Environmental Ethics and Science: Resilience as a Moral Boundary

Science has always been tightly associated with environmental ethics in a way traditional ethics has not. However, despite this proximity, science has had a merely informational role, where it must inform ethics but not intervene in ethical judgment. Science is seen as an amoral enterprise, requiring an ethics rather than recommending one. In this paper I try to go against this common view. First, I give a critique of the naturalistic fallacy following the lines of Frankena. Then I go on to describe the two possible roles science can have in ethical though, and in environmental ethics in particular. As it turns out, science does not only inform ethics, but can actually have moral import and intervene in moral judgment. Finally, from an ecocentric point of view, I try to illustrate this last point by construing the ecological notion of resilience as a moral boundary—a scientifically determined boundary between right and wrong.     

From Environmental Ethics to Nature Conservation Policy: Natura 2000 and the Burden of Proof

Natura 2000 is a network of natural sites whose aim is to preserve species and habitats of relevance in the European Union. The policy underlying Natura 2000 has faced widespread opposition from land users and received extensive support from environmentalists. This paper addresses the ethical framework for Natura 2000 and the probable moral assumptions of its main stakeholders. Arguments for and against Natura 2000 were analyzed and classified according to “strong” or “weak” versions of the three main theories of environmental ethics – anthropocentrism, biocentrism, and ecocentrism. Weak (intergenerational) anthropocentrism was found to underlie the Natura 2000 network itself and the positions of environmentalists, while strong (traditional) anthropocentrism pervaded the positions of economic developers. Land users seemed to fall somewhere between weak and strong anthropocentrism. The paper discusses the relation between ethics and different attitudes towards Natura 2000, highlighting some of the implications for the network’s ongoing implementation. It is shown that Natura 2000 achieves a strong reversal of the burden of proof from conservation to economic development and land use change under anthropocentrism. It is argued that the alleged theoretical divide between anthropocentrism and non-anthropocentrism in relation to the burden of proof does not seem to hold in practice. Finally, it is predicted that the weak versions of anthropocentrism, biocentrism, and ecocentrism, are likely to converge extensively in respect to nature conservation policy measures.“Charting the depths of law and policy disputes yield an understanding of ethical differences.” Paul B. Thompson (2002, p. 189).     

环境伦理学与可持续发展

本文综述了近几十年来环境伦理学的研究成果,包括环境伦理学的学科性质、研究对象、研究内容等。文章同时还从环境伦理学角度探讨了可持续发展的思想和理念,并对实现可持续发展提出了一些指导性原则和建议。     

Environmental Ethics: Driving Factors Beneath Behavior,Discourse and Decision-Making

This paper tries to characterize the factors determining human relations with its environment and to identify the drives of those behavioral patterns and “praxis”. One scrutinizes the physiological and psychological factors that influence those drives, and tries to determine ways of overriding instinctive drives in favor of rational, sustainable ones. It focuses its attention on the way the different ecosystemic, economic and socio-cultural systems work, and pin-points the critical issues in view of the development of sustainable behavioral patterns. Also the values that must build the new behavioral paradigm, as well as the ways to ensure the evolutionary quantum-leap necessary to ensure this sustainable condition, and the fulfilment, at every level, the different needs of humans and human societies, are analyzed. In conclusion, it stresses the fact that any reliable and long lasting change towards a sustainable behavior must start at the individual and the close social groups levels, and of the development of new factors of self-fulfillment and gratification, able to support and foster that change. The proposed epistemological approach is particularly innovative, precisely because of this emphasis on the individual drives and the way they determine the global patterns of environmental use, as well as the way they can evolve into a more rational (human) character. In short, the paper focuses itself in the way man can evolve from its natural animal instincts and drives toward more rational ones, humanizing its behavior and turning, therefore, into an able actor of the process of sustainability building.     

与自然和谐：环境保护的主旋律

人与自然关系的核心是人如何对待自然资源与环境。人与自然和谐发展,是人与人、人与经济社会协调的物质基础和前提,也是社会迈向生态文明的标志。科学发展观的要义是发展,核心是以人为本,要求是全面、协调、可持续。而人与自然和谐均与之有关。因此,实践科学发展观,促进人与自然和谐,无疑是环境保护永匣主题和基本目标。     

Environmental Ethics: Should We Preserve the Red Herring and Flounder?

Based on a survey of some popularintroductory anthologies and texts, I arguefrom my experience as a philosopher oftechnology that environmental philosophy mightbe conceived by some researchers in the fieldin terms of an overly narrow theoreticalfoundation. Many of the key figures in thefield take as a basic assumption that theenvironmental crisis is fundamentally bestexplained in terms of some failing in themetaphysical outlooks of most people. However,philosophers of technology typically present atleast two additional types of generalexplanation of the crisis. Environmentalethicists might benefit from consideration ofthese alternative ways of explaining the rootcauses of the ecological crisis.     

中央液态冷热源环境系统

由北京恒有 源科技 发展有 限公 司、北京 恒有 源环境 系统 设备 安 装 工 程有 限 公 司 和 北京 广 厦 建 筑 设计 事 务 所 共同开发 的中央 液态 冷热 源环境 系统 ,适用于 为各 类建筑 供暖、供冷、供生活热水,还可为景观水池或绿地土壤 调温。 主 要 技 术 内容 一 、     

Ethics and Environmental Attitudes With Implications for Economic Valuation

This paper tests the hypothesis that different ethical belief systems are unrelated to the attitude an individual takes towards the environment. More specifically, the neoclassical economic approach is seen to require a belief in utilitarianism while many individuals may operate on the basis of a deontological or rights-based approach to decision-making. The concern with this relationship arises from the use of the cost–benefit analysis approach to environmental policy and the specific application of the contingent valuation method. Evidence is found to support the view that environmentalists choose to operate on a rights-based approach which rejects the relative welfare arguments of economics and positively attributes compensation to future generations for environmental damages. This implies that the contingent valuation of environmental attributes will lead to values which are biased towards technocentric optimists and against the environmental movement. In terms of policy, environmental management on the basis of totalling economic values is liable to be undemocratic because of the systematic exclusion of a section of the general public.     

