March 2011 Archives

Wednesday, March 23rd 2011

Dr. Janet Swim

"Ethical Consumerism: Bridging the Divide between Consumption and Its Impacts on Nature and People"

In her talk at the recent Sustainability Ethics Conference at Penn State University Park, Janet Swim presented psychological research she conducted with Brittany Bloodhart on the attitudes of consumers regarding the impacts of consumption on human beings and the biosphere. They found that individuals tend to have greater ethical concern about their consumption after being exposed to films that detail the environmental impacts of consumption. For example, such increased concern might manifest itself upon seeing the adverse effects that the disposal of consumer products can have on human communities in other countries.

Dr. Christian Becker (Penn State)

Wednesday March 23rd, 2011

"Sustainability Ethics"

In Environmental Ethics studies, scholars always talk about the importance of sustainable practices (in agriculture, energy, etc.), but what do they mean by sustainability? Christian Becker's talk in the recent Sustainability Ethics Conference at Penn State University Park focused on the ethical and philosophical meaning of the term 'sustainability'. Becker argues that sustainability has an inherently ethical dimension which is complex and requires a new approach to sustainability ethics that can address this complexity. The term 'sustainability' should be considered within the context of harmony between our contemporary fellow human beings, future generations, and nature. The term implies a certain type of continuance, orientation, and set of relations that lead us to pose the following philosophical question: What type of system do we want to maintain?

Dr. David Macauley (Penn State)

Thursday, March 24th 2011

"Everyday Environmental Ethics: Walking as a Sustainable Practice"

How can we begin to tackle the difficult and pressing problems raised by the discipline of Sustainability Ethics, which focuses on the moral issues resulting from the fact that we live in a threefold relation with contemporary others, future generations, and nature? Might the answer be as simple as putting one foot in front of the other?

At the recent Sustainability Ethics Conference at Penn State University Park, David Macauley suggested that walking may provide a fruitful and effective way for approaching the topic of sustainability. The problem, as Macauley suggested, is that the practice of walking is viewed as rather "pedestrian" in both senses of the word. In fact, walking is so pedestrian that we commonly overlook the ways in which the practice brings us into relation with the world around us and, as a result, we also overlook the ways in which walking might be encouraged as a part of a sustainable lifestyle.

Dr. Nigel Dower (University of Aberdeen)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

"Thinking About Sustainability: The Roles of Philosophical Ethics"

The first to be presented at the recent Sustainability Ethics Conference at Penn State University Park, Dower's paper provided a clear outline of the key concepts and questions that are at work in discussions of sustainability. The paper began by situating the role of the philosopher as one who 1) analyzes concepts, 2) identifies ethical issues and any underlying theories that might already be in use regarding these issues, 3) offers normative arguments for preferring some theories over others, and 4) considers implications of the application of those theories. His paper followed suit by raising questions about concepts like "sustainability" and "development."

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Dr. Robin Attfield (Cardiff University)

"What Moral Consequences Does the Environmental Crisis Have?"

In his contribution to the Panel Discussion on Global Ethics, Dr. Attfield offered an analysis of how the environmental crisis has presented us with new moral consequences and implications for our moral thinking. The environmental crisis includes everything from climate change, to global warming, to the degradation of natural resources and environments. It has reached the level of a crisis thanks to its global extent, the fact that is stems from the accumulation of countless big and more trivial actions, and that it affects natural systems as well as current and future people and members of others species.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Dr. Nigel Dower (University of Aberdeen)

"Sustainability and Cosmopolitanism: A Defense of an Ethical Ideal"

As one of the two public talks that preceded the recent Sustainability Ethics Conference at Penn State University Park, Nigel Dower presented a paper that highlighted the relationship between sustainability and cosmopolitanism. (Cosmopolitanism can be crudely broken down in terms of the following: Cosmos = cosmos, whole world, and polis = citizen, people, such that one is considered not simply as a citizen of a particular nation state but as a global citizen, a "citizen of the world.") The key point of Dower's talk was that there is a global dimension in most of the ways we talk about sustainability, even if it is usually working only in the background of our research as an orientational concept. Smaller projects, such as sustainable forestry, sustainable development, and sustainable tourism, already contain a more global, more cosmopolitan consideration of sustainability for the planet and all those who live on it. His thesis, then, is that sustainability requires cosmopolitanism as a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition. Cosmopolitanism is an ethically adequate basis for sustainability.

Given that it's St. Patrick's Day, I thought today might be a good time for some reflection on the similarly named day of celebration that occurred in State College just before Spring Break. As that day approached, I became aware of various efforts that were afoot to provide alternative outlets for student energies--outlets that were designed to be more helpful for the larger community and more reflective of what we want to identify as the real character of Penn State. I was impressed by the way the PSU-IPL  articulated the message behind their 'Positively Green' alternative, and by the way Sara Kizer articulated the reasons leading to the Council of Lion Hearts' 'State Service Day'.

I decided to ask some of the students involved in offering these alternative outlets to share their thoughts about the experience. What I learned surprised me a little bit:

Like many of you, I've been following discussions of Gov. Corbett's proposed budget cuts fairly closely over the last week. My focus has been on trying to understand the line of reasoning that leads us from a claim around which there is general consensus ('Pennsylvania is in financial trouble') to a claim that is highly controversial ('The proper response to this trouble involves cutting the appropriation to Penn State by roughly 52%'). I am well aware that in admitting that, despite the effort I have put in, I still haven't grasped the connection between these claims, I run the risk of coming off as politically and economically naive. That's a risk I am willing to take, however, because I think the obstacles I have encountered in my attempts might deserve a bit more attention than they are currently getting.  

Nathaniel Popper, who is currently a senior writer for the Los Angeles Times, visited Penn State on Sunday, February 27th, as a part of the "Tend and Sustain It Forever" program series organized by the Jewish Studies department. His talk was about a story Popper reported on when he was still a writer for The Forward on AgriProcessors, which was previously one of the biggest kosher slaughterhouses in the United States.

All of us have learned how to reply with the right words when we hear someone shout "We are...", but how much effort have we put into spelling out what we mean by that response in a way that enables us to articulate to others precisely why it means so much to us to be able to respond in that way?

This recent post from Onward State calls on Penn State students across the commonwealth to Stand Up and defend the university in the face of what amount to the largest proposed budget cuts (in terms of both percentages and actual dollars) in the history of state-funded higher education. Like all members of the Penn State community, we at the Rock Ethics Institute share in the concerns expressed in that post. We also do what we can to promote an environment in which students will take the suggestions offered there: to read, participate, care, and be heard. In fact, the Speak Up blog and the Rock Ethics Institute Facebook page were created for precisely this purpose.

Thus, it seemed like a good idea for us to add one further suggestion. We hope that students will Speak Up and participate in informed dialogue not only about how to respond effectively to this threat, but also about the core values that are being threatened, the other values that are being prioritized over these, and the place of our various and sometimes-competing values in defining who we are; both as a university community and as a commonwealth that has historically both supported and been supported by its public universities.
 
We have already posted a couple of topics on the Discussion Board of our Facebook page to get things started. We encourage everyone who stands to be affected by the proposed budget cuts and who has an interest in being heard to contribute their responses, to share them with their Facebook friends, and to create new topics for further discussion there.