ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

SECTIONS

5712: Tuesday, Period 5-6 (11:45-1:40), Turlington, Room L011;
Thursday, period 3 (9:35-10:25), Turlington 2306

5716: Tuesday, Period 5-6 (11:45-1:40), Turlington, Room L011;
Thursday, period 5 (11:45-12:35), Computer Science & Engineering, Room E221

5723: Tuesday, Period 5-6 (11:45-1:40), Turlington, Room L011;
Thursday, period 6 (12:50-1:40), Turlington 2306

INSTRUCTOR CONTACTS

Professor Bron Taylor (Ph.D.)
Email: bron@religion.ufl.edu
Office: Anderson 121
Office hours: Tuesdays, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m, and by appointment

Jacob Jones (M.A., Teaching Assistant)
Email: jljgv9@ufl.edu
Office: Anderson 121
Office hours: Wednesdays, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m, and by appointment

DESCRIPTION

Brief Course Description (in UF Catalogue)
Exploration of competing secular and religious views regarding human impacts on and moral responsibilities toward nature and of the key thinkers and social movements in contention over them.

Role in Curriculum

This course serves as an elective for Religion majors and minors, and provides credit for the department’s ethics emphasis. It also meets the ethics requirement in UF’s Sustainability minor and for SNRE students, and provides Humanities General Education, and Gordon Rule Writing credit (E2/2000 words or more).
Overview

As concern over the well-being of the planet spreads, people frequently find themselves in conflict over how to balance conservation with the use of natural resources, about visions for our common future, and the wisdom of development. Such conflict stems in important ways from varying understandings of values and responsibilities, of what is good and right. In this course we will examine a wide range of intellectual efforts to address the problem of our obligations to [the] Earth and its living systems. Although we will focus on contemporary philosophical environmental ethics we will also introduce religious environmental ethics, examine ideas about nature prevalent in American culture and history, and examine how individuals involved in contemporary environmental movements express and endeavor to implement their environmental values.

Teaching Objectives
1. To understand the historical emergence and development of environmental philosophy in general, and environmental ethics in particular, in Western societies, as well as the ways such ethics become intertwined with and influenced by developments in religion, literature, and the arts, as illuminated by the Humanities.
2. To understand the range of perspectives on human responsibility to the environment and enable critical thinking and writing about them, including by arbitrating among competing views of environmental facts.
3. To understand the epistemological bases (philosophical, scientific, religious, aesthetic) for different ethical orientations as well as the various methodological approaches to making individual and public environment-related decisions.
4. To introduce the contribution of diverse humanities disciplines, especially art history, literary criticism, philosophy, and religious studies, to illuminating environmental ethics and practice.
5. To communicate effectively and logically one’s own moral perspective and views of environmental facts and trends orally and in writing

READINGS

Many of the course readings are directly downloadable under the assignments found in the course’s Schedule section. Required readings for the course not available via this website are available from the University of Florida bookstore and elsewhere, and students are expected to purchase or otherwise gain access to these readings:

Joseph DesJardins, Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
(Thompson/Wadsworth, 4th edition)
Daniel Quinn, Ishmael (Bantam, 1992)

REQUIREMENTS

Study Guides & Reading Analysis. Students will be expected to bring to class every week either a completed study guide or an analysis of readings. The Study Guide is for weeks with readings in the Environmental Ethics text. It is downloadable as either a Word Study Guide (docx) or as a Rich Text Study Gulde.

In weeks there are readings from the DesJardines book, as well as other readings, only the study guide needs to be prepared. During weeks when the readings are not drawn from the main text you will prepare an analysis of the readings. It is essential with this assignment that you strictly observe the following guidelines: Write with a word processor single spaced, between 250 and 500 words every week, analyzing three things in your analytical journal: All students will do section (1), labeling it “reading arguments.” Under this heading describe the following about the most important perspectives articulated this week answering: What are the central argument(s)? How do the author(s) build their argument(s)? What evidence do they cite? What do the authors think is at stake? With whom are the authors in contention and why? In addition, there are two optional sections, in which you may use additional words. In the first one you will discuss the key presuppositions, strengths or weaknesses of the articles. Set this off with a heading “reading analysis.” The second optional section set off with the heading “personal reaction,” and will reflect on questions such as: What surprised you? What did you hear or learn for the first time? What made sense to you or disturbed you, and why? With whom did you agree more than the others, and why?

