Intro. to Ethics and Social Responsibility

Issues     1

Environmental Ethical Issues (Past, Present, and Future)

Ashlea Gibson

Intro. to Ethics and Social Responsibility

Russell Tompkins

July 18, 2010

                                                                                                                              Issues     2

      The beginning of Environmental ethical issues started on the first Earth Day in 1970 when environmentalists began trying to get philosophers who were involved in environmental groups to do something about the environmental problems that were occurring.   By the 1960’s, we were faced with a perception that by the late twentieth century, we would face a “population time bomb” and a serious environmental crisis.   (Brennan, A., Lo, Y. 2009)
      There were many publications that got many people aware of the crisis of environmental issues.   Among them was a book written by Rachel Carson called “Silent Spring” that explained how pesticides used from farming would not only impact human lives from the ingredients used but would also have an impact on environmental factors as well.   In 1968, Paul Ehrlich, published “The Population Bomb, with implemented warnings that with human population growth, came a threat to growth of planetary life-support systems.   A historian named Lynn White Jr., wrote a paper “The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis” in March of 1967.   In this paper, White argues how Judeo-Christian thinking has encouraged the idea that humans are over all other forms of life on earth.
      The number one philosophy journal that dealt with environmental ethics was the Inquiry that began in the 1970’s.   At this time in history, philosophy journals were published with no more than one article per year.   The publishing of such articles changed significantly with the journal “Environmental Ethics” written by Eugene C. Hargrove in 1979.   With this journal, came the name that would influence the name given to this field of study....