Environmental ethics deals with the manner in which humans interact with nature including natural resources, vegetation and animals. Evaluating issues pertaining to diminishment, destruction, and elimination by polluting, encroaching upon, and exploiting the species of our natural environment. Speciesism, sentientism, wholism, vegetarianism and endangered species are related to environmental ethics and is important to understand how each is related and the role humans play in maintaining harmony in nature.
Speciesism is when someone has an unfavorable opinion or attitude toward a species that is different from one’s own species. Humans consider themselves the superior species and thus lack respect for the natural world. Historically we have exploited nonhuman animals because we perceive ourselves as a superior species and thus have no moral issues with destroying their habitat, exploiting, or killing them by expansion of civilization, using body parts for material…show more content… mental state). Humans do not believe that morality should extend to the natural world since plants and animals do not have the ability to reason or have feelings that would inflict moral righteousness. However, it is argued that just because certain living organisms do not reason to the degree of humans does not mean that they should not be valued and respected as a necessary living thing.
Wholism is the perception that humans and nature form a single moral community. A good example of Wholism culture are Native American Indians, they perceive themselves as being one with nature and that all things in nature are inhabited by spirits, not just humans. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism also view nature as being equal and not subordinate to humans. These cultures respect nature by protecting and preserving it, using only what is needed to survive in a harmonious
