Environment
Do Humans Rule the World?
Kristi Goldsberry
SOC 120
Prof. Donna Falloon
March 16, 2009
Do Humans Rule the World?
Do humans have the right to treat the planet as though it is theirs to consume, pollute and destroy, or does the earth have intrinsic value in and of itself? For Christians, the answer is obvious. In the Bible, Genesis 1:27-8 made abundantly clear that humans, while having the right to control all living things and use them for their benefit, must “replenish” the earth. Our Native American ancestors held a similar view. An ancient Indian proverb challenged, “Treat the Earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” It is commonly believed that something borrowed should be returned intact or in even better condition than before it was borrowed.
Emergence of Environmental Ethics
Human dominion over other living things was challenged in the 1970s after the first Earth Day in 1970 inspired the emergence of environmental ethics as a sub-discipline of environmental philosophy. While most ethics addressed issues of human needs and desires, environmental ethics concentrated on the moral relationship of humans to the environment and its non-human substance, and to the value and moral status of the environment. Many environmentalists argued that nature has intrinsic value independent from its value to human life and health. Because of the intrinsic value of nature, these environmentalists contended, humans have a moral obligation to protect and care for it. Renowned historian Lynn White commented in, The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis, “since God had made nature, nature also must reveal the divine mentality” (1967).
The field of environmental ethics remained marginalized until the 1990s when it gained institutional recognition after several universities began offering...
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