Question

Environmentalism and Moral Concern for Animals Many believe that we are in serious trouble today as human beings plunging headlong into a major climate crisis on planet earth. Our course eText on Environmental Ethics states the following: There is no denying that the global climate is changing, as the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased during the past century. … Coastlines are crumbling as the climate changes and sea levels rise… storms are increasing in severity … the Arctic ice cap is melting… (MacKinnon, 427). But what’s causing these troubling changes? We are. MacKinnon again: Some skeptics dispute whether the changes are entirely man-made, but the vast majority of experts believe one of the major causes of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels … (MacKinnon, 428). And the human disregard for nature also means disregard for all species of animals that depend on livable natural habitats. Entire species today are threatened with imminent extinction. Writing in 2016, MacKinnon says “687 animal species are listed as either endangered or threatened.” That number has risen drastically since 2016, leading some scientists to conclude that we are in the midst of a global mass extinction of animal species. The following video links provide, in the first, a summary of a U.N. Climate Change Report from 2019, and, in the second, an explanation of the meaning of speciesism by Dr. Richard Ryder. After watching these short videos, please respond to the discussion questions listed below. U.N. Climate Change Report: LINK (Links to an external site.) Dr. Richard Ryder on the meaning of speciesism Link (Links to an external site.) Discussion Questions (please address both 1 and 2). [1] How does the hearing of this U.N. report on the climate crisis affect you, your values, your sense of the world and its future? What human beliefs or values today will more likely prevent needed changes in our way of life, methods of production, or government policies? And what beliefs or values will more likely lead to the kind of changes needed to address the climate crisis? [2] Do you think humans are biased against animals, as moral philosophers like Peter Singer express with the term speciesism, and do you think this speciesism is comparable to other human biases such as racism and sexism, as Dr. Ryder contends in the video?

Why or why not?

Answer 1

1.The UN climate change report is a recent addition to the series of warnings that have been put forth by the environmentalists and scientific community before the world. It apparently suggests that humanity is on the path of self destruction and only conscious and coordinated effort for a prolonged period of time can save us from the impending catastrophe. This suggests that our values of maximising pleasure and comforts for ourselves without the consideration of our surroundings and fellow beings is not going to be sustainable for a very long time. We have already started to witness the result of the pursuit of uncontested hedonism in the form of species extinction at an unprecedented rate.

The situation calls for a serious reconsideration of the way of life that we have adopted for the last three centuries. There is an urgent need to change our lifestyles in a way that our production and consumption systems embibe the value of sustainability. The value system encompassing equity, kindness, collectivism and judicious use of resources for the greater good of humanity offer hope for humanity to save itself from the eminent danger.

It is high time that we move towards energy efficiency and energy conservation in a way that our production systems become sustainable on the other hand rationalize our consumption patterns to suatain our precious common property resources for future generations.

2.The evolutionary history of humanity offers a clear description of our succession to our present biological state. This endows us with a sense that we are connected to the other forms of life on the planet in an unbroken chain of graduation to greater stages of evolution. This underscores the very necessity of evolutionary morality. The evolutionary morality essentially implies that humans should treat non human biological beings as equals in their consideration of worth of life and liberty.

The evolutionary morality has apparently been ignored by successive generations of human beings and as a result we are heading towards the sixth mass extinction. This indicates our bias towards animals which has been termed as speciesism by Dr. Ryder. In comparison to other biases such as racism and sexism, speciesism is more aggravated because it involves the all human beings pitted against all other species.

The unprecedented rate of species extinction not only threatens animals but also the entire web of life. The repercussions of the species extinction are clearly visible and indicate the threat to the habitat conservation, food systems and ecological services that they render. It is therefore, in our enlightened self-interest that we eliminate speciesism.