Habermas and Nature: The Theory of Communicative Action for Studying Environmental Policy

Habermas's theory of communicative action is used in this paper to develop a cultural model for empirical studies of environmental policy processes. The model consists of three cultural ideal types: anthropocentric material; anthropocentric immaterial; and ecocentric immaterial. Obstacles to social learning and public participation, such as forms and styles of reasoning and the exclusion of citizens, are brought into focus. Finally, the model functions as a criticism of a pure liberal view of environmental problems.     

生态补偿的环境伦理学与经济学之辩

生态系统服务以长期服务流的形式出现,它只有小部分能进入市场被买卖。生态补偿是近年来生态环境管理领域新发展起来的方向和热点,但其实际应用引起了一些环境伦理问题。在介绍生态系统服务的经济学发展历史之后,分析了生态补偿中的环境伦理问题,探讨了环境伦理和生态系统服务之间存在的关系,以及人类从自然资源和生态补偿中受益的权利,对环境伦理和生态系统服务的未来提出了一些看法,得出支撑任何生态系统的支付方案之间的相互作用将有助于解决环境伦理问题,有助于传统经济增长和自然环境保护两者的兼容。     

Corporate Ethics in the Era of Globalization: The Promise and Peril of International Environmental Standards

The growing assumption thattransnational corporations (TNCs) will apply``best practice' and ``international standards'in their operations in developing countries hasseldom been checked against close observationof corporate behavior. In this article, Ipresent a case study, based on field research,of one voluntary initiative to useinternational standards and best practice forenvironmental protection in the AmazonRainforest, by a US-based oil company,Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) in Ecuador. The moststriking finding is that the company refuses todisclose the precise standards that apply toits operations. This, and the refusal todisclose other important environmentalinformation, make it impossible to verifyindependently Oxy's claims of environmentalexcellence, or assess the effectiveness of theinitiative. At the same time, Oxy uses theinvocation of international standards to wrapitself in a veneer of corporate responsibility;reassure government officials and localresidents; cultivate confusion about standardsand practices that apply to the operations;deflect meaningful oversight and transparency;and arbitrarily legitimize norms that have beendefined by special interests. In short,international standards offer great promise forneeded environmental improvements; but can alsobe used to impede, rather than advance,corporate responsibility and the development ofeffective environmental law at the nationallevel. These findings suggest that for theapplication of international standards to bemeaningful, the international community needsto move beyond statements of principle anddevelop mechanisms that can be used toevaluate, verify, and monitor independentlyenvironmental claims by TNCs.     

人类走向环境伦理

环境伦理是从道德的角度研究人与自然关系的问题,本文主要从环境伦理的产生、环境伦理要求人们走出“人类中心主义”、环境伦理的道德原则和规范三个方面来阐述。环境伦理的兴起与对人类的启示“伦理”一词代表的是人们的言论和行为要遵循的原则、规范,并与人的责任和义务相联系。传统的伦理是揭示人与人之间关系的一种规律性的认识,也就是反映人们之间的伦理关系,反映人们相互之间应该承担的责任和义务。千百年来,伦理的作用和功能主要表现在调节人际之间利益关系的层面上。所以,以往当人们谈到伦理的时候,它存在于人类之间,只起调…     

Watershed conservation and preservation: Environmental engagement as helping behavior

When will a community's residents take action against urban sprawl that threatens the watershed where they live? Drawing on theoretical and empirical studies of helping behavior, we predicted that individuals will be most likely to respond to environmental challenges when they are aware of the environmental threat, believe the danger posed by the threat to be great, and feel responsible for addressing environmental problems. We tested this awareness–appraisal–responsibility (AAR) model by surveying watershed residents’ awareness of watershed features, appraisal of watershed quality, sense of responsibility for protecting the watershed, and behavioral and contribution intentions. Structural equation modeling supported the model by confirming that resident's awareness and appraisal of their local watershed are related to their pro-environment behavioral and contribution intentions, but also their perception of responsibility for protecting the watershed. Mediational analyses confirmed that these relationships are likely sequentially ordered, with awareness leading to appraisal to responsibility and then behavioral and contribution intentions. The discussion considers the implications of these findings for interventions designed to increase environmental engagement.     

保护区周边小学环境教育的尝试

太白山自然保护区是我国首批建立的，以保护典型的暖温带森林生态系统和自然历史遗迹为主的自然保护区。它以其独特的地理位置、明晰的森林垂直分带、丰富多样的生物群落、完整的第四纪冰川遗迹、秀丽的自然景观和神秘的人文景观闻名于世，倍受国内外社会各界的关注。保护区地处太白、眉县和周至三县交界处，涉及9个乡（镇）的部分行政区域。随着人口的增长和经济的快速发展，人们对自然资源的需求不断增加，自然保护区面临来自周边社区的压力越来越大，与社区的矛盾也越来越突出。保护区要缓和与社区日益恶化的关系，减轻社区对保护区的压…