My theoretical ground of my environmental ethics is from homocentric ethics and partnership ethics. Homocentric ethics has some critiques and conflicts with politics and ecocentric ethics, but as long as we have a capitalistic system by producing the greatest good for the greatest number of people, homocentric ethics is crucial to solve the social problems. Also, although partnership ethics accepts the human need for food, clothing, shelter and energy, the differences between partnership and homocentric ethics is that partnership ethics considers a value of nature by arguing that nature has an equal right to survive along with humans. In this environmental ethics paper, I argue that homocentric ethic is necessary to solve the social problems such as inequality and poverty, but we also need partnership ethics to make a sustainable world for our next generations.
Jadi ethics is a combination of Jaden and Jedi from the movie, Star Wars. In the movie, Jedi fights for peace and justice against their mortal enemies. My ethics emphasizes the importance of social justice and problem solving that we are facing, caused by capitalism. Also, I strongly believe that we need a Jadi ethics to think and draw our own environmental ethics through an education to improve our community and society for sustainable development.
Homocentric ethics is crucial for my ethics. Merchant argues that “Homocentric ethics argues that humans must manage nature for the benefit of the human species, not for the intrinsic benefit of other species” (Radical Ecology, 73). It is based on Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian ethics, the greatest good for the greatest number of people. In order to produce enough amount of goods for humans, homocentric ethics emphasizes stewardship ethics and caretaking mindset of the nature. Also, Marx’s human centered ethics lies with the homocentric ethics. Marx argues using science and technology to produce food, clothing, and shelter and energy has no problems as long as it makes for better human conditions. In this way, homocentric ethics could be a solution to social problems such as poverty.
One of the problems of homocentric ethics is that natural resources are limited so we need a partnership ethics to maintain a sustainable earth and to protect the earth from thoughtless human extraction. Merchant states that “Partnership ethic holds that the greatest good for the human and nonhuman communities is in their mutual living interdependence” (Radical Ecology, 83). Partnership ethics respects nature’s autonomy in order to consider moral consideration for both humans and other species by considering the concept of relationships. It also respects cultural diversity and biodiversity, inclusion of women, minorities, and nonhuman nature in the code of ethical accountability. Thus, partnership ethics is pragmatic for my ethics not only to suggest a solution for social problems and inequality of wealth, races, and sex, but also to protect the earth from human activities through the relations between male and female, furthermore humans and nature to make an egalitarian political and economic society.
Jadi ethics primarily focuses on ethics education and solving social and environmental problems caused by capitalism, and it is to give an equal opportunity to people such as a fair accessibility to natural resources, but at the same time, considering nature as an autonomic subject so we can make a sustainable earth. I argue that all natural resources turned into a commodity as capitalism has emerged. Since natural resources are extracted for human consumption and for their profits, the ecological problem became not just an ecological problem, but a social problem. We are living in a wealthy country, but tens of thousands of people are in poverty in the world. Poor countries and people have poor infrastructure and limited access to food, energy, shelter, and clothing. Thus, my ethics critiques laissez-faire, and capitalism has a negative effect on the ecosystem.
One of the biggest problems of laissez-faire is wealth inequality, accelerated by development project and globalization. Rosemary Radford Ruether argues that “The masses of people in former colonies remained impoverished and exploited” (Ecology, 95). Third world countries suffered from unequal free trade agreements during globalization by the first world, and inequality and poverty rates have been increasing. Also, Joel Kovel in his article, Global Capitalism and the End of Nature, argues that ecological crises cannot be overcome without overcoming capital (Ecology, 105). Natural resources are limited in the earth, and people started to convert wood, coal, and oil into our daily energy resources for profit, and from this process (converting natural resources into profitable commodity), environmental problems had been exacerbated by carbon dioxide and methane from manufacturing factories. And, such pollution causes health problems, sea-level rise, and more extreme natural disasters. Free-market liberalization has a negative effect both on the earth and human health. Thus, we need to solve the environmental problems in conjunction with the social problems.
