Continuing Our Journey - Environmental Ethics Independent Study Week 5

     In the final chapter of Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction, Mark Maslin discusses the necessary changes needed to address the climate crisis. He explains that not only must we understand the "fundamental societal and economic causes of carbon emissions," but we must also simultaneously "tackle other global challenges, such as global poverty/inequity, environmental degradation, and global insecurity," if we hope to fully address climate change. (p.148) Maslin also advocates for a new mindset that focuses on "planetary stewardship." He explains that climate change, like Covid-19, cannot be addressed by the 'free market' or individual governments acting alone. "What we need is a new era of planetary stewardship led by [the] governments [of the world working together] and underpinned by new economic theories." (p.150) I could not agree more. As Albert Einstein once said: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." 

     Maslin goes on to explain that in order to keep climate change at a reasonable level all of the possible viable solutions must be implemented as soon as humanly possible. He discusses the role of governments in affecting change as such: "Governments control the aspirations of civil society through the rule of law and the development of policy. It is clear that governments can use incentives, subsidies, taxation, and regulation to make our societies more sustainable and carbon neutral." (p.152) The role of individuals lies in carefully selecting politicians who will work toward these changes when we vote and using our buying power to promote sustainable companies. 

     Maslin next addresses the role of international organizations. He states: 

There is a need for these international institutions to represent everyone in the world, and to ensure fair and equitable governance. The World Bank and IMF could be redesigned so that they focus on developing the green sustainable economy, supporting the net zero emissions targets, and allevaiting poverty, with Sustainable Development Goals at the heart of their decision making...Perhaps the WTO could transform into the World Sustainability Organization (WSO), the first aim of which could be to support and help restructure economies of countries that rely of fossil-fuel exports, [And,] if the UN Environmental Agency were to be upgraded to the UN World Environmental Organization (WEO), and given a budget at least the size of that of the WHO, it could oversee the Sustainable Development Goals, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Convention on Climate Change, to ensure they are mutually reinforcing and not in opposition - making sure there are always win-win-win solutions. (p.154-155) 

I would love to see some, or all, of these changes come to pass. 

     Maslin concludes: 

Climate change is one of the few areas that makes us examine the whole basis of modern society. It is a subject that has politicians arguing, sets nations against each other, questions the role of companies in society, queries individual choices of lifestyle, and ultimately asks questions about humanity's relationship with the rest of the planet. (p.155)

And, though this is what makes it such a hard problem to solve, it is also why it could be the most profoundly rewarding accomplishment of mankind. Precisely because it makes us have to repair our relationships with each other, the land, and the rest of life on this planet, it could lead to the 'best of all possible worlds' - if we can achieve it. 

     In the last section of Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, "The Upshot," he discusses the 'conservation esthetic' and introduces his 'land ethic.' While discussing the conservation esthetic, he describes how those who wish to preserve areas for recreation are a very diverse group with varying objectives. Leopold states: 

Equally conscientious citizens hold opposite views on what it is and what should be done to conserve its resource-base...The game-farmer kills hawks and the bird-lover protects them in the name of shotgun and field-glass hunting respectively. Such factions commonly label each other with short and ugly names, when, in fact, each is considering a different component of the recreational process. These components differ wildly in their characteristics or properties. A given policy may be true for one but false for another. (p.158)

     Leopold then describes each of these varying 'components' in detail. The first component is "the physical objects that the outdoorsman may seek, find, capture, and carry away." (p.158) He calls all such items, from animals to plants to photographs, trophies that certify that the carrier "has been somewhere and done something." (p.158) However, as Leopold states, differing trophies "differ in their reaction to mass-pursuit." (p.159) For example, man could easily hunt a particular animal 'trophy' to extinction; but, we could take thousands of pictures from an area and not spoil that land for future generations. As the saying goes: "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time."(Aliyyah Eniath) 

     "[A]nother component of recreation...[is] the feeling of isolation in nature." (p.161) Leopold explains that this feeling is becoming scarce in his own time, and it is only more so now. He explains that this is another component whose mass-use ruins it by "dilut[ing] the opportunity for solitude." However, he contrasts this component with the component of "fresh air and change of scene," which holds the same value even when the 'wilderness' area is shared by many. (p.162)

     A fourth component of recreation is "the perception of the natural processes by which the land and the living things upon it have achieved their characteristic forms (evolution) and by which they maintain their existence (ecology)." (p.162) Leopold beautifully explains:

The outstanding characteristic of perception is that it entails no consumption and no dilution of any resource. The swoop of a hawk, for example, is perceived by one as the drama of evolution. To another it is only a threat to the full frying-pan. The drama may thrill a hundred successive witnesses; the threat only one - for he responds with a shotgun. To promote perception is the only truly creative part of recreational engineering. This fact is important, and its potential power for bettering 'the good life' only dimly understood. (p.162-163)

     The last component of recreation that Leopold addresses is "the sense of husbandry." (p.164) He explains: "It is realized only when some art of management is applied to land by some person of perception. That is to say, its enjoyment is reserved for landowners too poor to buy their sport, and land administrators with a sharp eye and an ecological mind." (p.164) The 'person of perception' practicing husbandry is one that may plant a tree knowing they will never feel its shade or one that may rescue endangered animals so that future generations may look upon their majesty. To Leopold the most important aspects of the conservation esthetic are being able to adopt and encourage this evolutionary perception and moving away from the perception of recreation "as an economic resource." (p.157)

     After discussing the many beneficial characteristics of wilderness areas, Leopold introduces his 'land ethic'. He begins by defining the word 'ethic' and explaining ethical progression:

An ethic, ecologically, is a limitation on freedom of action in the struggle for existence. An ethic, philosophically, is a differentiation of social from anti-social conduct...The first ethics dealt with the relation between individuals...Later accretions dealt with the relation between the individual and society...All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts...The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land...In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also for the community as such. (p.190-192) 

     Leopold goes on to explain that the "conqueror role is self-defeating." (p.193) This is because the conqueror assumes he knows how everything works; but, no one understands the intricate balance behind how the world operates, and so, the conqueror inevitably fails. Leopold also discusses how the story of history tends to leave out the role that the land has played in human actions. I think he makes a very valid point when he advocates that history be "taught in this spirit [so that] the concept of land as a community [can] really penetrat[e] our intellectual life." (p.195)

     To conclude, Leopold writes:

Perhaps the most serious obstacle impeding the evolution of a land ethic is the fact that our educational and economic system is headed away from, rather than toward, an intense consciousness of land. Your true modern is separated from the land by many middlemen, and by innumerable physical gadgets...The key-log which must be moved to release the evolutionary process for an ethic is simply this: quit thinking about decent land-use as solely an economic problem. Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. (p.210-211)

Next week we will start Environmental Ethics: A Very Short Introduction and The Ecology of Wisdom (selected essays).