What Are Environmental Ethics?

What are Environmental Ethics?
Environmental ethics is a branch of ethics that studies the relation of human

beings and the environment and how ethics play a role in this. Environmental
ethics believe that humans are a part of society as well as other living
creatures, which includes plants and animals. These items are a very
important part of the world and are considered to be a functional part of
human life. Thus, it is essential that every human being respect and honor this
and use morals and ethics when dealing with these creatures.
As per Nature.com, ” Environmental ethics is a branch of applied philosophy

that studies the conceptual foundations of environmental values as well as
more concrete issues surrounding societal attitudes, actions, and policies to
protect and sustain biodiversity and ecological systems.”
According to Wikipedia, “Environmental ethics is the part of environmental

philosophy which considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics
from solely including humans to including the non-human world. It exerts
influence on a large range of disciplines including environmental law,
environmental sociology, ecotheology, ecological economics, ecology and
environmental geography.”
Social responsibility of business implies the obligations of the

management of a business enterprise to protect the interests of the
society.
According to the concept of social responsibility the objective of

managers for taking business decisions is not merely to maximize
profits or shareholders’ value but also to serve and protect the
interests of other members of a society such as workers, consumers
and the community as a whole
We have the moral responsibility to protect the environment.

Environmental protection is governed by our ethical conducts. Ethics
refers to the moral principles that govern the actions of individuals.
The ethical principle that governs our moral responsibility towards the
protection of the environment determines our human obligation, duty,
and accountability with regard to the environment, which includes the
plants and animals in it. The perspective that human beings are
superior to other on- human is the major reason for environmental
degradation. According to the environmental ethics, these believe
should not apply. The protection of the environment is our moral
responsibility for the continuation of life on earth. The aim of the paper
is to discuss environmental problems that threaten the existence of life
and our moral responsibility to desist from further damage on the
environment. In addition, the paper will discuss on the ethical principle
that will govern environmental protection.
Ethics is the primary component that defines an individual’s obligation
towards the environment. In this case, environmental ethics defines an
individual’s ethical and moral obligation to conserve the environment.
In other words, they are the human values that are valuable to a
person that dictate their actions towards the environment. Human
beings use this logic to make decisions on whether something is
wrong or right. Human values are exclusive to individuals, this enables
them to place value on elements in life differently. However, no matter
our reasoning, we have a moral responsibility to protect the
environment. One of the prime reasons why we should protect the
environment is because of the ecosystem. As years have passed by,
human beings have discovered that the ecosystem is complex and we
are deeply connected to it. Human activities affect the ecosystem
through environmental pollution putting organisms on the verge of
extinction, this necessitates the need to protect the environment.
. Obligation towards the Environment:

The foremost responsibility of business enterprises is to ensure that they
should not damage the environment and for this purpose they should reduce
as much as possible air and water pollution by their productive activities.
They should not dump their toxic waste products in rivers and streams to
avoid their pollution. Pollution of environment poses a great health hazard for
the people and is a cause of several respiratory and skin diseases.
In economic theory pollution of environment is regarded as social cost that

must be minimised. There is now a growing awareness towards reduction in
environment pollution. According to the recent findings the climate change is
occurring due to greater emission of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
Therefore, the corporate enterprises should adopt high standards of
environmental protection and ensure that they are implemented
regardless of enforcement of any environment laws passed by the
government. Many countries including India have passed laws to
protect the environment but they are not properly and strictly
enforced.
Business enterprises in their attempt to maximise profits recklessly

and negligently pollute the environment. Therefore, it is required that
government should take tough measures and enforce environment
laws strictly if environment is to be protected.
Social responsibility is related to the concept of ethics. Ethics is the

discipline that deals with moral duties and obligations. Social
responsibility implies corporate enterprises should follow business
ethics and work for not only to maximise their profits or shareholders’
value but also to promote the interests of other stakeholders and the
society as a whole.
Two instances of lack of social responsibility of business witnessed in

India are worth mentioning. One refers to Bhopal Gas Leak Tragedy.
On Dec. 2,1984 in a pesticide factory located in Bhopal and owned by a
multinational corporation ‘Union Carbide Limited (UCL), there was a
leakage of poisonous gas from factory which resulted in the death of
more than 2000 poor people and about 2 lakh persons were badly
injured and crippled.
This was due to the non-installation of safety measures by the

company. Union Carbide tried to show that it was not responsible. A
long legal battle was fought and ultimately Union Carbide was held
responsible by the court and was asked to pay $ 650 millions to the
victims as damages.
Another recent case of lack of corporate social responsibility in India

and failure of good corporate governance in India is provided by
Satyam Saga. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computers
Committed fraud running into several thousand crores inflicting heavy
losses to the shareholders and lenders of the company. For this
criminal act Raju is in Jail and his company has been taken over by
Mahindera.
This Satyam fraud raises the question of failure of corporate

governance in India, especially the role of independent directors in
ensuring good governance of the corporates. The above two examples
should serve as a wake-up call for Indian corporate businesses that
they should discharge their responsibility to their customers,
employees, other stakeholders and society at large.

What Are Environmental Ethics?

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What Are Environmental Ethics?

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

What Are Environmental Ethics?

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What are Environmental Ethics?

Environmental ethics is a branch of ethics that studies the relation of human

As per Nature.com, ” Environmental ethics is a branch of applied philosophy

According to Wikipedia, “Environmental ethics is the part of environmental

Social responsibility of business implies the obligations of the

According to the concept of social responsibility the objective of

We have the moral responsibility to protect the environment.

. Obligation towards the Environment:

In economic theory pollution of environment is regarded as social cost that

Business enterprises in their attempt to maximise profits recklessly

Social responsibility is related to the concept of ethics. Ethics is the

Two instances of lack of social responsibility of business witnessed in

This was due to the non-installation of safety measures by the

Another recent case of lack of corporate social responsibility in India

This Satyam fraud raises the question of failure of corporate

You might also like