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PHL302 Environmental Ethics
Professor: Craig DeLancey
Office: MCC 212A
Email: craig.delancey@oswego.edu


Past Assignments
29 January
Assignment: pick an environmental group, first come first serve. Email me the name and I will post the name so you can find one that no one else is investigating. Go to their web site or any other literature you can find from them. Answer the following quetions:
  • What is their mission? That is, why do they exist? What are they trying to do?
  • This is the important but difficult part. Do they tell you why they have the mission they do? Why does it matter? What is their (surely implicit) ethical argument for their activities? They may not say, but look hard. If you say, "Why should I support your mission?" do they have an answer? What is that answer? (We are trying to uncover their ethical values, if they are stated. If not, you might offer an opinion on what you believe they think is deserving of moral respect.)
Write up your answers on a single page and bring them to class. I'd like to collect them for my own edification, after we discuss them. Thanks!

Our list so far:
  • Antonella: Plant a Tree Foundation.
  • Aubrey: Friends of Usambara Cultural Tourism Enterprise.
  • Bryam: The Nature Conservancy.
  • Christopher T: Defenders of Wildlife.
  • Dylan: ASPCA.
  • Elena: Animal Forests.
  • Emma: National Audubon Society.
  • Jacqueline: Fungi Perfecti.
  • Jasmine: The Disney Conservation Fund.
  • Katrina: The Sierra Club Foundation.
  • Kelly: 4Ocean.
  • Kylie: Oceana.
  • Linden: Protect Our Winters
  • Nivy: Conservation International.
  • Noah: American Rivers.
  • Peter: Environmental Defense Fund.
  • Victoria: Greenpeace.
  • William: Earthwatch Institute.
Reading: Start reading "Optimal Pollution," which I mailed to you via BlackBoard. It's just 4 pages long. See if you can finish it before class, but if you can't be sure then to finish it before Friday. Also: bring it to class if you can so we can follow along closely.
31 January
Read the Baxter selection I emailed you. Answer the question on BlackBoard: When you consider the environmental group that you investigated, are their values (not their empirical claims, but their values) different than Baxters? Explain where this is clear, ideally with quote(s) from their statement of mission or values.

This is posted as a test. Sorry, it's just easier to post stuff in Blackboard that way, but of course it's a homework not a test.
3 February
Please read the short article "The Tragedy of the Commons" by Garrett Hardin. This is a classic paper! Very important! It's available on BlackBoard as a pdf.
5 February
Let's spend some time in class reviewing our concepts so far, and finalizing our discussion of anthropocentric ethics and the game theory and policy issues of The Tragedy of the Commons.

Then, we'll turn to our first non-anthropocentric value theory! Please read the short article "Animal Liberation" by Peter Singer. A very influential piece! It's available on BlackBoard as a pdf.

It might be of interest to watch some videos of Singer explaining his view: (We'll read a paper by Regan next, and I'll ask you a question on BlackBoard about both papers.)

The Platypus is in trouble!
7 February
Classes cancelled due to weather.
10 February
Please read the brief article, "The Case for Animal Rights" that is available for download on BlackBoard.

I posted a few questions about the reading on BlackBoard. These questions are:
  1. The most important step in Regan's argument is when he explains why, on his rights theory (which we can also think of as a Kantian theory) animals deserve moral respect. This is the center of his argument, which he first presents as "similarity" between non-human animals and us. So, what is the thing that makes it so that (some) non-human animals deserve moral respect? He states it in one sentence. What does he say?
  2. What is Regan's objection to a utilitarian theory like Singer's?
  3. What is Regan's objection to contract theory?
Also, given the excitement for economics, I changed our schedule a bit to add some time for ecological economics. You can see the change in the weekly plan in the syllabus.
11 February
I will have extra office hours from 10:00 - 11:00 am and from 1:00 - 2:00 pm on this day.
14 February
Read our first biocentric ethics article, by Gary Varner. This is available on BlackBoard.

Sorry! I have a meeting today I must go to at 3:00. I won't be able to have my office hours this day.
17 February
Homework: before class, answer the questions on blackboard about the paper by Varner.

