Environmental Ethics
Course Schedule
Note:
All readings are to be completed before
the class date/week under which they are listed. This schedule is subject to
change so rather than printing it, I recommend bookmarking it and consulting it
regularly.
What is
Environmental Philosophy/Ethics?
On John Rawls
and the necessity of ‘basic facts’ in ethical reasoning.
Introduction to
the State of the Planet Report (Part One ~ On Growth and its Limits)
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 1, “Science, Ethics & the Environment,” 1-15.
“Limits to Growth” summary, Limits to Growth (summary); directly at
http://www.religionandnature.com/bron/courses/pdf/LimitsToGrowth.pdf
“Ethical Implications of Carrying Capacity” by Garrett Hardin (1977) [skim]
Readings &
Websites (recommended)
Limits to Growth (class powerpoint lecture, week 1), directly at:
http://www.religionandnature.com/bron/pp/EE1(s09)Intro+Limits2Growth.ppt
The State of
the World Report
Types of
Environmental Ethics (Part One), focus on rights and utilitarian theories.
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 2, “Ethical Theory & The Environment,” 17-39, and Chapter 5, “Responsibilities to the Natural World,” 94-118.
Website to review
Ecological footprint Network (Peruse the site and familiarize yourself with it. Then go to the “personal footprint” link and do the analysis there – be ready to provide (confidentially) your footprint (‘how many planets neded’) in class on Thursday. Direct url at http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/
State of the Planet-limits+biodiversity (class powerpoint lecture, week 2), directly at:
http://www.religionandnature.com/bron/pp/EE2(s09)StateOfPlanet.ppt
Readings (recommended)
Peter Singer, The Animal Liberation Movement
Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights
The State of
the World Report (Part Two)
Types of Environmental
Ethics (Part Two), Aesthetics, holism and environmental ethics.
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 6, “Biocentric ethics,” 125-145, Chapter 7, “Wilderness, Ecology & Ethics, ” 148-72. Garrett Hardin, “Carrying Capacity as an Ethical Concept” (2001)
Reports to peruse
(required)
United Nations Environmentlal Program,
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Co-recipient with Al Gore of the 2007
Nobel Peace Prize. See especially the “Summary
for Policymakers of the Synthesis Report”, which is downloadable at http://www.ipcc.ch/press/index.htm (scroll down), or directly at http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf .
Reports to peruse
(recommended)
The IPPC “about”
page, ‘presentations’, and the 2007 powerpoint reports. One of these
that is also especially accessible is “Assessing the Physical Science of Climate Change: IPCC
Working Group 1 (2007)”, which is downloadable from this page: http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/
Living Planet
Report (2008), http://www.panda.org/news_facts/publications/living_planet_report/index.cfm; directly at http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report_2008.pdf
Readings (recommended)
Garrett Hardin, “Cultural Carrying Capacity” (1986)
Websites & Video
(recommended):
State of the Planet-toxics+biosphere (class powerpoint lecture, week 3), directly at: http://www.religionandnature.com/bron/pp/EE3(s09)StateOfPlanet.ppt
An Inconvenient Truth (Al Gore), UF Library or Video Store
Documentation of Climate Change (link to many sites)
Ethics presentations: “The Discipline of Ethics” and “Principles
of Ethics: Rights, Justice, and Beneficence” (power point presentations)
Discussion: Individualism v. holism: Who is morally considerable? Does individualism provide a basis for “hard cases” in environmental ethics? What are the weaknesses and strengths of holistic environmental ethics?
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 8, “The Land Ethic, ” 176-199.
Leopold, Aldo, (biography)
Aldo Leopold, from A Sand County Almanac “Forward,” “Arizona and New Mexico” (especially sub-section, “Thinking like a Mountain”), “The Round River,” “Goose Music,” and “The Land Ethic.” (Note: The Oxford University Press edition (1949/1968) does not have “Part III”, which includes the Thinking like a Mountain, Round River, and Goose Music essays. For these, see the Ballentine Books (1970) paperback edition. Also strongly recommended from the Ballentine paperback edition, read widely, esp. “A Sand County Almanac” and “Wilderness” and “Conservation Esthetic.”
