Reading these articles has been an extremely interesting cap to this class. Throughout this class we have explored different aspects of environmental ethics and animal liberation. These readings I found to be particularly interesting encompassing both of these themes.
If I had read these presentations a month ago I probably would have found them interesting. However, with a different lens after having learned about many of the points of view in environment ethics reading through these presentations has had different significance. I think that one word that has stuck out to me while reading is the concept of holism. When we break down these issues a lot of them come down to the same problem which is that we have lost connection with the world around us. From my perspective of pollution we have learned about many of the problems involving resources and pollution. The solution to the issue of pollution is not so cut and dry. We have created a society where in order to function properly waste is created and this fact while undesirable is a reality. However, what I feel we can do is cut down on the amount of waste that is created and develop more just ways in dealing with the waste that is created. Part of the solution I feel is technological in creating and developing technology that produces less waste and uses resources more effectively. This part of the solution is engineering by nature, and I will elaborate upon no further. However, the next part of the solution is simple, it involves consuming less. Our culture has groomed us to be consumers where the entire economy is focused around the production and sale of goods that for the most part are not crucial to our survival, and are designed to break down and we acknowledge this and have a name for this term (planned obsolescence). In effect our consumerism has accelerated the creation of pollution and accelerated our consumption of resources. I think that this is where the relevance of Hardin's text comes into play. Hardin's 'lifeboat' metaphor operates under the assumption that we are near exhaustion of resources and that there now exist conflict for resources and the problem of pollution is becoming extreme. The result of using less resources will mean that less strain will be put on each of the 'lifeboats'. However, even if we reduce our consumption waste is still created. One of the issues that was brought up by Wenz is the issue of how waste must be dealt with. Our capitalist society has the consequence of favoring those with wealth because they can afford the luxury of having toxic waste dealt with out of their sight and mind. This means that those without adequate resources are forced to deal with the responsibility and consequences of dealing with waste. I believe that instead of all LULU sites existing in poor communities, instead each community should be responsible for dealing with their own waste. Another fault of capitalist society is that money dictates how waste is distributed, which means that inevitably responsibility for waste will fall upon those of lower economic standing. Thus, my argument is for straying away from capitalism.
Many of the problems that are a cause of pollution are the result of overdevelopment. Referring back to the holism argument, we see that part of the problem is that we have lost track of our connection with the wilderness. We just like any other animal are part of the ecosystem, part of the problem with consumption (other than pollution generated) is that we destroy the land that is around us. As we destroy and make more land arable and inhabitable we create the ability to accommodate additional population. As population grows we generate all of the subsequent problems, such as pollution. For us to better understand the world we live in we must first be able to see ourselves as what we are, which is animals that are part of an ecosystem. Because all of the walls that we have put up to distinguish us from animals, it takes a near death experience such as the one experienced by Plumwood. Plumwood was attacked by a crocodile and this caused her to realize that this animal had no malice but was just saw her as a meal just as any other creature. A realization like this can help us to see that just as towns are locales for us to live, the woods are a habitat for animals. However, if the previous reasons for preservation have not been sufficient Nelson provides 30 additional examples examples for why wilderness should be preserved.
In conclusion, while pollution and wilderness preservation may not seem related they both are relevant when consider the welfare of our larger ecosystem. By preserving more land we can limit the population growth and therefore we can limit our production of pollution. By preserving wilderness we sustain the value of ecosystem. However, as noted both of these objectives are difficult to achieve in a capitalist society because there is little extrinsic value in preserving wilderness, and even less value in slowing production to reduce pollution.
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