Relevant to our discussion of mosquitos (I learned that they do compose a significant amount of biomass, and therefore food for predators--let's discuss that later), is this piece about Florida pythons. The title begs the question! But worth a viewing.
19 February
Let's review a bit:
  • Let's get very clear about what the teleological theory means
  • Let's apply it to some specific cases
  • We are more and more going to have a deep and interesting problem that is often not so obvious in traditional (anthropocentric) ethics: conflicting goods. How should we handle these?
  • A broader scope: in light of our war on mosquitos, the War on Sparrows! If you have a minute, for the period footage you can watch the first 4 and a half minutes of this video: The Sparrow Campaign.
I will have office hours today until 5 (or later if you need me). I'm hoping to make up for the fact that I have meetings on Friday and cannot have office hours then!
21 February
Read the problem and solution to a purpose-based biocentric ethics, proposed by DeLancey.

This is interesting given our earlier discussions: Mutant mosquitoes: Can gene editing kill off malaria?.

Apologies, I cannot have afternoon office hours this day.
24 February
Please read the article by Holmes Rolston, "Duties to Endangered Species."
26 February
Please re-read the article by Holmes Rolston, "Duties to Endangered Species."

Answer the questions on BlackBoard about Rolston:
  • According to Rolston: Is a species a kind of thing? Or is it just a collection of individual organisms?
  • Rolston gives a number of different reasons for why a species might deserve moral respect. What is one of them? Explain it. Do you agree with the reasoning?
Interesting work to try to save cheetahs: at the Columbus Zoo.
2 March
An assignment. Suppose that using genetic engineering, surrogates, and other techniques, we can bring back a species that human beings drove to extinction, and then we could re-introduce that species into the wild. For the sake of argument, set aside questions of whether the individual organisms we thus create are actually instances of the species previously driven extinct; we want instead to focus on some ethical questions:
  • Pick one species human beings drove extinct. Describe it and when it went extinct, and how it was driven to extinction.
  • 1. Would it be ethical to de-extinct the species?
  • 2. Would it be ethical to let a breeding population of de-extincted organisms loose into the wild?
  • What ethical theory do you use to justify your answers to 1 and 2? Explain (give an argument) how your ethical theory entails your answer to questions 1 and 2.
  • Consider at least one argument against your answers to questions 1 and 2. How would you reply to that argument?
  • If you have time: what would the other theories of environmental ethics that we have studied tell us about your answers to 1 and 2?
Write up your answer in two or so pages, and either bring it to class or do it on BlackBoard. Note: I corrected the BlackBoard due date until our class time. Let me know if there are any challenges getting in.
4 March
My office hours this week are W from 3:00 -- 5:00, and by appointment.

Read "The Land Ethic" by Aldo Leopold. This was an influential work (not among philosohpers, but among the general public). I might post some questions on BlackBoard.
6 March
My office hours this week are W from 3:00 -- 5:00, and by appointment.

Vicious Homework: Define "wilderness" as you think it should be defined. Do this on BlackBoard or bring your definition to class. We're going to have a debate. It will be helpful if you consider and respond to the definition in the Wilderness Act: "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." Do you think this definition is adequate? If not, why does your definition disagree with it?

I once attempted my own definition of the term. Not required, but I put it on BlackBoard for anyone who is interested.

In class we are going to discuss Leopold and ecosystem-focussed value theory. You might be interested in peeking at some of the contemporary defenses of the idea of "rewilding" also.
9 March
A discussion of Deep ecology and Arne Naess. Then we can review!

I've been very generous in grading the weekly assignments; often I'm asking you about the reading which may be challenging, so I mostly expect that you show you struggled with the work. But, for the quizzes and the later paper, I'll be more demanding in my grading. It might be helpful in such a context to see some good examples. On BlackBoard I've posted under "Peer Examples" two answers to our recent question on de-extinction. Both are clear and precise; as a bonus, one shows great clarity and care in addressing each point rigorously, and the other does that rarest of rare things, provides a valid argument to be analyzed. Look at those as models for future work.
11 March
Midterm quiz! There will be two kinds of questions.
  1. Interpret and explain a passage from one of our readings. Describe the theory it presents.
  2. Consider a case study and analyze it in light of the theories we have discussed.