First of all, to make an sustainable earth, Aldo Leopold’s land ethics supports my ethics. I believe that realizing the boundaries of environmental ethics is crucial to overcoming ecological and social problems through education. Aldo Leopold in his essay, The Land Ethic, argues that “The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land” (239). When we expand our ethics to waters, soils, plants, animals, and humans, people are aware of that we are surrounded by nature everyday. He also argues that we should become a citizen instead of being a conqueror of the land community, and we need to deal with the relation between the individual and society and try to integrate the individual and society. Eventually, people have a relationship to the land itself. My ethics argues that we cannot design a sustainable earth if we do not know what the boundaries of the environmental ethics are and if we do not realize each individual is within the society and within the nature. Thus, Leopold’s land ethics gives an idea of what we should preserve to make an eco-friendly community.
Second of all, to become a pragmatic environmental ethics, my ethics take social ecology into account because natural resources are not infinite resources. Merchant argues that “Social ecology emphasizes the human implications of systems of economic production on the environment” (Radical Ecology, 160). Social ecology states that nature is disrupted by both capitalism and socialism externalities. Since natural resources are limited in the earth, we cannot just consider a homocentric ethics to try to solve social problems such as poverty. Social ecology also suggests an economic restruction that is environmentally sustainable. Social ecology accepts that we need to fulfill basic human needs (similar to partnership or homocentric ethics), and we need to remove hierarchy from society and the domination of nature by humans. However, there is a huge dilemma. We cannot easily change the capitalist system that we have, but also we cannot go back to a communist/socialist system because we’ve already witnessed the failure of communism. Also, to change the economic structure, as social ecology argues, I believe people have to be in a position that has a power to change the economic structure, and people in that position have to be educated to fulfill people’s basic needs and to make a sustainable world with proper and good education of environmental philosophy and ethics.
Problems and Jadi Ethics
Factory farming is responsible for a big proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. 9,278 million factory farmed animals were slaughtered in 2010, and the number of slaughtered animals is increasing. Factory farming emissions sources include feed for poultry, generation of electricity, transportation of animals to the slaughterhouse and the market, and refuse disposal such as manure from animals. The livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, around 40 percent more than the entire transport sector cars, trucks, planes, trains, and ships combined (Foer, 58). Climate change issues have become an international topic of conversation and one that we have to solve. For example, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the international level, 195 developed and developing countries signed up to the 2015 Paris Agreement. To reduce CO2 emission, each country has to set new environmental policies in the energy and transport sectors. However, what policy makers need to focus on is that greenhouse gas emissions from livestock sector are greater than the entire transport sector. Factory farming is not only about how animals are treated and produced for our plates. Setting the agenda for environmental policy with a sincere and prudent choice for the livestock sector is important because it may threaten our next generation if there is no or less environmental regulation and ethics on factory farming.
Also, the fecal waste from massive amount of factory farmed animals resulted in environmental and public health issues. Factory farmers overfeed animals to encourage them to grow as big as possible because a big chunk of meat can be more profitable at the market place.
A justification of factory farming, same as GM (genetically modified) products, was good because companies and farmers tried to produce the greatest good (mass production) for the greatest number of people (affordable, even cheap meat). However, factory farming causes several problems as I discussed.
Jadi ethics accepts that factory farming is a good way to produce enough and affordable food for low-income people and the third world countries. However, structure of the economy in terms of allocation of food and energy resources should be changed to a sustainable way. According to BBC news article, Food Waste Reduction Could Help Feed World’s Starving, a recent study shows that the developed countries annually waste about 33% of food, 40% of US production is not eaten, and 10 % of greenhouse gas emissions are from rotting food. Also, developing countries like China and India have difficulty storing food in hot weather resulting in some going to waste (Hepker). This article points out that one of the environmental problems is caused by overconsumption and lack of infrastructure and knowledge in third world countries. I believe environmental ethics itself has a limitation to solve imminent ecological and social problems. Thus, Jadi ethics suggests the importance of the education. Through the education, people learn the problems of factory farming and overconsumption, and they also could learn, think, and innovate how to make eco-friendly factory farming and a sustainable community, city, country, and the world. Lastly, I strongly believe that these kinds of education and knowledge will give a power of being a good citizen and human, and this knowledge finally could turn into a practical policy, law, and technology to find a solution for ecological and social crisis.
Citation
1. Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown, 2009. Print.
2. Hepker, Caroline. "Food Waste Reduction Could Help Feed World's Starving." BBC News. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.
3. Merchant, Carolyn. Radical ecology: the search for a liveable world. London : Routledge, 1992. Print.
4. Merchant, Carolyn, Ecology. Amherst, NY: Humanity, 2008. Print.