An interesting piece on environmental ethics here
http://www.ecospherics.net/pages/RolstonEnvEth.html
from
http://www.ecospherics.net/

C.L.

>It is said that in the year 68 A.D., Nero, the cruel and depraved 
>Roman emperor, set fire
>                  to Rome and then fiddled as he watched the city 
>burn. Had the fire not been lit, the
>                  Roman empire may have lasted centuries longer, and 
>history might have taken a different
>                  course.
>
>                  Nero's perspective toward Rome reminds me of the 
>attitude of today's governmental,
>                  corporate and cultural leaders toward the value of 
>the Earth's natural resources and
>                  ecological processes. Thus, they have the power to 
>save the Earth and its natural systems
>                  but instead they deliberately use and support the 
>kinds of scientific and technical
>                  research to further exploit the Earth and its biota 
>in ever more efficient, cruel and novel
>                  ways.
>
>                  Science is a tool that can be used to provide the 
>ecological insights needed to save the
>                  Earth and its natural values. Instead, billions of 
>dollars are spent each year on applied
>                  research in biotechnology, chemistry, the military, 
>industrial agriculture and the like.
>                  This human-centred research increases short-term 
>profits and competitiveness and
>                  improves industrial output, defense capability, 
>health, comforts and food production.
>
>                  But what is the cost to our planet and the security 
>of our future? We learn daily of the
>                  collapse of fisheries; the depletion of soils; the 
>contamination of groundwater,
>                  freshwater and soils; the death of lakes; the 
>destruction of Earth's ozone shield; the slow
>                  poisoning of entire landscapes by chemicals 
>produced through research; the acceleration
>                  of deforestation; the extinction of thousands of 
>species; global warming; the increasing
>                  misery of people in impoverished countries; the 
>dramatic increase in ecological refugees
>                  fleeing ravaged lands. With the full knowledge of 
>influential governments and
>                  corporations, millions of species, natural 
>ecosystems and dozens of the planet's
>                  ecological processes that have sustained and 
>created life on Earth for eons are being
>                  degraded, weakened or eliminated. Novel chemicals 
>such as hormones and pesticides are
>                  being deliberately added to the human food supply. 
>Genetically modified foods are
>                  widely used in food production without public 
>consent. In short, while the Earth and its
>                  denizens of earthlings are in big trouble, our 
>governments and captains of industry are
>                  financing the very kinds of research that make the 
>environmental crisis ever worse and
>                  that are creating a dark and miserable future for humanity.
>
>                  Over the years scientists around the world have 
>been honoured by many Nobel prizes. But
>                  has the research for which they received the honour 
>been good for the planet? Has any of
>                  this research helped create a better understanding 
>of the roles of wild organisms, natural
>                  ecosystems and processes in maintaining the 
>healthful ecology of the earth? None at all.
>                  And there are no Nobel prizes for ecology or 
>conservation biology, the two sciences that
>                  hold most promise of getting humanity out of the 
>mess that the world's political,
>                  business and cultural leaders have created. Hence, 
>one could say that Nobel prizes for
>                  scientific research are not constructive and indeed 
>foster the kinds of research that
>                  continue to destroy the Earth and its ecospheric stability.
>
>                  In the meantime, entire ecosystems are being wiped 
>out over huge regions even before
>                  scientists get to understand how and why they work 
>and have worked so well in evolving
>                  the world as we humans found it. Research funding 
>for wild species and ecosystem
>                  processes is almost nonexistent, and what is 
>available is shrinking. The ideology that
>                  science should be financed only when it promotes 
>yet more economic competitiveness,
>                  production and growth should be seen in the light 
>of the terrible things that this kind of
>                  science is doing to the world.
>
>                  The time has come to turn the funding of research 
>on its head. Surely there is more than
>                  enough evidence to indicate that the extinction of 
>species, the losses of natural
>                  ecosystems, the truncation of ecological processes 
>and the degeneration of the
>                  Ecosphere need to be addressed through the 
>institutions that fund scientific research.
>                  But unless priorities for funding shift 
>dramatically toward the understanding of
>                  ecological systems and values, there will be few 
>scientists tomorrow who have the
>                  knowledge to speak in defense of the Earth and its 
>processes. Scientists go where the
>                  money is because science is a servant, not a 
>master. Many scientists would gladly switch
>                  to ecosystem research and train graduate students 
>if funding were available.
>
>                  Humanity is at the point where the subject matter 
>of science--what scientists do or do
>                  not do--is of vital importance. It's time to 
>reconsider what ends research should serve.
>                  The guiding principles that should set the 
>priorities for today's science are these: the
>                  intended research should provide a more sympathetic 
>understanding of fundamental
>                  values of nature; it should shed light on and 
>provide people with an understanding of the
>                  things that wild organisms actually do for each 
>other, for their communities and for the
>                  health of forests, oceans, fresh waters and the 
>stability of the planetary Ecosphere as a
>                  whole.
>
>                  Right now, as the millennium draws to a close, 
>almost all scientific research is intensely
>                  homocentric, visionless and dangerous because the 
>planet and its natural systems are
>                  ignored. The new model for science needs to be 
>ecological--not economic and exploitive.
>                  At stake is not only the Earth, most of its more 
>complex and beautiful life forms and its
>                  stable and complex ecological processes, but as 
>well, the quality of humanity's existence
>                  on this very intricate and uniquely habitable planet.
>
>                  Like Nero's Rome, the Earth is burning, and modern 
>science is being directed to
>                  deliberately set many of the fires. Can our 
>government, corporate and cultural leaders,
>                  who are the ones in charge of the affairs of 
>humanity, and who control the purse strings
>                  of science come to recognize the need for the kinds 
>of research that can aid the troubled
>                  planet? Or will science continue to be 
>anthropocentric and hence a cause of rather than a
>                  solution to the problem of the accelerating 
>destruction of the biosphere and the
>                  Ecosphere?


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%