6 × 9 SPINE: 0.6837 FLAPS: 0 “Andrew Kernohan’s Environmental Ethics: An Interactive Introduction is a fantastic text. E Among its many strengths is the fact that it goes deeper into the intersection of environ- n mental ethics, public policy, and economics than any other introductory text I have seen, v and it makes the important but often difficult ideas that lie in that intersection clear and i r accessible to complete newcomers. Additionally, its online component is ample and well- o constructed, and a terrific resource for instructors and students alike.” n —Craig Duncan, Ithaca College m e “It is high time that philosophers did more than speculate amongst themselves about is- n sues of environmental ethics. Andrew Kernohan not only provides an interactive teach- t a ing tool, but he also invites the reader to do environmental ethics. This engaging volume l Environmental shows how philosophy can be vital to matters of environmental decision making and E public policy.” t —Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, University of Toronto h i c s Ethics This book shows how the concepts and theories of environmental ethics can be applied to important global environmental problems. Andrew Kernohan concisely introduces basic moral theories, discusses how these theories can be extended to consider the non-human A world, and examines how environmental ethics interacts with modern society’s economic n approach to the environment. A website with online multiple-choice questions encour- d ages the reader’s active learning. r e w An Interactive Andrew Kernohan is Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Dalhousie University. K e r n Introduction o h a n Andrew Kernohan ISBN 978-1-55481-041-3 ISBN 978-1-55481-041-3 broadview press w ww.broadviewpress.com broadview BV113-Environmental Ethics Mech D1.indd 1 2012-07-27 12:33 PM Environmental Ethics BV113-Environmental Ethics Interior R4.indd 1 12-07-23 2:49 PM Environmental Ethics An Interactive Introduction Andrew Kernohan broadview press BV113-Environmental Ethics Interior R4.indd 3 12-07-23 2:49 PM Included in the price of Environmental Ethics is access to a passcode-protected website. The site includes study questions, flashcards, and further resources. For access please visit: http://sites.broadviewpress.com/enviroethics/ (Your passcode appears on the last page of this ebook.) © 2012 Andrew Kernohan All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without prior written consent of the publisher — or in the case of photocopying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), One Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario m5e 1e5 — is an infringement of the copyright law. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Kernohan, Andrew Environmental ethics : an interactive introduction / Andrew Kernohan. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-55481-041-3 1. Environmental ethics. 2. Environmental economics. I. Title. GE42.K475 2012 179’.1 C2012-904915-8 Broadview Press is an independent, international publishing house, incorporated in 1985. We welcome comments and suggestions regarding any aspect of our publications — please feel free to contact us at the addresses below or at [email protected] / www.broadviewpress.com. North America UK, Europe, Central Asia, Middle Australia and New Zealand East, Africa, India and Southeast Post Office Box 1243 Asia NewSouth Books Peterborough, Ontario Canada c/o TL Distribution k9j 7h5 Eurospan Group 15-23 Helles Ave. 3 Henrietta St., London Moorebank, nsW 2215 Kenmore Ave. WC2E 8Lu, uk Australia 2170 Buffalo, New York tel: 44 (0) 1767 604972 tel: (02) 8778 9999 usa 14207 fax: 44 (0) 1767 601640 fax: (02) 8778 9944 tel: (705) 743-8990 eurospan [email protected] fax: (705) 743-8353 @turpin-distribution.com customerservice @broadviewpress.com Copy-edited by Robert M. Martin Broadview Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. Book design by Michel Vrana This book is printed on paper containing 100% post-consumer fibre. Printed in Canada BV113-Environmental Ethics Interior R4.indd 4 12-07-24 8:44 AM C o n t E n t s Acknowledgements vii Introduction ix PARt I: EtHICAL tHEoRY Chapter 1: Introduction to Environmental Ethics 3 Chapter 2: Metaethics 15 Chapter 3: Ethical Analysis 27 Chapter 4: Ethical Egoism 41 Chapter 5: Utilitarianism 55 Chapter 6: Virtue