San Antonio College Library

No one looking ahead at the middle of the last century could have foreseen the extent and the importance of the ensuing environmental crises. Now, more than a decade into the next century, no one can ignore it. This work offers clear, powerful, and oftentimes moving thoughts from one of the first and most respected philosophers to write on the environment. The author, an early and leading pioneer in studying the moral relationship between humans and...

What is the environment, and how does it figure in an ethical life? This book is an introduction to the philosophical issues involved in this important question, focussing primarily on ethics but also encompassing questions in aesthetics and political philosophy.

"What is the right thing to do? Answers might come in the form of responses to particular ethical controversies - abortion, capital punishment, what to do about world hunger. Or they might focus on whether ethical judgements are rooted in universal principles; compassionate interpersonal connection; attempts to create the most happiness and least suffering; obedience to God; or the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment"--

Deane Curtin puts todays most important social and environmental ethical issues into their historical, political and philosophical contexts, and offers deep insights into the nature of our freedom and its relation to justice in our globalized, commercialized culture. Using familiar literary and historical icons to make surprising points about colonial attitudes and practices, he also demonstrates the unique linkages between colonialism and environmentalism....

Norton provides a critical overview of the range of thought on the preservation of species issue. He presents a new and comprehensive rationale for preservation of both species and ecosystems, and addresses policy issues. Part A of the book discusses views according to which natural species and ecosystems are valued primarily for human use or enjoyment. Norton shows the many difficulties of quantifying species in terms of "human demand values." Part...

Ethics for a Small Planet offers complementary studies by two major social ethicists on these issues. Daniel C. Maguire indicts our male-dominated religions for the problems they have caused for our ecology and reproductive ethics. He raises the controversial questions of whether the very concept of God is a problem and whether Christianity's notions of afterlife and a divinized male have done more harm than good. Larry L. Rasmussen also recognizes...

Life on the Brink aspires to reignite a robust discussion of population issues among environmentalists, environmental studies scholars, policymakers, and the general public. Some of the leading voices in the American environmental movement restate the case that population growth is a major force behind many of our most serious ecological problems, including global climate change, habitat loss and species extinctions, air and water pollution, and food...

"Doing Environmental Ethics is a brief, accessible applied-ethics book offering an inclusive and practical way for an individual to personally address the world s ecological crisis. Author Robert Traer builds on a commonsense understanding of doing what is right and being a good person and suggests how, with a deeper sense of self and one's place in nature, we can begin to change our "carbon footprint." To consider and understand public policies and...

The author of this book argues that a dialogue between the truths of science and religion could enhance the prospects of resolving the environmental crisis.

Wisdom through observation: lesson of eagle -- Find and preserve the medicine: lesson of bear -- Balance in all things: lesson of lion -- One among many: lesson of wolf -- Develop intuition: lesson of orca -- Seek truth: lesson of owl -- Strive for freedom: lesson of tiger -- Heat: lesson of cottonwood tree -- Thin: lesson of deer -- Gone: lesson of buffalo -- Too many: lesson of rat.