SMU – PHIL 3379 – ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS – FALL 2025 – JEAN KAZEZ

Search This Blog

Friday, April 4, 2025

MODULE 5: Loving Nature

 AGENDA

  1. Wild places module, overview
  2. Loving nature
_________________________

AVvXsEgML0bMAI0qEBukM2yk7USTLpPcaNfBBrkyCQ0A7AKHoACNP_lFpURIDBtWrB4Mhyfj1z-oQ2h8o5WyBlVvX_iIgnEYlwITek45YL4U1kTLzNm4YAvee-ZEMLKYYwkJuyyd0Bsnd9BhKE1KzwWFo7sAspZfB51Zstmz-ChW0-NrpU4Z6AoWllSEENurfzY=w400-h389

_________________________

Upcoming reports
  1. faking nature, April 11 (Hannah)
  2. rewilding, April 18 (Jackson, Olivia, Clayton) 
  3. recycling, April 23 (Kamila, Chyler, Priya) -- will send you some info
_________________________


RR28 We’ve been talking about nature “out there” but now we turn to nature in our immediate environment. 
  1. What are some examples of urban wildlife issues that Alagona discusses?
  2. Visit a place where you can observe urban nature--this could be somewhere very near or very far. Do you “love nature” in this form (see our class on April 4) or is urban nature too dull or depleted to love?
Visit ideas
  1. White Rock Lake (east side: birds but also trash)
    AVvXsEhIJ8OjEaCmMjP1T_ivCudfixsfdSsoVYvhIXMuG7dOVnZAs_bm3gjJaEdWjymthTxiR5HnI1hQaxgsjZ8mAfj5QP9yU06wUV7IcOjHfAIk89GrPXW2rx6V6mZKVC-saRjDUR0n0JuEAX6cKtUFFdCJ7_xysqwcpiHXBStU7uoYYcz5ZuAWCcCjqqcstaM

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/N5Gh4FmfYmtbE5RB7?g_st=i
    Orange fencing is in front of tree



  2. Eagle's nest
  3. Arboretum - also relevant to "faking nature"
  4. Klyde Warren Park
  5. North of Dallas -- Heard Museum nature preserve
  6. Goat Island (super urban nature)
  7. Cedar Ridge preserve
  8. Live oaks in front of Dallas Hall!
  9. Bear Creek park






_________________________

Loving Nature

Are you a nature lover?
What does it mean to "love nature"?

Rick Furtak, "On the Love of Nature" -- from a collection of essays about love
E.O. Wilson, "The Environmental Ethic"....biophilia (loving nature)

_________________________


Furtak
  • he offers a theory about loving nature
  • he first states the theory -- we read this part
  • he then attributes the theory to Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862) -- we didn't read
  • Thorough spent a few years living in solitude at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachussets.



       
The Thoreau/Furtak theory of loving nature (annotated reading)

(1) What is love?
  • "to love is essentially to care about the life and well-being of whatever we love" (passage 2) 
  • "what is loved must have a life that can be going well or not so well" apart from my own preferenes (read passage 3)  
  • So we can love....(his examples)
    • rabbits, aspen trees, human beings
    • lakes forests, mountains, species, ecosystems
  • We can't love....
    • chocolate... (really enjoying vs. love)
    • skiiing... (really enjoying vs. love)
    • can you love a city?
  • The places you discussed -- do you love/care about them or just really enjoy them?
(2). Corollary of (1): Loving nature --> conservationism

(3) Loving nature makes us aware of more features  (read passages 4, 6)
  • without hearing, you would miss out on bird song
  • without sight, you would miss out on fall colors
  • without love, you miss out on things as well
  • what do you miss out on
  • maybe we should add: love --> notice more --> love more
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park (California)



(3) Loving nature makes us "experience aspects of our surrounding environment as meaningful" (read passage 7)
  • the eagle's nest is precarious, on the brink of another tragedy
  • other examples of meaning?