Ethics 69 Chapter 7: Rights 83 Chapter 8: Justice 95 PARt II: EnVIRonMEntAL EtHICs Chapter 9: Obligations to Distant People 113 Chapter 10: Future Generations 125 Chapter 11: Animal Welfare 139 Chapter 12: Animal Rights 151 Chapter 13: Biocentric Ethics 165 Chapter 14: Ecocentric Ethics 179 Chapter 15: Ecofeminism 191 Chapter 16: Deep Ecology 203 PARt III: EtHICs, EConoMICs, AnD tHE EnVIRonMEnt Chapter 17: Ethics and Economics 217 Chapter 18: Free-Market Environmentalism 235 Chapter 19: External Costs and Public Goods 251 Chapter 20: Cost-Benefit Analysis 263 Chapter 21: Precautionary Principles 279 Chapter 22: Pollution Control 293 Chapter 23: Sustainable Development 307 Chapter 24: The Market Worldview 319 Glossary 333 References 343 Index 347 BV113-Environmental Ethics Interior R4.indd 5 12-07-23 2:49 PM BV113-Environmental Ethics Interior R4.indd 6 12-07-23 2:49 PM AC K n o w L E D g E M E n t s I would like to thank all the students who took my class on environmental and agricultural ethics at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College (now the Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie University), and who suffered through earlier, less orga- nized versions of this material. I appreciate their patience and their feedback. Various editors at Broadview Press, Stephen Latta, Jesse Hendrikse, and Greg Janzen, have been very supportive of the project. Nora Ruddock designed the companion website. Bob Martin from Dalhousie University edited the manuscript for Broadview Press and helped me avoid many errors and infelicities in the presentation. I thank him for his thor- oughness, but I take full responsibility for all remaining idiosyncrasies, unwise claims, and contentious interpretations. Sheldon Wein from Saint Mary’s University suggested the initial idea behind the chap- ter on the Precautionary Principle. Along with his share of the credit comes a share of the responsibility, should our interpretation of the Precautionary Principle prove not to be useful. My mother-in-law, Marie MacLellan, performed an initial copy edit of the entire manu- script, for which I thank her fondly. My partner, Anne MacLellan, read every chapter still warm from the laser printer, and, along with her encouragement, gave me advice on how to make the material more readable for a non-philosopher. My thanks to all the above, and to Minou who kept me company during many otherwise lonesome hours at the keyboard. This book is dedicated to my niece, Mary Xiao Miao Kernohan, in the hope that it will make some contribution to helping her generation make better environmental decisions than my generation has made. vii BV113-Environmental Ethics Interior R4.indd 7 12-07-23 2:49 PM BV113-Environmental Ethics Interior R4.indd 8 12-07-23 2:49 PM I n t R o D u C t I o n foR tHE READER The purpose of this book is to give you a set of conceptual tools for thinking about ethical issues in environmental policymaking. The book does not set out a code of ethics for environmentalists like the codes of lawyers or psychologists. Its aim, instead, is to provide a flexible ethical toolkit that you can apply in solving environmental problems. I imagine you, the reader, as a person who will be involved in analyzing and debating envi- ronmental policy, as a citizen or as someone with a role in business or government. Perhaps you have studied the biological or environmental sciences, or economics and other social sciences as they apply to the environment, and now you want to see how environmental ethics can give you a useful perspective on environmental problems. You are not necessarily a student of philosophy, and this book requires no prior knowledge of philosophy. Economics plays a huge role in formulating policy toward the environment. While the science of economics strives to be value-free, economic reasoning unavoidably makes ethical assumptions when applied to environmental policymaking. Not all of these assumptions are environmentally benign. Policymakers must be aware of the ethical assumptions made when economic methods are applied to solving environmental problems. About one third of this book is devoted to the interaction between applied ethics and economics. In my imagination, I see you, the reader, sitting at a committee table arguing with economists ix BV113-Environmental Ethics Interior R4.indd 9 12-07-23 2:49 PM