Lecture 4:
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS & INTRO TO ECOLOGY, THE SCIENCE OF
INTERACTIONS
Welcome Back! Please say hi and share in the
chat how did the fish game go, then think about
the following prompts before class starts:
- What is Environmental Ethic and what are the
three common attitudes towards the
environment?
- What is Ecology and what are the 5 types of
Ecological interactions?
- Journal Entries, Ecological Concepts and
Designating a State Ecosystem: What are these
assignments about? Have you read the
instructions yet?
• Please make sure to take notes on everything you do
today. The pictures of your notes will be needed for
your Week 3 Clicker#1
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Today’s objectives
• Understand the Environmental Ethic and the three common
attitudes towards the environment? Environmental ethics
investigates the justifications for these different positions and
proposes what’s right when it comes to the environment.
• Define Ecology and understand the 5 types of ecological
interactions (Ecological Concepts)
• Talk about the group assignment this week: Designating a
State Ecosystem
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3
Of Sea Lions and Salmon:
An Environmental and Ethical Dilemma
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4
Three Philosophical views
to Environmental Ethics
• Anthropocentrism
• Biocentrism Develop
• Ecocentrism
Preserve
Conserve
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5
2.3 Environmental Approaches
• Development,
preservation, and
conservation are
different approaches
toward nature. These
attitudes reflect a
person’s ethical
commitments.
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Development
• This approach is the most anthropocentric.
• It assumes the human race is, and should be, master of nature.
• It assumes that the Earth and its resources exist solely for our
benefit and pleasure.
• This approach is reinforced by the capitalist work ethic.
• This approach thinks highly of human creativity and holds that
continual economic growth is a moral ideal for society.
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Preservation
• This approach is the most bio-centric.
• It holds that nature has intrinsic value apart from human uses.
• Preservationists such as John Muir, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman all viewed nature as a refuge
from economic activity, not as a resource for it.
• Some preservationists wish to keep large parts of nature intact for
aesthetic or recreational reasons (anti-anthropocentric principles).
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Conservation –
• This approach finds a balance between unrestrained
development and preservations.
• Conservationism promotes human well-being but
considers a wider range of long-term human goods in its
decisions about environmental management.
• Many of the ideas in conservationism have been incorporated into
an approach known as sustainable development.
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Sustainable Development
• Sustainable Development
is a middle ground that
seeks to promote
development while still
preserving the ecological
health of the landscape.
• This was the point of the
Fish Game. You can’t “win”
just prioritizing economic
gain without considering
social and environmental
factors
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Outline and Summary of concepts
• Different cultures put different values on the natural world.
Environmental ethics investigates the justifications for these different
positions.
• Three common attitudes toward nature are the development approach,
the preservationist approach, and the conservationist approach.
• Ethical obligations toward nature are usually closely connected to
ethical obligations toward people, particularly poor people and minority
groups.
• Recognition that there is an ethical obligation to protect the environment
can be made by corporations, individuals, nations, and international
bodies.
• Natural capitalism and industrial ecology are ideas that promote ways of
doing profitable business while also protecting the environment.
• Global commitments to the protection of the environment are
enormously important.
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WHAT ACTIONS ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE?
Before we move on and talk about ecology,
let’s join our breakout room first and discuss
the following:
- Share what you’ve learned regarding environmental
ethics
- This class invites you to take action. Share what
goal(s) did you decide to achieve based on your
Ecological Footprint calculations and your view of
the environment. Have you started your Footprint
Reflection yet? If you have questions about it, first
ask and discuss with your group mates. Know that
there is an example posted on canvas.
- Also, discuss what is Ecology and what are the 5
types of Ecological interactions?
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required for when you are
or display. called back
What is Ecology?
² The study of relationships between
organisms and their environment
² The study of the distribution and abundance
of organisms
² The study of the transformation of and flux of
matter and energy in natural ecosystems
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Kinds of Organism Interactions
SPECIES A SPECIES B
INTERACTION
EFFECT ON SPECIES B EFFECT ON SPECIES A
Competition - -
Consumer-Resources:
(Predation/Herbivory/Par + -
asitism)
Mutualism + +
Commensalism 0 +
Amensalism 0 -
Let’s
Copyrightcomplete
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required it will be your Week 3 Clicker#2
reproduction or display.
Competition
• Competition is a kind of
interaction in which two
organisms strive to obtain the
same limited resource.
• Intraspecific competition is
competition between members
of same species.
• Interspecific competition is
competition between members
of different species.
So why do species engage in a competition?
Only if (1) Resources are limited
AND (2) they use the same resource
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Competition
• The competitive
exclusion principle
holds that no two species
can occupy the same
ecological niche in the
same place at the same
time.
• Less-fit species must
evolve into a slightly
different niche.
15
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Consumer Resources
Parasitism
Predation
Herbivory
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Mutualism
Root nodules containing
Oxpeckers removing parasites
nitrogen-fixing bacteria
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Commensalism
18
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Kinds of Organism Interactions
SPECIES A SPECIES B
INTERACTION
EFFECT ON SPECIES B EFFECT ON SPECIES A
Competition - -
Consumer-Resources:
(Predation/Herbivory/Par + -
asitism)
Mutualism + +
Commensalism 0 +
Amensalism 0 -
Clicker Week 3 #2 Please take a picture of this slide
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Designating a State Ecosystem
Julie Vader
Instructions for the assignment is on canvas. Do
you have any questions about this or about the
Journal Entry?
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For the remainder of the lecture time today: Go to your
breakout room to complete your group assignments
Week 3 Clicker# 1:
You were asked to take notes of everything
today. Please take a picture of your notes
and submit these on canvas
Week 3 Clicker# 2:
Picture of the ecological interactions and
outcomes table
Complete any outstanding assignment
from week 1 and week 2.
Plan and start working on the next group
assignment that includes a group
presentation. You will continue working on
the group assignment this Thursday,
please plan accordingly. Thursday lecture
time should be used to work on group
assignment in this class, so no one can
say they are too busy to meet
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Have a wonderful day Make sure you
know your group’s meeting plan for this
Thursday before you leave
Bye for now! Please stay safe
Please say something in the chat as
your exit ticket!
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