Environmental Ethics: Anthologies and Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10217/100486

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 243
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Dialogue between Confucianism and Holmes Rolston, III—its significance for theology in the planetary climate crisis
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Zhang, Haoran, author; MDPI, publisher
    Holmes Rolston, III examined the significance of Asian thought for Western evaluations of nature and questioned whether Asian Romanticism can inform the realistic decision making required for practice. However, Rolston ignored Confucianism. Confucianism is grounded on an "anthropocosmic" worldview and bases its environmental ethics on the "virtue of life and growth" and the related vision of "unity of heaven and human beings"; it is thus an objective environmental virtue ethics. Confucianism should adopt Rolston's recommendation for Asian thought concerning the incorporation of evolutionary biology. Rolston is vital to the dialogue for theology in the planetary climate crisis.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Disenchanting the rhetoric: human uniqueness and human responsibility
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Rolston, Holmes, 1932-, author
    The trial before the Congress of all Beings is David Orr's heuristic device, used effectively to stimulate thought. How would the myriad other creatures judge human behavior? What would the butterflies and ants think? This is, of course fanciful metaphor. Neither butterflies nor ants have brain enough to engage in such concerns. Humans alone on Earth can take a transcending overview of the whole. Humans alone can know they are on a planet. Humans alone have escalated their powers to the point of placing the welfare of the planet in jeopardy. Humans are standouts on Earth. That does give us prominence of place, both of privilege and of responsibility. Only one species has ever wondered about its place in the world, because only one evolved the ability to do so.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Scientific and ethical considerations in rare species protection: the case of beavers in Connecticut
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Dirrigl, Frank J., Jr., author; Rolston, Holmes, 1932-, author; Wilson, Joshua H., author; Indiana University Press, publisher
    The protection of rare species abounds with scientific and ethical considerations. An ethical dilemma can emerge when the life of one species is valued higher than that of another, and so we discuss the basis of ranking, protection, and valuation of plants and animals. A duty to protect rare species exists in this age of great losses to plant and animal life, but the scientific and public communities are not always in agreement regarding what species deserve protection. Using a case study, we illustrate how the decision to kill beavers to protect a rare plant and rare animals found in a tidewater creek demanded an ecological ethic approach. We present the concept of a "conservation mediator" and how its use may help find a common ground between stakeholders and decision-makers in similar situations.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Foreword in "Connection to nature, deep ecology, and conservation social science: human-nature bonding and protecting the natural world"
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020-12-15) Rolston, Holmes, 1932-, author; Lexington Books, publisher
    "Connectedness with nature presents itself as a radical but necessary prerequisite for realizing desired conservation and environmental behavior outcomes." "But," I find myself wanting to reply. Humans are disconnected with nature through the kinds of connections they have. No other species has power to jeopardize the planet. Challenged by Diehm I twist and turn, torn between the natural world I seek to enjoy and the classic self-defeating character of self-interest. The wild fauna and flora have a good of their own: they are located in a good place, appreciating them is my flourishing. That is a win-win situation. Oppositely, losing them is losing the quality of life that comes based on them, as well as their being lost in their own right; that is a lose-lose situation. Some things have to be won together.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Biological conservation of microbes
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989-09-11) Rolston, Holmes, 1932-, speaker
    A talk by Holmes Rolston, III in the CSU Department of Microbiology on September 11, 1989. Environmental ethics is typically concerned with big stuff, bears, wolves, plants, wildfires, or insects. The Endangered Species act protects these, but does not mention microbes. There are concerns about microbes, in diseases, such as polio, or for patents, or fermenting. There are agricultural, industrial, medical uses. The usual list of reasons for preserving species are that they have aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, or scientific value. Microbes can have ecological, historical, and scientific value. Often we do not know how much, at least not yet. Microbes in rare places, such as in the hot springs of Yellowstone, may bring clues about the origin of life. Respect for life includes microbes. For perhaps two-thirds of the history of Earth, all life was one-celled.