Agenda
- Environmental Justice events with Dr. Robert Bullard, father of the environmental justice movement.
- Sept 13, 3:30, Hyer 200 (register here)
- Sept 13, 6:00, McCord auditorium in Dallas Hall (register here)
- Go because it will be interesting, but yes there's a reward--5 points added to your citizenship grade. (You can get this credit for one of the events, not both.) Please submit an image of your ticket and a page of notes.
- This is great timing because we're starting our module on environmental justice on Sept 15 and our first reading is by Dr. Bullard!
- What matters? Species?
- Lilly-Marlene Russow, "Why do species matter?"
Individual tigers--under wild animals--Singer and Palmer both think they matter
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| An individual tiger |
Tigers as a species -- a "superentity"
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| Tigers as a species |
Our questions:
- Do we care about species? Should we?
- Should we care especially about individuals that are members of endangered species?
Lily-Marlene Russow, "Why Do Species Matter?"
"Some test cases" (p. 138-139)
- Trying to show that concern for species is at least uneven and complicated
- Will help her develop her own answer to our question.
Russow's answer to our question--
- Animals can have aesthetic value but they don't all have it equally. (p. 142)
- It's the individual animal, not the species, that has aesthetic value. Tigers, not the tiger species. (p. 143)
- We should care about individual tigers so more of them exist and we have "opportunities to see these things again." (p. 143). "Thus, because I value possible future encounters, I will also want to do what is needed to ensure the possibility of such encounters." (p. 143)
- Bottom line: you should care about tigers because you care about the future people who won't get to see them if they go extinct.
- What about the other "test case" animals.
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| Russow, p. 144 |
Other views
- Peter Singer
- Ecological holism--coming on Sept 11--diversity is valuable for healthy ecosystem
David Attenborough