(4)  Love is like a sense--without hearing we'd miss out on birdsong; without love we miss out on features, value, meaning (read passages 8, 9, 13)


_________________________


E.O. Wilson on the idea of wilderness

    AVvXsEhMJW2Zvk1rZrzb-ev2Srh78g98gZOOXpk9bkCnrmviMaOfHcWR2rqGiazNSd40dEYcB8PrMSa-vLVX6ph9s8WMrAyqA3rtz17O6xq_q3jyYx4JXkGQJHA3pK3Uzt0BF0I2reJ-Fx45nUCNONZtEjrRFd1P0k2gR1EeDeMlijSduW5gpVhA-R1oyK6MHSI

By going into nature we are sometimes seeking wilderness, i.e.
  • places that are NOT "humanized"
  • places that are "beyond human contrivance"
  • "Wilderness settles peace on the soul because it needs no help"
  • Wilderness is a "metaphor of unlimited opportunity"
Are you a wilderness seeker as well as a nature lover?

Next: we will example the concept of wilderness


Wednesday, April 2, 2025

MODULE 4: Geoengineering

AGENDA
  1. Next time: love of nature RR
  2. Recap
  3. Bjorn Lomborg
  4. Geoengineering
  5. Poll
_________________________

Recap

Can we keep temperature rise under 1.5 - 2 deg C?
  1. Coercion. Cap and trade could work, but unrealistic on a global scale
  2. Voluntary cooperation.  Paris Agreement could work, but nations aren't doing their fair share.
  3. So....anger, despair
_________________________-

Or hope?


Who is he?
  • Statistician from Denmark
  • Works at Copenhagen Consensus
  • Author of Cool It and False Alarm and The Skeptical Environmentalist; writes op-eds in Wall Street Journal.

Views

Climate change is real

We should mitigate
  • need green innovation
  • not just sacrifice
  • carbon taxes
But what if we don't mitigate?
  • Not a disaster
  • We will adapt to higher tempeature, sealevel rise
  • Should research geoengineering 

_________________________

No worries, we'll adapt!

DEBATE

13:09 - 17:27 Bjorn Lomborg

Arguments: (1) People live successfully in many habitats, (2) old woman wouldn't remember 10 inch sea level rise over her lifetime (3) low lying countries adapt with dikes (Holland) (4) climate change activists mislead us by picturing a world that didn't adapt



LOMBORG TALK
14 - 18



_________________________

Geoengineering as a backup plan

  1. Geoengineering, an optimistic view -- Reece -- Cool It!
  2. Geoengineering, a worried view -- Carla -- Hourdequin lecture (good slide: 19:26)
  3. Geoengineering--it's happening now! -- Derik -- NYT article 

_________________________

POLL














Sunday, March 30, 2025

MODULE 4: Climate Justice (2)

AGENDA
  1. Peter Singer recap
  2. Climate Tracker assessment of NDCs under Paris Agreement
  3. Preview: Bjorn Lomborg 
_________________________


Peter Singer recap

What should different nations do to prevent further climate change? What is each nation's "fair share" of the effort needed to keep temperature rise below 1.5 or 2 deg C?

(1) Historical principle: present reductions should be proportional to past emissions.  



(2) Time slice approaches: Equal shares

Problem: unequal per capita emissions

 





    Solution: equal shares
    • forget the past
    • each person has a right to the same emissions
    • this allowance should be consistent with keeping temperature rise below 2 deg C. 
    • the allowance might be 2 tons CO2 per person
    • each country's fair share of emissions = 2.3 tons X country's population
    • Each country's fair share of effort to reduce based on their "overage" or "underage"

    Historical vs. equal share
    • Time-slice and historical: US has to do a lot
    • Time-slice: China has to do just as much as US
    • Historical: China has to do less than US

    _________________________

    (3) Time-slice: roughly equal shares
    • subsistence emissions -- methane from rice paddies, heating fuel in Greenland
    • development emissions -- costs of rising from poverty
    • luxury emissions -- costs of big car, freezing cold movie theaters, flying to Europe
    _________________________

    How to make the reductions occur
    Assume "equal shares" for simplicity

    Garret Hardin--"mutual coercion mutually agreed upon"

    Cap and trade
    1. Every nation issued is permits based on population
    2. Must have permits to emit GHG
    3. "Overage" countries will have to buy permits from "underage" countries
    4. Overage countries will have motivation to mitigate (so they don't have to buy so many permits)
    5. Underage countries will have motivation to stay low but have money to develop
    6. Cap and trade is a reality within countries/regions: European Union Emissions Trading System ; also California, China, etc.

