Environmental Ethics Inventory

Environmental Ethics Inventory

It is a strong belief of mine that the responsibility of protecting the environment is much greater on today's generation than is was for past generations. The reason that I feel the way that I do is because at this point a substantial amount of damage has already been done and in order to prevent any further environmental destruction intervention on our part is necessary. After all, we (humans) are the main cause of the problems; shouldn't we also be a part of the cure. If we had always taken the environment into consideration prior to our actions we would not be faced with some of the environmental issues we are facing today. The problem started with the past generations but the solution now has to start with us. We have to be overly conscious of our actions and what affect they will have on future generations. Since we enjoy the rights to breathe fresh air, play in the sun, live among a vast variety of plant and wildlife, then shouldn't our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and their grandchildren, also have the chance to enjoy those same rights? My answer to that question is yes they do! We owe that to them so we all have to take a stand for our values, morals, ethics and actions regarding the preservation of a healthy and rich natural environment.

The responsibilities for past generation regarding the environment was no less than ours today however, the differences are that we are now stuck with the job of correcting the mistakes of past generations, then the population was much smaller than it is today and will be in the future and more people equals potentially more pollution. I can compare this situation to one of a student who starts a class with all A's and all he needs is to get a passing grade on the final and he will end up with a least a B for the class, verses a student who starts off the class with low B's and C's on his tests who will need to get a high B low A to just pass the class with a C. We are the B, C, student who needs an A just to pass the class with a C. It would be easier for us and less of an emergency if only our past generations would have taken us into the same consideration that we are now trying to for our future generations. It is my assumption that It will be easier for the future generations to maintain a healthy natural environment than to have to repair a damaged one.

Population growth is also an important factor in the future quality of life. But it seems to me that the population is not growing at as high of a rate as it has the potential to grow. This is due to the rise of contraceptive use in third world countries. In more economically stable countries couples are waiting until later age to start families and are choosing to have fewer children than their parents. But on the other hand the population is getting older with the advances in modern medicine and the availability of vaccinations and medical treatments.

I believe that due to our (people) past carelessness regarding the environment and our ongoing search for convenience in the present we are hurting our selves in the long run. Reports show that today skin cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death. We have to go to somewhat extreme measures on a daily biases to protect ours skin from the suns harmful ultra violet rays which was not the case for past generations. Sun block did not even exist decades ago and now we can't imagine life with out it. What needs to be done is we need to take measures to make changes in our actions to prevent worse conditions for future generations. It was the actions of past generations that lead to the current damage of the ozone layer that is causing the serious skin conditions of the present generation. It will only get worse if we do not take measures to protect what is left of the ozone layer. For if we don't I can not imagine what will have to be done just to be able to go out into the sun, or what new skin disorders will surface.

I can remember a time when I did not pay much attention to issues like automobile pollution and its effect on the environment.