Recently in Sustainability Ethics Conference Category

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.