The study guides for a given week, and your analytical readings up to and including that week’s readings, must be brought every Thursday to your discussion session. They may be collected and graded at any time. They will be collected and graded at least five times during the course. Have them ready in an 8x10 envelope with your name on it.

This assignment is critically important if we are to have robust classroom discussions. It will prepare you for your exams as well as for classroom discussions.
Mid term and final examinations. These exams will typically have multiple-choice questions and fill-in sections, as well as short essay and/or take-home essay question(s). Exams are open note: you may use the materials you prepare in assignment #1. Study your notes because there will be only one in-class hour for these exams; you will not have time to find everything in them you will need.
Essay Review. You will write an essay review of Ishmael. In two to four double-spaced, word-processed pages, analyze the book, describing its overall moral perspective and the kind of evidence provided related to this perspective. Make an argument about what you take to be the strengths and/or weaknesses in the book’s assertions.
Critical Essay. Students will write a 2000-2500 word critical ethical analysis of an environment-related issue. Details will be distributed in class.
Attendance and participation. Students are expected to attend and participate in class -- this is part of the learning process. Students who miss the equivalent of three weeks of class will suffer a one-grade reduction; those missing more than this will fail the course. Students who distinguish themselves by contributing significantly to classroom discussions may receive extra points for doing so. Course instructors will be looking for the following: Do you demonstrate that you have read and understood the course readings and can you engage in discussions in an informed and civil manner? Do you regularly commit “fallacies of moral reasoning” as discussed early in the course? How well do you integrate what you are learning in this course with information gathered elsewhere?

We will regularly arrange forums and debates and hold them in class. Although I will not award points based on the quantity of participation, regular participation will insure that I have enough experience of you to evaluate. Do not miss class.

Monitoring email and participation in email discussions.

as the course progresses, the list of assignments and the readings are subject to modification. Always consult the latest version of the readings online.

EVALUATION

Points Possible for Required Assignments
This chart shows the points it is possible to earn for each assignment:

Assignment	Points per Assignment	Total Possible Points
Weekly Journals	10 points each (or pro-rated to 100 total points if less than 10 are evaluated)	100
Exams (midterm & final)	100 (midterm), 150 (final)	250
Essay/Review of Ishmael	500 minimum, 750 maximum words	50
Critical Analysis	2000 minimum, 2500 maximum words	100
	Total Possible Points:	500

Calculating Grades

At the end of the semester, the total number of points earned by each student will be divided by the total number earned by the highest-scoring student. The resulting percentage will be used to calculate each student’s grade for the course. Put in a formula, it looks like this:
the score of each individual student (your score)
(divided by) the highest score earned by a student
The percentage arrived at by means of this formula will be evaluated according to the following scale:

93%
90%
87%
83%
80%
77%
67%
60%
59%

A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
D
F

This kind of scoring is fairer than many other forms of grading because: (1) It is based on what students actually achieve rather than some preconceived standard held by the professor; (2) Each student can receive a high grade; (3) Hard-working students will not be penalized for staying in a demanding course full of industrious students. With a traditional curve, demanding courses that “weed out” less industrious students, leaving hard-working ones, can unintentionally harm good students putting them in competition with each other. This will not occur in this course. To further insure fairness, any extra credit points will be added to the individual student’s score, only after the highest score earned by a student has been established. This ensures that the extra credit earned will not increase the difficulty of the grading scale.

Course instructors reserve the right to lower or raise course grades based on classroom contributions or upon absences. We also reserve the right to change course requirements.
Late or Missing Assignments. Students who do not turn in study guides or reading analyses on the days they are collected will not receive points. The total number of points possible for the review essay will be reduced by 20% for each day it is late.

Returned Assignments. Assignments will usually be returned to students no later than one week after they were due. At the end of the semester, unreturned course work will be available for pickup in the Religion Department office in Anderson 107 for 30 days after the official date that grades are posted by the registrar. After this time, they will be recycled.
Academic Dishonesty. Students engaged in any form of academic dishonesty, as defined under the “Academic Misconduct” section of the Student Discipline Code, may fail the course and will be subject to other disciplinary measures.

