Envs 345
Environmental Ethics
Class related events:
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1.Field Trip #1 on Tuesday, 11/3 to the Mt Pisgah Arboretum. This field trip happens during class time. Departure 11:00 am from campus and return by 2:00pm.
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2.Field Trip #2 on Saturday, 11/21 to the Deck Family Farm, Junction City, OR. Departure at 8:30 am from campus and return by noon.
Extra-credit opportunities:
Each EC paper will count as 1.50% towards your final grade. In order to get this credit, you have to go to one of the lectures (see list below), write 1p (single spaced) about the lecture (summary), and send it to me and Erin (via email) before the end of the term - by Friday Dec 4th @ 5:00 pm.
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1.Count Down to Zero (documentary) - October 21st 7pm in PLC 180. The documentary covers a large range of nuclear accidents, developments, and highlights possible solutions to nuclear proliferation.
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2.Erin Tarver (Emory University), '"On the Particular Racism of Native American Mascots", Wednesday, Nov. 18th. Time: 1:00-2:00 pm Location: McKenzie 221
This event is part of the Ethics Speaker Series to launch UO’s Ethics Minor.
Additional suggested readings/podcasts - every week I will be posting materials related to our course here. Please take advantage and read/listen/watch them.
Week 1 - The Environment
Here is a recent piece on the question of Animal Extinction as the greatest threat to mankind by Julia Whitty.
Week 2 Non-Human Animals
Great Ted Lecture with primatologist Francis de Waal about Moral Behavior in Animals.
Abstract: “Empathy, cooperation, fairness and reciprocity -- caring about the well-being of others seems like a very human trait. But Frans de Waal shares some surprising videos of behavioral tests, on primates and other mammals, that show how many of these moral traits all of us share.”
Week 3 Non-Human Animals vs Wild Life
A recent OSU study shows that dogs might be lazy or dumb compared to their ancestors wolves.
Week 4 Environment and Legal Frameworks
Goodpaster claims in his article “On Being Morally Considerable” that his account could take into consideration also ecosystems as being alive - thanks to the Gaia Hypothesis. For a critical view on this hypothesis, see J. Kirchner, The Gaia Hypothesis: Fact, Theory, and Wishful Thinking (published in Climate Change, 2002).
In New Zealand, the Whanganui River will become a legal entity and have a legal voice under a preliminary agreement signed between Whanganui River iwi and the Crown. For more details, see the New Zealand Herald Tribune, Aug, 30. 2012.
Week 5 - Ecocentrism
The Green Fire is a recent movie about Leopold’s life and about the impact of his Land Ethic onto the conservation movement. “Leopold biographer and conservation biologist Dr. Curt Meine serves as the film's on-screen guide. Green Fire describes the formation of Leopold's idea, exploring how it changed one man and later permeated through all arenas of conservation.” Here is a great introduction to The Green Fire Film Project
Week 6 - Biodiversity
PBS has devoted a very interesting movie to The Loneliest Animals.
“Around the globe, unique and fascinating species face extinction from hunting and habitat destruction, which affects vulnerable animals in every kind of environment. Biologists, conservationists, wildlife preservation centers and zoological parks work to breed and shelter rare and critically endangered animals when and where they can, but many species are down to the last few individuals and face an increasingly uncertain future. For some, however, the future is all too clear. Lonesome George, a Pinta Island tortoise from the Galapagos Islands, is the very last of his kind. For centuries, until they were believed to be extinct, his species kept sailors and pirates well-fed on the high seas. George alone survived. But when George dies, millions of years of evolution will come to an end. Other species, like Spix’s macaws, lemurs, Iberian lynxes, rhinos, black-footed ferrets and Chinese rafetus turtles, were well on their way to joining George as the loneliest animals in the world until help arrived, providing hope for a better outcome.”
E.O. Wilson and other conservationists define Biodiversity here.
“Humanity is using all its ingenuity to wipe out a large part of the rest of planet.”
Week 7 - Biodiversity
If you are interested in reading more about the Bohannan Challenge to Biodiversity, you are welcome to read his interview in the journal Cascade, called “Google This: The Story of Science”. For a more scholarly approach to the question of microbial biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest, there is a forthcoming paper in PNAS (not available yet).
Lecture
TR 12:00-13:20pm - 111 LIL
&
Discussion Sessions on FR
with Erin Crnkovich
Sec. 12196 - 10:00-10:50am 475 MCK
Sec. 12197 - 11:00-11:50am 475 MCK
Sec. 16420 - 12:00-12:50am 475 MCK
Office Hours:
Nicolae - Tu - 1:30-3:00pm (250B SCH)
Erin - Tu&Th - 11:00-12:00pm (241 COL)
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