Green Values

Green values are the wide range of values appealed to in defense of environmental policy prescriptions. Environmental policies can be defended by reasons of prudence, morality, social justice to present generations, social justice to future generations, aesthetics, spirituality and religious conviction, historical significance, symbolic meaning, and economics. Green values also involve giving greater normative consideration to nonhuman interests and concerns, including the status of animals and other nonhuman natural objects; to the preservation of biological diversity; to the protection of ecosystems; and to the aesthetic impacts of human operations on the environment.

Environmental philosophers debate the possibility of reconciling this diversity of environmental values. Monists argue that unless a single unifying principle ultimately holds sway, environmental policy will remain relativistic and inconclusive. Value pluralists maintain that ...