    _________________________
    _________________________

    Climate Tracker assessment of country NDCs under Paris Agreement

    Climate tracker: what does fair share mean?



    Responsibility: historical
    Equality: equal shares
    Capabilities
    Cost-effectiveness

    Using fair share to assess NDCs: country ratings

    _________________________


    Thursday, March 27, 2025

    MODULE 4: Climate Justice

     AGENDA

    1. The Story of Plastic--The Texas Theater (Oak Cliff) -- producer present -- March 31 7 pm -- Sierra Club -- free tickets
    2. Longtermism and career choice--80,000 hours
    3. Next week:  Geoengineering report on Wed
    4. Today: prevention justic
    _________________________






    _________________________

    PETER SINGER 
    chapter from Practical Ethics (2011)

    Imagine that we live in a village in which everyone puts their waste down a giant drain...." (p. 218)

    Peter Singer--the village drain that's filling up
    What is each villager's fair share of the remaining space?


    Two approaches to a just distribution (concepts from Robert Nozick)
    1. Historical principles--
      • "An historical principle is one that says to understand whether a given distribution of goods is just or unjust, we must ask how the distribution came about; we must know its history." (Singer p. 220)
      • Apply to the village drain problem
    2. Time-slice principles--
      • "In contrast, a time-slice principle just looks at the existing distribution, at this moment of time, and asks on that basis if it is just. (p. 220)
      • Apply to the village drain problem
    _________________________

    Let's think about fair share in terms of....

    The Paris Agreement (2015)


    1. Sets goal of limiting temperature rise (in 2100) to 2 degrees C. (3.6 F), or preferably 1.5 (2.7 F).
    2. Countries create NDCs (nationally determined contributions to mitigation) 
    3. Countries communicate contributions to adaptation
    4. They report back every 5 years and must make more ambitious plans
    5. Ratified by 196 countries -- US left in 2017 (Trump), joined again in 2021 (Biden), left again in 2025

      Mitigation options

      1. Transition away from fossil fuels to renewables (wind, solar)
      2. Create emissions standards for industries, cars, etc.
      3. Pass carbon tax 
      4. Pass meat tax :-)
      5. Subsidize electric cars
      6. Plant trees (carbon sinks)
      7. Etc.
      How much should each nation do? What is their fair share?

      1. Historical approach
      2. Time-slice approach
      _________________________


      Historical Principle--You broke it, you fix it/Polluter pays

      Historical principle #1: Total past emissions
      • Each country's NDC should be based on their total past emissions
      • Canada and India should do the same amount, based on similar past emissions
      • But ...
      • Somehow we have to take into account individual past emissions
      Historical principle #2: Per capita past emissions
      • What did the average person emit?
      • India's fair share is the same as Tuvalu's!
      Historical principle #3:  Total past emissions, above "allowance" per person
      • "the assumption here, which seems reasonable, is that each person is entitled to an equal share of the atmosphere, and we should be looking at the extent to which people in some nations have, in past centuries, used more than their share." (Singer p. 221)
      • Our World in Data--total emissions 
      Historical principle #4: Same as #3, but responsibility starts when people know about climate change (around 1990)

      Historical principle #5. Consumption not production
      • Principle of commensurate benefits and burdens (Wenz)
      • Note: Singer doesn't discuss Wenz
      • Consumption determines NDC--so ignore exports
      • Our World in Data--consumption vs. production

      Historical principle #6:: each country's share of the solution should be based on how much they emitted in the past, above their fair share, looking only back to 1990, and focusing on consumption, not production.