You will also find very interesting the Cog Sci talk at 5:00:
Cognitive Science Lecture
"What is so Special about Privileged Access?: An Exploration of the Nature and Value of Privileged Access" is a talk by professor Jared Peterson of the philosophy department.
Richard S. Shineman Center, 444
13 March
I. What are we going to do about Corona?
Alright, we are forced into going online. Here's what we can do:
  1. We will continue to use this website as the place where all readings and assignments are posted. Please check in frequently.
  2. We will continue to have weekly readings or assignments.
  3. I've started a discussion forum in Blackboard. I'll post questions that we can discuss there. Let's try to keep discussion going there.
  4. I'm hoping we can do a phone call, or some other kind of voice or video discuss, at least once a week, but perhaps three times a week if that seems to work for us. I'm looking into the software, but we may just do Zoom. It has the disadvantage that we are limited to 35 minutes.
  5. Take your notes and the book Cradle to Cradle with you.
  6. Email me if lack a phone, wifi, or a computer. I will not share such information with anyone, but I do need to know so I can work out something different for you.
II. Quiz and midterm grade.
I calculated a midterm grade just by adding up all your points and determining your difference from the mean (in terms of standard deviations). That's crude but an indicator. It does mean that if you skipped a bunch of homeworks your grade will be low. No problem: do the homeworks from now on!

III. What's next?
Our next topic is just to review some useful basics of environmental economics. Topics we'll want to consider then include:
  • Some relevant basic concepts, such as externality, expected utility, discounting, and pigovian taxes.
  • Malthusianism
  • Growth and the question of limits of growth. What should count as "growth"?
IV. Where you at, DeLancey?
I will have office hours today from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.
23 March
Homework: Complete the homework sheet, and put your answers on BlackBoard.

Discussion: We'll have a google meeting to discuss at 1:50-2:45.
25 March
Office Hours: You can talk with me from 2-4 at Google Meet. To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/euw-zsgn-dkv Otherwise, to join by phone, dial +1 314-932-2416 and enter this PIN: 771 681 335#

Homework: Let's make this a bit easier. What were the last 3 things that you spent money on? For each purchase: What if any environmental cost or impact, if any, do you think it had? Consider:
  • Did it require mining?
  • Did it require wood or plants to be harvested?
  • Did it require power?
  • Did it use some land in some other way?
  • Did it require animals to be used in some way?
  • Do you think it generated carbon to make? Will it generate carbon in its use?
Obviously you could spend months researching these questions, but I just want you first assessment after perhaps a tiny bit of research if any. I put this on BlackBoard to ease things along.

Discussion: We'll have a call-in discussion at 1:50-2:45. Our topic will be the Promethean and the Arcadian views, as I will call them. Read the selection from Daly.
27 March
Office hours: Hopefully 4:45-6:00. If I'm not there, my afternoon meeting is running long, so wait for me or check back in 5 minutes. Here's the link: meet.google.com/oak-wnqd-rkz.

In our discussion, we will discuss any last issues in our economics concepts, and then start our topic of global warming.

Read: the IPCC policy summary. This is on BlackBoard.

Please also take a bit of time to explore NOAA's water maps.
30 March, 3 April
I've been told that BlackBoard is crashing under the weight of videos. Thus, all videos will only be on YouTube. See the list of videos.

Read "A Perfect Moral Storm." This is on BlackBoard. We will discuss it together! I will send a link for our GoogleMeet at 1:50.

I will have office hours from 5-6. Sorry so late. I have a meeting 3-5. The good news is, my meetings are finally ending--this will be my last one for a while, so I should be able to return to MWF hours. The hours will be here: https://meet.google.com/fjc-xmma-ing
7 April
Office hours 10:00 - 12:00. You can reach them by hitting this link: https:\\meet.google.com/izr-etfg-zrc.
6, 8 April
Read our selection by Cowen and Parfitt, "Against the Social Discount Rate." This is on BlackBoard. Hey, a reminder that registration is opening! Here are the dates when people can register:
Seniors began April 6
Juniors will begin April 8
Sophomores will begin April 13
Freshmen will begin April 15
9 April
I will have office hours 2:00-4:00 pm. https://meet.google.com/ckb-inhh-vuk
10 April
No class, Good Friday!
13 April
Read Cradle to Cradle, introduction.