SCHEDULE

WEEKS: January - 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 February - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 March - 09 - 10 - 11 April - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15

Note: All readings are to be completed before the class date/week under which they are listed. This schedule is subject to change so rather than printing it, I recommend bookmarking it and consulting it regularly.
(Week 1) 5 & 7 January
What is Environmental Philosophy/Ethics?
On John Rawls and the necessity of ‘basic facts’ in ethical reasoning.
Introduction to the State of the Planet Report (Part One ~ On Growth and its Limits)
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 1, “Science, Ethics & the Environment,” 1-15.
"Ethical Implications of Carrying Capacity” by Garrett Hardin (1977) [skim]
Readings & Websites (recommended)
Club of Rome history
Limits to Growth Presentation (powerpoint presentation #1, week 1 & 2)

(Week 2) 12 & 14 January
The State of the World Report (part 2, lecture)
Introducing environmental ethics (reading)
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 2, “Ethical Theory & The Environment,” 17-39, and Chapter 5, “Responsibilities to the Natural World,” 94-118.
Website to review
Ecological footprint Network (Peruse the site and familiarize yourself with it. Then go to the “personal footprint” link and do the analysis there – be ready to provide (confidentially) your footprint (‘how many planets needed’) in class on Thursday.

Readings & Websites (recommended)
Peter Singer, The Animal Liberation Movement
Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights
(Week 3) 19 & 21 January
The State of the World Report (part 3, lecture)
Biocentric Ethics, and Carrying Capacity Ethics (readings)
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 6, “Biocentric ethics,” 125-145, Chapter 7, “Wilderness, Ecology & Ethics, ” 148-72.
Garrett Hardin, “Carrying Capacity as an Ethical Concept” (2001)
Reports to peruse (required)
United Nations Environmentlal Program, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Co-recipient with Al Gore of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. See especially the “Summary for Policymakers of the Synthesis Report”, which is downloadable at http://www.ipcc.ch/press/index.htm (scroll down), or directly at http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf.

Reports to peruse (recommended)
The IPPC “about” page, ‘presentations’, and the 2007 powerpoint reports. One of these that is also especially accessible is “Assessing the Physical Science of Climate Change: IPCC Working Group 1 (2007)”, which is downloadable from this page: http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/
Living Planet Report (2008), http://www.panda.org/news_facts/publications/living_planet_report/index.cfm; directly at http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report_2008.pdf

Readings (recommended)
Garrett Hardin, “Cultural Carrying Capacity” (1986)

Websites & Video(recommended)
State of the Planet Report (pt 1) (powerpoint presentation #2, weeks 3 & 4)
Documentation of Climate Change (link to many sites)
(Week 4) 26 & 28 January
State of the Planet Report (part 4, lecture)
Leopold's Land Ethics & Environmetal Aesthetics (readings)
Discussion: Individualism v. holism: Who is morally considerable? Does individualism provide a basis for “hard cases” in environmental ethics? What are the weaknesses and strengths of holistic environmental ethics?

Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 8, “The Land Ethic, ” 176-199.
Leopold, Aldo, (biography)
Aldo Leopold, from A Sand County Almanac “Forward,” “Arizona and New Mexico” (especially sub-section, “Thinking like a Mountain”), “The Round River,” “Goose Music,” and “The Land Ethic.” (Note: The Oxford University Press edition (1949/1968) does not have “Part III”, which includes the Thinking like a Mountain, Round River, and Goose Music essays. For these, see the Ballentine Books (1970) paperback edition. Also strongly recommended from the Ballentine paperback edition, read widely, esp. “A Sand County Almanac” and “Wilderness” and “Conservation Esthetic.”
Websites & Video(recommended)
State of the Planet Report (pt 2) (powerpoint presentation #3, weeks 4 & 5)

(Week 5) 2 & 4 February
The discipline of Ethics (part one), metaethics & normative ethics. (lecture)
Thoreau, Muir & Carson (with Leopold, the pioneer-elders of Environmental Ethics) (readings)
Readings (required) [This week write one analysis of each figure: Thoreau, Muir, and Carson, based on the three sets of sources, following the guidelines in the syllabus, under #1, Study Guides & Reading Analysis]
Thoreau, Henry David (biography)
Thoreau Appendix from Taylor's Dark Green Religion.
Muir, John (biography)
John Muir. Read “Cedar Keys,” and “Wild Wool.” from Nature Writings. Edited by William Cronon. New York: Library of America, 1997.
Carson, Rachel (biography)
Rachel Carson, Nature Religion Selections. and selections and commentary on Silent Spring. Also strongly recommended, peruse Under the Sea Wind, about which she ruminated in the hyperlinked selections, or read “Preface” and “The Marginal World” (pp. 1-7), and “The Enduring Sea” (pp. 249-50), in The Edge of the Sea (1955), or read widely from The Sea Around Us or Silent Spring (in this, her most famous book, see especially the introductory “Fable for Tomorrow” (pp. 1-3), and the concluding section, “The Other Road,” pp. 177-97, esp. its concluding two pages).