      _________________________

      Equal Shares

      TIME SLICE PRINCIPLES/EQUALITY
      • the important time-slice is the present
      • ethical assumption: each person has a right to the same emissions (equality)
      • question: what per capita GHG emissions will keep temp rise below 1.5C in 2100?  
      • Answer: about 2.3 tons CO2 equivalent
      • fair share of emissions for each country: population X 2.3 ton
      • fair share of effort to mitigate: what it takes to reach that leavel

      Tuesday, March 25, 2025

      MODULE 4: Future People

       AGENDA

      1. Future ethics
      2. Discount View vs. Longtermism
      3. Debate/Discussion
      _________________________

      Future ethics
      1. How much should we do for future people?
      2. How much should we spend on future people?
      There are also future animals, plants, ecosystems, which might raise different issues

      Future ethics is relevant to all sorts of environmental questions
      1. Climate change, because worst impacts will be in the future
      2. Aquifer overusage, ditto
      3. Wilderness and wildllife disappearance, ditto
      _________________________

      Two positions on our obligations to future people
      1. Discount View--environmental economists discussed by Broome--Nordhaus, Stern
      2. Longtermism--Will MacAskill, What We Owe the Future; Who is he?
      _________________________

      The discount view (discussed Mar 14)

      We should do and spend less on future people, the more future they are
      • I should do and spend less on my future self, the more future she is
      • We should do and spend less on future climate change problems, the more future they are
      • Discounters propose specific discount rates 

      Longtermism
      • "Future people count. There could be a lot of them. We can make their lives go better." (MacAskill p. 9)
      • They are a bit different from present people because they aren't as "near and dear" and can't reciprocate (p. 11)
      • But they still "matter significantly" (p. 11) and we should be discounters
      _________________________

      Arguments for discounting
      1. Prioritarianism
      2. Pure temporal distance
      3. Investment
      4. Other arguments
      Arguments against discounting
      1. Utillitarianism
      2. No temporal discounting
      _________________________

      Arguments for longtermism
      1. The hiker argument
      2. The future plague argument
      3. The time/distance argument
      4. The imagining future people argument
      5. The sheer number argument
      6. Other arguments
      Arguments against longtermism

      Thursday, March 13, 2025

      MODULE 4: Future People

       AGENDA

      1. No office hours today
      2. Duties to future people -- John Broome, William McAskill
      3. Later: Peter Singer, how do divide up duty to mitigate among nations




      John Broome, "Climate Change Ethics" (Scientific American, 2008)

      What sacrifices should we make--less plane travel, turning down the heat, eating less meat -- if we are sacrificing for the sake of
      • people now
      • people in 2050
      • people in 2100
      • people in 2200
      How much should we spend on climate change -- mitigating, adapting, etc. -- if the benefit is received by
      • people now
      • people in 2050
      • people in 2100
      • people in 2200
      Discounting view--the further out the beneficiaries, the less we have to sacrifice

      _________________________


      Warm up exercise
      • You would pay $100 for a nice sweater.  
      • What would you pay now for a sweater that will be delivered in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc?
      • if you would pay a discounted price, why?

      _________________________

      How much should we discount when it comes to climate change spending?

      Suppose...
      flooding from sea level rise is expected in 100 years...
      we want to build a dike protecting Houston...
      the dike will prevent $1 trillion in damages...
      what should we spend today for the dike?






      1. We should spend up to a $1 trillion today for the dike (no discount)
      2. We should spend less than $1 trillion (discount).

      Broome: economists say we should discount, but disagree about the discount rate






      Reasons FOR discounting
      1. Alternative investment opportunities
      2. Future people will be richer than us (everyone assumes)
      3. The same goods will be worth less to them (diminishing marginal value)
      4. Prioritarianism--we should give priority to the worse off (that's us!) not the better off (future people)
      5. Pure temporal distance--events in the future just matter less, period
      6. WHAT ELSE?
      _________________________

      Reasons against discounting, or at least for a lower discount rate
      1. Utilitarianism--we should maximize total happiness, whether extra units of wellbeing are given to the worse off or the better off.
      2. Temporal impartiality -- future counts just as much
      Other reasons against discounting (not discussed by Broome)
      1. Our old friend PCBB -- principle of commensurate benefits and burdens -- our consumption causes the future problems, so we should clean it up
      2. Mitigation projects --"now or never"
      _________________________

      Broome's main points: 
      • economists need ethics to resolve the issue of the discount rate
      • his own view: lower discount rate, based on utilitarianism and temporal impartiality

      Wednesday, March 12, 2025

      MODULE 4: Climate change and politics

       AGENDA

      1. Our question
      2. Preview
      3. Jamieson--obstacles to climate change ethics

      _________________________

      Our question 

      Three possible climate change strategies. Ethically, which should we choose?