Additional
Resources:
Ethics Analysis Chart; at http://www.religionandnature.com/bron/courses/pdf/EthicsAnalysisChart.pdf
http://www.religionandnature.com/bron/pp/EE4(s09)DisciplineOfEthics.ppt
“Key conundrums in Environmental Ethics”
and “fallacies of moral reasoning” (pp presentations)
Pioneer-elders
in environmental ethics
Readings (required)
[This week write one analysis of each figure:
Thoreau, Muir, and Carson, based on the three sets of sources, following the
guidelines in the syllabus]
Thoreau, Henry David (biography)
Thoreau readings, http://www.religionandnature.com/bron/dgr/Taylor--DGR11-ThoreauAppendix.pdf
Muir, John (biography)
John Muir. Read “Cedar Keys,” and “Wild Wool.” from Nature Writings. Edited by William Cronon. New York: Library of America, 1997.
Carson, Rachel (biography)
Rachel Carson, Nature Religion Selections. and selections and commentary on Silent Spring. Also strongly recommended, peruse Under the Sea Wind, about which she ruminated in the hyperlinked selections, or read “Preface” and “The Marginal World” (pp. 1-7), and “The Enduring Sea” (pp. 249-50), in The Edge of the Sea (1955), or read widely from The Sea Around Us or Silent Spring (in this, her most famous book, see especially the introductory “Fable for Tomorrow” (pp. 1-3), and the concluding section, “The Other Road,” pp. 177-97, esp. its concluding two pages).
Additional
Resources:
http://www.religionandnature.com/bron/pp/EE5(s09)EnvironmentalEthics.ppt
Anti-Hierarchal
Environmental Ethics: Anarchism, Social Ecology, and Ecofeminism
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 10, “Social Justice & Social Ecology,” 224-240, Chapter 11, “Ecofeminism,” 243-258.
“Anarchism” and “Social Ecology” by John Clark in the ERN
“Ecofeminism” by Laura Hobgood-Oster in the ERN
Readings
(recommended)
“What is Social Ecology” (originally 1993) and “Social versus Deep Ecology” (orig. 1987) by Murray Bookchin
Video: Wild By
Law (DVD on reserve)
Mid
Term Exam – In Class – TUESDAY 17 FEBRUARY: short answer, matching,
& multiple choice exam; with short essay bonus. The exam is open note and
open book (DesJardines). No
computers.
Readings (required)
ERN: ‘Religion and Environmental Ethics’ at
http://www.religionandnature.com/ern/sample/Taylor--EnvironmentalEthics.pdf
Deep Ecology
and Radical Environmentalism
Readings (required)
[This week write one analysis of all three ERN entries.]
DesJardines, Chapter 9, “Deep Ecology,” 202-221.
ERN: Deep Ecology; Radical Environmentalism; Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front.
Michael Martin, “Ecosabotage
and Civil Disobedience” from Environmental Ethics 12 (Winter 1990), pp. 291-310/
Dave
Foreman with Edward Abbey and T.O. Hellenbach, Why
Monkeywrench? Selections from Ecodefense,
7-23.
Readings
(recommended)
Bron
Taylor and Joel Geffen, “Battling Religions in Parks and Forest
Reserves: Facing Religion in
Conflicts Over Protected Places,” directly at: http://www.georgewright.org/212taylor.pdf,
first published in Full Value of Parks and Protected Areas: From
Economics to the Intangible, eds. D. Harmon & Allen Putney
(Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), 281-94; and subsequently in: The George Wright
Forum 21(2): 56-68, June 2004.
The
best single book for understanding deep ecology, and for seeing its connections
to radical environmentalism, is Fred Bender’s The culture of extinction: toward a philosophy of deep ecology (NY:
Humanity/Prometheus Books, 2003).
Readings (required)
Daniel Quinn, Ishmael
(complete by end of Spring Break, and note: essay due 19 March).
Resources
for Critical Essays: Critical
Essay Guidelines, and
Critical
Essay Topics; and Fallacies of
Moral Reasoning.
Readings (required)
Daniel Quinn, Ishmael
(finish novel if necessary and prepare essay due 19 March)
19
March: Essay on Ishmael due; Last
date to provide title, abstract, and sources for Critical Essays (see critical
essay guidelines under week 9).
Pragmatism and Public Lands Management
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 3, “Ethics and Economics: Managing Public Lands,” 45-66, and Chapter 12, “Pluralism, Pragmatism, and Sustainability,” 258-269.
“Battling Religions in Parks and Forest
Reserves: Facing
Religion in Conflicts Over Protected Places”
(with Joel Geffen), in Full Value of Parks and Protected Areas: From Economics to
the Intangible, eds. D. Harmon & Allen
Putney (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), 281-94, this version in the George
Wright Forum, 56-67.
