This is a blog about environmental ethics from a Canadian perspective populated by students taking  PHIL 355 Environmental Ethics at the University of Alberta. To learn more about the instructor, Professor Jennifer Welchman,  and the Department of Philosophy visit: https://www.ualberta.ca/philosophy/index.html

What’s the course about?

As a signatory to the United Nations’ conventions such as the Paris Agreement and Convention on Biological Diversity, Canada is committed to “green” our cities, countryside, businesses, and homes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect biodiversity. This invites the questions:

• What is the moral case for accepting such an obligation?
• Whose present or future needs must we respect?
• Must we respect the needs of wildlife, ecosystems, the biosphere?
• And how far should we be prepared to go to ensure we can live sustainably and preserve biodiversity?

After reviewing classic and contemporary ethical theories, we’ll consider the answers they suggest for debates about how we treat animals, whether we should adopt plant-based diets, and the rights and wrongs of technologies such as geoengineering,  genetic modification, and gene drives.