Environmental Ethics: Ecological Sustainability and Justice

3 units

This is a general survey of environmental ethics, an investigation of controversies about whether, how much, and how we ought to take the natural environment into account when making decisions about how to act and live, and in making political decisions. The first part of the course investigates what the natural (as opposed to human-made) environment is, and what value, if any, it has for human beings. The second part turns to considerations of environmental justice, or what is the fair way to distribute environmental goods (such as access to clean air and green spaces) and environmental burdens (such as exposure to industrial pollution or the financial cost of protecting nature) among people generally. The final part of the course will focus on sustainability, in particular on what sustainability is, whether it is achievable, and what, if anything, we should do in pursuit of it. Parts of the course will focus on the problem of environmental racism and related ecological crises in the greater St. Louis area, and students will have the opportunity to do their own research on local environmental problems, or others that impact them directly.