Video:
The Wildlands Project or In the Light of
Reverence
Carrying
Capacity and the ethics of procreation and consumption [This week in addition to the study guide write an analysis
of Hardin’s and Irvine’s articles following the guidelines in the syllabus]
Readings
(required)
DesJardines, Chapter 4, “Responsibilities to Future Generations: Sustainable Development,” 70-90
Garrett Hardin, “Lifeboat ethics,” Psychology Today (1974).
Sandy Irvine, “The Cornucopia Scam: Contradictions of Sustainable Development” in Wild Earth 4 (4):72-82, Winter 94/95.
Sources to peruse
(required)
Worldwatch report, 2008, pp. 7-23, 34-47 (and the rest recommended) at www.religionandnature.com/bron/courses/ee/Worldwatch--Population(2008).pdf
Ecofuture
reports on Overpopulation
and Sustainability, at This includes UC professor Al Bartlett’s article, ‘Is there a
population problem?’ originally in Wild Earth/
Ishmael
essays returned 26 March
Bioregionalism
Readings
(required) [This week write an analysis of Taylor’s
Bioregionalism article following the guidelines in the syllabus]
Bron Taylor, “Bioregionalism: An Ethics of
Loyalty to Place,” Landscape
Journal 19(1&2): 50-72, 2000.
Video: Thinking
Like a Watershed (or next week)
Readings
(recommended)
Wendell Berry, “Two Economies”
2
April: Mandatory summary of articles due for critical essay. Last chance to
submit critical essay draft (optional). (See critical essay guidelines under
week 9).
Global Issues:
Triage Ethics and the Tragedy and Battle for the Commons; and Grassroots
Ecological Resistance Movements
Readings
(required) [This week write analyses of
Hardin’s views from this week’s readings, another one contrast them with those
expressed by Feeney et. al., and a third and fourth from Gedick’s and Akula’s
articles, following the guidelines in the syllabus]
Garrett Hardin, “Tragedy of the Commons” from Science (1968). Also available in html at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/162/3859/1243.
Feeney et al., “The Tragedy of the Commons: Twenty-Two Years Later” in Green Planet Blues, 53-62
Garrett Hardin responds, “The Global Pillage: Consequences of Unmanaged Commons” ch 21 from Living Within Limits
“The (tuna) Tragedy of the Commons”, New York Times, 26 November 2008.
ERN: “Environmental
Justice and Environmental Racism” by Robert
Figueroa in the ERN.
Ecological Resistance Movements, Al
Gedicks, on Indigenous
Environmentalism, 89-107.
Ecological Resistance Movements, on Environmentalism in India, Vikram Akula, 127-144
Readings
(recommended)
The Ecologist, Whose Common Future?: Reclaiming the Commons (Philadelphia: New Society, 1994), ch 1-2 & 6
Many other articles by Hardin or related to his views are at the Garrett Hardin Society website.
Podcast
(recommended): Canadian Broadcasting System “Climate Wars” (mp3s), Part1,
Part2,
Part3.
Series based on Gwynne Dyer’s Climate Wars (2008).
Video: Lacandona: The Zapatistas and the rainforest of Chiapas, Mexico (26m/bt)
Critical
Essay Due 16 April (See critical essay guidelines under week 9 and do not
forget to include the title, abstract, and sources assignments, that were due
earlier and returned to you).
Social
Philosophy and the Sustainability Revolution: How to structure livelihoods,
communities, nations, and international relations
Readings
(required) [This week write an analysis of
Kaczynski’s views, following the guidelines in the syllabus]
“Theodore Kaczynski, “Industrial Society and Its Future,” http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Industrial_Society_and_Its_Future.
“Deep
Ecology and its Social Philosophy: A Critique,”
in Beneath
the Surface: Critical Essays on Deep Ecology.
Eds. E. Katz. A. Light, D. Rothenberg (Boston: MIT Press, 2000), 269-299.
Readings
(recommended)
Robert Paelke’s Environmentalism and the Future of Progressive Politics (Yale U.P, 1989), 273-283 (on reserve)
Martin Lewis, Green Delusions (Duke U.P., 1992), p. 150-90 & 242-51.
Critical
Essays Returned 21 April
Is religion the
solution or one of the problems?
Readings
(required) [This week be prepared to discuss
and write an essay in your final exam contrasting Taylor’s “Green Future”
article with other perspectives in the class]
Bron Taylor, “A Green Future for Religion?” Futures Journal 36:991-1008, 2004
THE
FINAL COMPREHENSIVE EXAM WILL BE ON THURSDAY, 30 APRIL, FROM 3-5 P.M., IN CSE
E121.