Philosophy 166 - Environmental Ethics

In this class, we will engage with the issues of population growth and resource use, biodiversity loss and sustainability, non-human animal welfare, environmental justice, and global climate change. We will examine these issues through grappling with the following distinctively ethical questions: (a) is nature just for humans to use?; (b) how should we understand the value of nature?; (c) what is the moral status of non-human animals, and how should we take their welfare into account in our lives?; (d) how should we think about inequitable environmental access?; (e) what should you and I do about climate change?