Homework: Do the social discounting calculation, on BlackBoard. I also have some questions about what we've learned so far.

Take a look below at May 11 where I sketch a version of our last assignment, which if we agree is a reasonable way to proceed could be our one task (other that readings and discussions) from now till the end of the semester; I'm hoping our progress would be something we could also discuss a little in each class. Think about it and let me know if it seems like a good way to proceed. My hope is that this is a way for us to synthesize what we've learned and also to work together (it would be nice to be less isolated!). And everyone who participates will get a dozen bitcoins from Jasmine.
14 April
I will have office hours 3:00-4:30. Link at: https://meet.google.com/wpm-ijxk-oku?hs=122&ijlm=1586884369392
15 April
We will meet online to discuss!

Homework: Hard project! Define "sustainability." We are going to consider whether we should pursue sustainability, but we better know then what "sustainability" means. (Warning: "sustainability" is sometimes called also "sustainable development," and I may accidentally use the latter term sometimes; I assume they are the same thing.)

We will compare our various definitions, and see how much consensus we have.

Extra credit!
As we read from Cradle to Cradle, a lot of practical issues go flying by in the background. Extra credit to anyone who researches any of these and can spend a few minutes in our class discussion giving us background. In this chapter:
  • Landfills. How many are there? How much land do they take up? How long do they last? What is in them, mostly? What happens when they are no longer used as landfills?
  • Monoculture. What's a monoculture crop? What are the costs or dangers of a monoculture? What's the alternative?
  • How much pesticide is used in the US or the World each year? How are pesticides approved? Do we trust the approval process?
  • What is measured in GDP?
  • What are endocrine disruptors? How do they get into our food?
17 April
Read: "The Question Concerning Technology" by Martin Heidegger. Don't worry about the stuff about Aristotle (pages 289 - 293), focus on pages 294-309. This is on BlackBoard. It's a fun contrast with the nuts-and-bolts practicality of Braungart and McDonough.

Jamison sent us some Environmental Ethics relevant viewing options:
  • Netflix: A Plastic Ocean, Rotten, Cowspiracy, The Ivory game. I would also add Darkwater.
  • Hulu: The Biggest Little Farm, Sea of Shadows, Eating Animals, Food Choices, Food Inc., Rancher Farmer Fisherman, The Inconvenient Truth, An Inconvenient Sequel, The Last Animals.


Office hours 3-4pm: https://meet.google.com/nvv-ugts-epw
20 April
We will continue our discussion of "The Question Concerning Technology." Then, from questions of how our way of life can effect our relation to being, we can turn back to very practical questions about our way of life, and discuss: Cradle to Cradle chapter 2.

Extra credit!
As we read from Cradle to Cradle, a lot of practical issues go flying by in the background. Extra credit to anyone who researches any of these and can spend a few minutes in our class discussion giving us background. In this chapter:
  • Landfills. How many are there? How much land do they take up? How long do they last? What is in them, mostly? What happens when they are no longer used as landfills?
  • Monoculture. What's a monoculture crop? What are the costs or dangers of a monoculture? What's the alternative?
  • How much pesticide is used in the US or the World each year? How are pesticides approved? Do we trust the approval process?
  • What is measured in GDP?
  • What are endocrine disruptors? How do they get into our food?
  • Who was that Malthus guy again? Was he right, only maybe his timeline was off?
  • Who were the romantics? What did they have to say about industrialization? Extra credit if you bring a poem.
  • Who was this Rachel Carlson? What was Silent Spring? What is DDT? Is DDT still in use? Where?
22 April
Read: Cradle to Cradle chapter 3.

Extra credit!
As we read from Cradle to Cradle, a lot of practical issues go flying by in the background. Extra credit to anyone who researches any of these and can spend a few minutes in our class discussion giving us background. In this chapter:
  • Dioxin. What is that?
  • Was there any dioxin around Oswego?
  • What is the maximum number of fish out of the Oswego river or Lake Ontario that the state recommends you eat in a month? Why?
23 April
Office hours 1:30 - 3:00. https://meet.google.com/yqr-vpwz-sds
24 April
Read: Cradle to Cradle chapters 4 and 5. Optional is chapter 6

Extra credit!

