Ethics

Growing evidence of human-induced environmental damage has raised popular awareness that we ought to act and think differently about nature. The bad effects of fossil fuel emissions, marine pollution, deforestation, urban sprawl, and unchecked population growth have raised a set of ethical questions. Is technology the answer to environmental problems, or should we transform our consumption patterns and production processes? Is population growth or unequal resource distribution a greater cause of land degradation? Are societies morally obligated to ensure the resource needs of future people? Do nonhuman entities have value beyond their usefulness to humans? Do animals and plants have moral standing and therefore rights?

In response to these and other questions, scholars and activists since the 1970s have forged the distinct and growing field of ...