--- Steven Bissell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In the case of global warming there are major ethical issues to be
> resolved.
> Whether or not the "science" of global warming is settled is largely
> irrelevant to the issue. The discussion of the past week or so has
> skirmished around the issue of ethics, but hasn't really said what the
> ethical issue is.
Steve replied:
Hmmm, okay.
Yes, if we can get away from the laborious number crunching (actually I
confess I like the number crunching, but I do realize it most likely bores
the hell out of just about everyone else).
Well, isn't the economic well being of people one of the ethical
considerations?
Steve
Man, I bet that is going to set of lots of posts....
Bissell here: "economic well being of people" an ethical issue? I'm not
sure, but I know it is *not* and issue of environmental ethics. One of the
problems of environmental ethics is that it can accept less than optimal
conditions for individuals in exchange for ecosystematic "well being." And,
I think "economic well being" is very relative. I'm making a lot of money
these days, but in so far as "well being," I've had better days with less
money. So, no, I don't buy that as an ethical issue, speaking
environmentally, of global warming. Any other ideas?
Steven
To say that "I will not be free till all
humans (or sentient creatures) are free" is
simply to cave in to a kind of nirvana-
stupor, to abdicate our humanity, to define
ourselves as losers.
Hakim Bey
The Temporary Autonomous Zone, 1985
|