Additional Resources
The Ethics Analysis Chart and the Discipline of Ethics (pts 1 & 2) (powerpoint Presentation #4, week 5 & 6)
(Week 6) 9 & 11 February
The discipline of Ethics (parts 2 & 3), Applied Ethics & Key Questions in Environmmental Ethics (lecture)
Anti-Hierarchal Environmental Ethics: Anarchism, Social Ecology, and Ecofeminism (readings)
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 10, “Social Justice & Social Ecology,” 224-240, Chapter 11, “Ecofeminism,” 243-258.
“Anarchism” and “Social Ecology” by John Clark in the ERN
“Ecofeminism” by Laura Hobgood-Oster in the ERN

Readings (recommended)
“What is Social Ecology” (originally 1993) and “Social versus Deep Ecology” (orig. 1987) by Murray Bookchin

Video: Wild By Law (DVD on reserve)
Additional Resources
Key Questions & Perspecrtives in Environmental Ethics (Disciipline of Ethics, pt 3) (powerpoint #5, week 6 & 7)

(Week 7) 16 & 18 February
Deep Ecology and Radical Environmentalism.

Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 9, “Deep Ecology,” 202-221.
ERN: ‘Religion and Environmental Ethics’

(Week 8) 23 & 25 February
Mid Term Exam – In Class – TUESDAY 23 FEBRUARY: short answer, matching, & multiple choice exam; with short essay bonus. The exam is open note and open book (DesJardines). No computers.
Deep Ecology and Radical Environmentalism (continued).
Readings (required) [This week write one analysis of all three ERN entries (not one each) following the guidelines under #1, Study Guides & Reading Analysis]
ERN: Deep Ecology; Radical Environmentalism; Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front.

(Week 9) 2 & 4 March
Aesthetics, holism and environmental ethics.
Readings (required)
Michael Martin, “Ecosabotage and Civil Disobedience” from Environmental Ethics 12 (Winter 1990), pp. 291-310 /
Dave Foreman with Edward Abbey and T.O. Hellenbach, Why Monkeywrench? Selections from Ecodefense, 7-23.
Daniel Quinn, Ishmael (begin now; complete by end of Spring Break, and note: essay due 19 March).
Resources for Critical Essays:
Critical Essay Guidelines, and Critical Essay Topics; and Fallacies of Moral Reasoning.
9 & 11 March (Spring break ~ no class)
Readings (required)
Daniel Quinn, Ishmael (finish novel if necessary and prepare essay due 19 March)

(Week 10) 17 & 19 March
19 March: Essay on Ishmael due; last date to provide title, abstract, and sources for Critical Essays (see critical essay guidelines under week 9)

Pragmatism and Public Lands Management.
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 3, “Ethics and Economics: Managing Public Lands,” 45-66, and Chapter 12, “Pluralism, Pragmatism, and Sustainability,” 258-269.
“Battling Religions in Parks and Forest Reserves: Facing Religion in Conflicts Over Protected Places” (with Joel Geffen), in Full Value of Parks and Protected Areas: From Economics to the Intangible, eds. D. Harmon & Allen Putney (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), 281-94, this version in the George Wright Forum, 56-67.

Video:
The Wildlands Project or In the Light of Reverence

(Week 11) 23 & 25 March
Carrying Capacity and the ethics of procreation and consumption [This week in addition to the study guide write an analysis of Hardin’s and Irvine’s articles following the guidelines in the syllabus]
Readings (required)
DesJardines, Chapter 4, “Responsibilities to Future Generations: Sustainable Development,” 70-90
Garrett Hardin, “Lifeboat ethics,” Psychology Today (1974).
Sandy Irvine, “The Cornucopia Scam: Contradictions of Sustainable Development” in Wild Earth 4 (4):72-82, Winter 94/95.
Sources to peruse (required)
Worldwatch report, Population Forum 2008, read pp. 7-23, 34-47 (the rest is recommended).

Ecofuture reports on Overpopulation and Sustainability, this includes UC professor Al Bartlett’s article,
‘Is there a population problem?’ originally in Wild Earth.

