Environment: for Preservation or Exploitation - an Analysis of the Opinions of John Muir, Gifford Pinchot and Aldo Leopold

To understand where the motivation and passion to protect the environment was developed, one looks to the rapid deforestation of East Coast old-growth forests at the turn of the century. “As Gifford Pinchot expressed it, ‘The American Colossus was fiercely at work turning natural resources into money.’ ‘A

In this quote, he also alludes that humans need to take responsibility for their actions. He in a way holds them

for others: This occurs when he discusses world hunger and the malnourished children. A quote

He believes that ‘Nature hath made men so equal' that ‘one man can claim to himself any benefit to which another may not pretend as well as he.' This, taken from Chapter 11, leads us to a conclusion that three things in the Nature of man bring out complexities that cannot be resolved and lead to tyranny and war. These are competition, diffidence and glory. Mankind's self-instincts for

Under the will of the law, people should live in unity for a common good. He suggested that everybody in America should contain that sacred principle of unity and should consider being reasonable rather than being rightful. The minority has equal rights just like everybody else and going against it is oppression. He talked of those individuals who would have bad intentions of ruining the unity of people of America, people should persevere and never allow giving chances. The unity in the country is promising which is evidenced by the prevailing peace in the country. Although the diverse types of the people living in the states have different origin, they live in unity without discrimination. Out of this unity, America seems to be the most powerful state in the

Conservation was the most important reform, from this time period, since it worked towards protecting the United State’s physical environment which leads to obtaining the essential resources of nature, preserving the naturality of the planet, and living a higher quality of life.

Growing up in Switzerland and Oregon, I learned that nature is greatly valued and it is necessary to respect the environment to prevent impending environmental collapse. Living in a society whose morals and ethics include

In Paul Taylor’s essay, “The Ethics for Respect for Nature,” he argues that… In this paper I will first describe Taylor’s concept of “respect for nature.” I will then explain the part this attitude plays in rationally grounding a biocentric outlook on environmental ethics. Lastly, I will present Rosalind Hursthouse’s criticism of Taylor’s view, and state how Taylor might respond to this criticism.

It will influence the future generations to why we consider environment has been important, create opportunities for generation to come, a culture that can be passed on and sense of appreciation of such an experience (Singer, 2011). This point may not so readily apply to a wider consequentialist approach, which attributes intrinsic value not only to pleasure or satisfaction, but also to various objects and processes in the natural environment (Singer, 2011).

“Hunting and ecosystem-based management is the smartest and most cost-effective way to manage our wildlife. The basic idea of ecosystem-based management is that you manage ecosystems rather than specific species or disciplines.” For example “you do not mange pheasants as much as you manage the ecosystem in which the pheasants live. If the ecosystem is improved, it will produce more pheasants naturally.”(1)

Taylor believes that if one concedes and accepts the first three components then acceptance of the fourth component is not unreasonable. He also suggests that in order to adopt the attitude of respect for nature one must accept all four elements of the biocentric outlook. “Once we reject the claim that humans are

While, after reading the above two quotations, it may appear that Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill take seemingly opposing views on the proper

During his time, Aldo Leopold was a conservationist who believed in the longevity of the land and that we should protect it, even if we must protect the land from ourselves. While this was an unpopular opinion, realizing that the land and animals naturally work together in a symbiotic relationship to protect one another was very apparent to Leopold. He believed that humans should be doing our best to lessen our impact on the environment. Time has caught up with Leopold’s ideologies and it is time that our efforts and contributions to the earth did too.

Nearly everything that a human does is in response to the environment. Our lives are defined by what is around us and what we find in front of us, whether this means accepting, dealing with or changing it. This has been the pattern since primates first stood up and became Homo erectus, and has continued until we considered ourselves doubly wise. The shape of the land affected where humans moved. Weather was something with which to contend. Fire affected humans until they conquered it – and herein lies the core of the relationship. The earth affects humans, and humans affect it back, viewing characteristics and patterns as problems and challenges, and finding a solution.

“The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to