As we read from Cradle to Cradle, a lot of practical issues go flying by in the background. Extra credit to anyone who researches a few of these and can spend a few minutes in our class discussion giving us background. In this chapter:
  • Plastic. How much of it do we use? How much is recycled? What is plastic made of out?
  • Where did that plastic in the Pacific garbage island come from?
  • Nuclear power. Where does the uranium come from? Where does the waste go? How much carbon does a nuclear power plant generate?
  • Solar power. How much does it cost? What happens when it's night?
  • Wind power. How much does it cost? What happens when it's not windy? What does it do to birds?
27 April
Extra-credit, like for real on BlackBoard: Briefly, is it possible to pursue sustainability in a globalized economy, where nations set environmental standards for their area only? If not, what can be done to change this? Pick an example of a potential cost that is not an externality here but is perhaps an externality in another location. What could be done to set industry here on level competition with the other producer?

We will begin our topic on environmental ethics and politics. This first week, we'll consider some of the movements and claims that environmental ethics requires some kind of radical rethinking of our politics.

Take a look at the German Green Party platform. Google translate should allow you to read it in English (perhaps only if you are working in Chrome?): https://www.gruene.de/.

Also helpful is this overview: A brief overview of the German Green Party.

Extra-extra-credit!: Read "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is on BlackBoard. It's just 3 pages.
29 April
We will not have synchronous class, but rather you will excogitate about a claim that our political system needs to change and/or that civil disobedience is required. Watch during our time: Who Bombed Judi Bari?, an interesting documentary which is relevant to our discussion because Bari argues that environmental ethics should entail a revolutionary politics. You might find the folk music hard to take, but it was all written by Josh and Jasmine so don't make them feel bad. The story is interesting even if not all of it is relevant to our theoretical issues.
4 May
This second week, we'll consider a critical response to the idea that environmental ethics requires some kind of radical rethinking of our politics.

Read: Taylor, "Environmental Ethics and Political Theory."
6 May
Extra-credit: on BlackBoard I've posted some questions about Taylor's article, "Environmental Ethics and Political Theory."

Office hours 3:00-4:30.
8 May
Three themes for conversation:
  1. Taylor's article, "Environmental Ethics and Political Theory."
  2. What have we learned from environmental ethical theory?
  3. How can we help each other in the coming week?
10 May
Office hours 3:00-4:00 pm: meet.google.com/gko-jkxv-aui.
15 May
Applied Ethics Case Studies: Pick a population, species, or ecosystem that is in danger, or that is otherwise of particular moral concern (e.g., perhaps it is not in danger of extinction, but we eat it or we use it in testing). I think your population or species should not be Homo Sapiens (otherwise we are doing classical ethics). Do a case study that answers:
  • What is the particular danger or harm, or potential harm, to this species or ecosystem? [That is, give us sufficient background to understand the situation. If the species is threatened with extinction, then when would we expect it to go extinct? If an ecosystem is being denuded, when would we expect it to be eliminated if things continued as they are? Etc. This part of your study is mostly finding and synthesizing the best information you can find.]
  • What do our best ethical theories tell us is our moral duty with respect to this harm?
  • If the main harms are in the future, should we discount these harms?
  • What policy recommendations would you make? What would be the cost of those recommendations? What would be resistance to your recommendations?
  • How could sustainability play a role in reversing this harm, or supporting your policy recommendation?
  • How could a politics informed by our environmental ethical theory play a role in reversing this harm, or in supporting your policy recommendations?
By "population" above, I mean some particular group of organisms. This could allow you to discuss almost any issue in environmentalism. For example, if you are interested in the issue of factory farming, you could pick not the species of chicken, but rather chickens in an industrial farming operation as an example population; or if you are interested in the potential benefits of vegetarianism, you could pick beef cattle as an example, and your case study could then contrast their situation with the costs and benefits of vegetarianism. If you are interested in animal testing, you could pick not the species of chimpanzees but rather chimpanzees used in medical testing as a population. And so on.

We are going to do our reports in a big Wiki. Your responsibility will thus include also:
  • Pushing each other with hard questions; that is the main point. Other help includes:
  • Helping your colleagues catch typos and grammatical errors;
  • Otherwise offering advice and help.
I'll do one also, if you want.

This can count as our final exam.