      1. Nothing/Reversal 
      2. Moderate mixed (Bjorn Lomborg, False Alarm)
        • a little mitigation
        • begin to adapt, but future people will mostly do it
        • R&D geoengineering, to be implemented in future
      3. Ambitious mitigation (Paris Agreement)
        • goal: keep temperature rise to 1.5 or 2 deg C
        • transition away from fossil fuels (oil, gas) to renewables (wind, solar)
        • preserve carbon sinks

      _________________________

      Preview
      1. Future people -- ethics and economics 
        • Broome, ethics and economics (3/14) -- don't skip!
        • McAskill, What We Owe the Future (3/24)
        • Debate about future people (3/26)

      _________________________

      Dale Jamieson, "The Moral and Political Challenges of Climate Change" (2007)
      Also wrote Reason in a Dark Time (2017) -- will read an excerpt later

      Two challenges to thinking about climate change ethics
      1. Hard to see our emissions as an ethical issue (the moral challenge)
      2. Political brands skew our preferences (the political challenge)
      _________________________

      Jamieson: the political challenge
      1. We should choose policies based on our values, what's in our interests, evidence, reasoning, etc.
      2. But in reality we have mere preferences based on political brands 
        • I'm a Democrat, Democrats prefer this policy, so I prefer this policy
        • I'm a Republican, Republicans prefer that policy, so I prefer that policy
      3. We can't think about climate change solutions without freeing ourselves from political brands
      Is there any data that suggests our minds really work this way?

       

      _________________________

      1. Are Democrats and Republicans equally partisan about climate change?

      2. What originally made climate change part of the Democratic platform and not part of the Republican platform?

      3. Why is climate change especially partisan?

      4. Why is climate change especially partisan in the US?  See data here on attitudes in other countries.

      Bottom line--we need to avoid partisan labels!

      _________________________

      The moral challenge 
      • hard to recognize our GHG-emitting behavior as a moral issue
      • but it would change our reaction if we did recognize it as a moral issue
      Jamieson 2007 (with a little paraphrasing)





      Thursday, March 6, 2025

      MODULE 4: Climate change science

       AGENDA

      1. Module 4: Climate change ethics
      2. Background

      _________________________

      Background
      1. Climate change science
      2. Types of solutions
      3. What should we do....our ethical questions
      4. What are we actually doing?
      _________________________

      Climate change science

      The latest science
      • IPCC -- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- 2023 report
      The greenhouse effect
      Carbon sinks
      CO2 and temperature rise
      Future sea level rise
      Other impacts
      Sources of greenhouse gases
      Do scientists all agree?


      Types of solutions


      Mitigation -- KILL THE WOLF -- reduce greenhouse gas emissions, thereby preventing temperature rise and all the other impacts -- urgent, global, expensive for us today
      • stop burning fossil fuels 
      • switch to renewable energy like wind and solar
      • switch to electric cars
      • avoid cutting down trees
      • avoid meat-eating
      Adaptation -- BUILD A BRICK HOUSE -- protect ourselves from temperature rise and other impacts; gradual, local, cheaper for us today
      • building dikes that protect low-lying areas from flooding
      • build inland
      Geoengineering -- LET WOLF IN, THEN KILL -- use innovative technologies to undo impact of greenhouse gases -- cheaper than mitigation for us today

      Mixed strategy-- some combination of mitigation, adaptation, and geoengineering

      Do nothing strategy -- it's not a problem!

      Reversal strategy-- undo previous efforts 

      _________________________

      What should we do, ethically?
      1. Why is climate ethics especially hard? (Mar 12)
        • Dale Jamieson--article about moral and political obstacles
      2. What do we owe to future people?  How much should we spend to protect them? (Mar 14, 24, 26)
      3. If we should mitigate, how should we divide the burden between nations? (Mar 28)
      4. What about geoengineering? (Mar 31)
      Philosophical questions...we could explore in a void....but...
      _________________________

      What are we actually doing?

