You are required to select one of the three general topics listed below and clearly define one focused and specific ethical question (ie as you did in assignments 1 and 2 in this unit).
The three general topics are stated following.
1. The responsibility of individual consumers with regards their consumption behaviour given the reality of anthropogenic climate change.
2. The global production of food: security, quality and equity.
3. The obligation of economically developed nations to alleviate extreme poverty in foreign countries.
Required tasks:
a. Clearly define one ethical problem drawn from one of the three general topics provided above and provide a brief explanation as to why your chosen ethical problem is important.
b. Identify academic, peer-reviewed, researched and referenced facts and key assumptions which are relevant to your analysis of the ethical problem. Fully reference each fact.
c. Analyse the ethical problem using act utilitarianism, identifying all relevant consequences. Compare negative versus positive consequences and assess whether net utility will rise or fall as a result of the ethical act being examined. Provide a clear ethical discussion and conclusion.
d. Discuss the relevance of the general topic (ie one of the three general topics identified above) which you chose (do not focus on your specific ethical problem) to the objective of sustainability, clearly identifying relevant environmental, social, cultural and economic dimensions.