Ishmael essays returned 25 March

(Week 12) 30 March & 1 April
Bioregionalism
Readings (required)
Bron Taylor, “Bioregionalism: An Ethics of Loyalty to Place,” Landscape Journal 19(1&2): 50-72, 2000.
Video: Thinking Like a Watershed (or next week)

Readings (recommended)
Wendell Berry, “Two Economies"

April: Mandatory summary of articles due for critical essay. Last chance to submit critical essay draft (optional). (See critical essay guidelines under week 9).

(Week 13) 6 & 8 April
Global Issues: Triage Ethics and the Tragedy and Battle for the Commons; and Grassroots Ecological Resistance Movements
Readings (required) [This week write analyses of Hardin’s views from this week’s readings, another one contrast them with those expressed by Feeney et. al., and a third and fourth from Gedick’s and Akula’s articles, following the guidelines in the syllabus, under #1, Study Guides & Reading Analysis]
Garrett Hardin, “Tragedy of the Commons” from Science (1968). Also available in html at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/162/3859/1243. Feeney et al., “The Tragedy of the Commons: Twenty-Two Years Later” in Green Planet Blues, 53-62
Garrett Hardin responds, “The Global Pillage: Consequences of Unmanaged Commons” ch 21 from Living Within Limits “The (tuna) Tragedy of the Commons”, New York Times, 26 November 2008
ERN: “Environmental Justice and Environmental Racism” by Robert Figueroa in the ERN.
Ecological Resistance Movements, Al Gedicks, on Indigenous Environmentalism, 89-107. Ecological Resistance Movements, on Environmentalism in India, Vikram Akula, 127-144
Readings (recommended)
The Ecologist, Whose Common Future?: Reclaiming the Commons (Philadelphia: New Society, 1994), ch 1-2 & 6 Many other articles by Hardin or related to his views are at the Garrett Hardin Society website.

Podcast (recommended)
Canadian Broadcasting System “Climate Wars” (mp3s), Part1, Part2, Part3. Series based on Gwynne Dyer’s Climate Wars (2008).

Video
Lacandona: The Zapatistas and the rainforest of Chiapas, Mexico (26m/bt)

(Week 14) 13 & 15 April
Critical Essay Due 13 April (See critical essay guidelines under week 9 and do not forget to include the title, abstract, and sources assignments, that were due earlier and returned to you).

Social Philosophy and the Sustainability Revolution: How to structure livelihoods, communities, nations, and international relations
Readings (required) [This week write an analysis of Kaczynski’s views, following the guidelines in the syllabus, under #1, Study Guides & Reading Analysis]
“Theodore Kaczynski, “Industrial Society and Its Future,”
Bron Taylor, “Deep Ecology and its Social Philosophy: A Critique,” in Beneath the Surface: Critical Essays on Deep Ecology. Eds. E. Katz. A. Light, D. Rothenberg (Boston: MIT Press, 2000), 269-299.
Readings (recommended)
Robert Paelke’s Environmentalism and the Future of Progressive Politics (Yale U.P, 1989), 273-283 (on reserve) Martin Lewis, Green Delusions (Duke U.P., 1992), p. 150-90 & 242-51.

Critical Essays Returned April 19

(Week 15) 20 April (last scheduled class)
Is religion the solution or one of the problems?
Video (required viewing)

Harris is a well known author and critic of religion, who here makes the case that ethics in general, and environmental ethics in particular, is not dependent on religion. Is he correct?
Readings (required) [This week be prepared to discuss and write an essay in your final exam contrasting Taylor’s “Green Future” article with other perspectives in the class.]
Bron Taylor, “A Green Future for Religion?” Futures Journal 36:991-1008, 2004
THE CUMULATIVE FINAL EXAM WILL BE 20 APRIL, 11:45 a.m. (100 MINUTES)

Resources

Writing Well
Joshua Sowin's 'A guide to writing well'
Bron Taylor's Writing Well Guide

Outline Articles
‘Environmental Ethics’ (by Andrew Brennan and Yeuk-Sze Lo) in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Video
Websites
Academic Organizations and initiatives involved in Environmental Ethics:
The International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE)
International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture
International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP)
Center for Environmental Philosophy
Centre for Applied Ethics
Environmental Ethics (Journal)
Environmental Values (Journal)
Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University
Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture

Additional resources, such as links to podcasts, music, slideshows, video, music, and websites, will be made available here during the course. Students are encouraged to send their own ideas for resources to the course instructors.