      International: The Paris Agreement (2015) -- 196 parties (now 195)
      1. Primary strategy: mitigation
      2. Goal: keep temperature rise (since pre-industrial age) below 1.5 deg C or 2 deg C.
      3. Also supports adaptation and some geoengineering R&D
      4. Each nation determines its own contribution to reduction (what should this be?)
      5. Nations must ratchet up every 5 years
      6. US was original signatory--withdrew 2017, joined in 2021, withdrew in 2025
      US: Inflation Reduction Act (2022, Biden) 
      • comprehensive climate legislation
      • with environmental justice component (Justice 40)
      US under Trump 

      _________________________

      Next time: how the ethics is weird, how politics makes it especially hard
      • How could the two US political parties be as far apart as mitigation and reversal?
      • Are liberals and conservatives so far apart in other countries?
      • Were they always so far apart in this country?
      • How can we think about climate change solutions without being over-influenced by politics?
      _________________________


      Changes since Trump's inauguration-- below are highlights from this NYT article
      1. Paris Agreement. Trump left Paris Agreement
      2. Wind Energy. "Mr. Trump has frozen funds appropriated by Congress for clean energy projects, taking particular aim at wind energy, the country’s largest source of renewable power. He has stopped approvals for wind farms on public land and in federal waters and has threatened to block projects on private land."
      3. No climate change talk. "He has fired thousands of federal workers, dismantled programs aimed at helping polluted communities and scrubbed references to climate change from numerous federal websites."
      4. Drill baby drill!  "Mr. Trump has declared an energy emergency, giving himself the authority to fast-track the construction of oil and gas projects as he works to stoke supply as well as demand for fossil fuels."
      5. Stop California ban on gas-powered cars. "The administration and Republicans in Congress plan to use a legislative maneuver to quickly erase California’s authority to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035."
      6. Dismantle EPA. "Mr. Trump has fired thousands of employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department, the Department of Energy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the government’s premiere climate science agency."
      7. Deny GHG dangerous. "Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the E.P.A., has recommended that the agency reverse its 2009 finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health and welfare, according to three people familiar with the decision. That would eliminate the legal basis for the government’s climate laws, such as limits on pollution from automobiles and power plants."
      8. Stop supporting transition to EVs. "Mr. Trump has directed Congress to eliminate federal subsidies for E.V.s., including tax credits for consumers, which could hurt the sales of Tesla, the electric car company, despite Elon Musk’s central role in the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts."
      9. Stop supporting transition to EVs. "The Transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, signed an order to loosen fuel economy standards enacted by the Biden administration that were designed to encourage automakers to sell electric vehicles. And the administration moved to freeze $5 billion that Congress approved for the construction of a national network of electric-vehicle charging stations."
      10. Stop local efforts. "The administration is also trying to stop states and even cities from enacting their own climate policies."
      Also increased logging (NYT article)
      1. Endangered Species Act. Bypassing Endangered Species Act
      2. More logging. Trying to increase logging on 280 million acres of federal land

      Wednesday, March 5, 2025

      MODULE 3: Back to nature

       AGENDA

      1. Kevin DeLuca, "A Wilderness Manifesto"
      2. Reports
      3. Review for midterm 


      Kevin DeLuca, "A Wilderness Environmentalism Manifesto: Contesting the Infinite Self Absorption of Human Beings" (2007)
      1. A polemic against the environmental justice movement
      2. Kevin DeLuca, professor of communication, University of Utah
      3. Written in 2007, so some info out of date
      4. He mentions William Cronon--we will read him in the wilderness module
      Two types of environmentalism

      "Environmental justice movement" or EJM--focused on "our environment"
      in the sense of the conditions we live in


      "Green environmentalism"--focused on "the environment"
      in the sense of nature, ecosystems, wilderness, wildlife


      DeLuca's claims (more detail)
      1. EJM and GE have different goals
        • EJM: fairness to specific groups
        • GE: preserving nature
      2. Their goals are often in conflict
      3. EJM is taking over environmental organizations (reporters will assess)
      4. EJM and GE differ on solutions
        • EJM wants to empower local groups--for justice reasons
        • GE prefers the most effective solution, often national
      5. EJM has been very successful at gaining governmental support
        • Example: Biden's Climate Initiative & Justice 40 (see Bullard in the picture below)
        • We will discuss next week
      6. Bottom line
        • Environmentalists should be green environmentalists
        • EJM should thrive, too, but as a human justice movement


      _________________________

      Review for midterm