Ground Rules for Ethical Ecology
By Michael Paul Nelson
Tackling environmental crises requires moral as well as scientific clarity
This Article From Issue
July-August 2021
Volume 109, Number 4
Page 246
As an environmental ethicist, I routinely sit in meetings where the word “sustainability” is uttered reflexively or employed as blanket justification for almost any program. Often, people utter the word without seriously considering its complex, multilayered meaning. One influential definition of sustainability comes from a 1987 United Nations–sponsored report: “meeting human needs in a socially just manner without depriving ecosystems of their health.”
QUICK TAKE
- The overlapping ecological crises humanity currently faces—climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, to name a few—are moral and ethical as well as scientific problems.
- The relationship between science and ethics is complicated, thorny, and often misunderstood, but we need both scientific facts and ethical arguments to address these crises.
- Ethical and moral arguments start with clearly stating what we value and why, and can inspire collective action and form the basis for sound policies and scientific research.
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