Additional Information
How to Cite
Southgate, C. and Aylward, A. (2002) Environmental Ethics: Further Case-Studies, in Bioethics for Scientists (eds J. Bryant, L. B. la Velle and J. Searle), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK. doi: 10.1002/0470846593.ch5
Editor Information
- 3
School of Biological Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
- 4
Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- 5
Exeter & District Hospice, Exeter, UK
Publication History
- Published Online: 18 APR 2002
- Published Print: 31 MAR 2002
ISBN Information
Print ISBN: 9780471495321
Online ISBN: 9780470846599
- Summary
- Chapter
Keywords:
- climate change;
- DDT;
- energy;
- fossil fuels;
- malaria;
- mosquito;
- nuclear power;
- pollution;
- renewable;
- WHO
Summary
Environmental ethics is something with which everyone is involved, both as individuals and as citizens. However, ethical decision-making is not easy, especially in relation to wide-ranging environmental policies. Two examples – the banning of DDT and the use of nuclear power – involve dilemmas which go beyond personal reactions and into a complex matrix of factors. In both cases ethics is not abstract decision-making about matters of purely theoretical interest but is the key to making a decision which must be taken wisely, for the sake of the well-being of hundreds of millions of humans, and countless members of other species as well. As so often in contemporary ethical dilemmas, different ethical principles, each laudable on its own, conflict with each other. Ethics requires a balanced judgement to be made now but with a recognition that the balanced judgement may change in the light of future scientific discoveries and technological developments.