Problem
The module we are studying this week covers the following information about sustainability.
Philosophy often makes progress when someone finds a way to combine elements of approaches that had seemed completely inconsistent. Sustainability is a good example in environmental ethics. Some of the approaches considered so far in the course appear to have nothing in common. According to natural resources as goods, objects and nonhuman beings in the environment have instrumental value and the only moral obligations humans have in the natural world are obligations toward other people. In contrast, ecofeminism states that human beings do not have the moral right to make use of objects and nonhuman beings without consideration of their own interests. Instead, ecofeminism emphasizes what human beings have in common with other natural beings, and recommends that we change our attitude toward the natural world in order to see interactions with the environment as being cooperative.
Sustainability is an approach to environmental ethics which manages to combine insights from both these approaches. The sustainability approach, like ecofeminism, sees human beings as being an integral part of the natural environment. Since human actions can radically transform the environment, human actions can have radical impacts on future generations of humans. Therefore, decisions about the use of natural resources will have long-term consequences for future generations. Sustainability also includes concern for future generations. According to natural resources as goods, humans have moral obligations toward other humans, which should include humans in the future. Guiding decisions by the sustainability approach satisfies the requirements of natural resources as goods to consider how actions will impact other people, and also the ecofeminist approach, by acknowledging that humans are part of the natural environment. This is the simple outline of the approach. In practice, it can be challenging to know how to develop sustainable practices. Sometimes we don't yet know the long-term consequences of a new technology or a new process. For example, solar panels seem to be an excellent idea from the standpoint of sustainability. Sunlight is not in limited supply, unlike fossil fuels. In addition, the use of solar fuels appears to be free of the harmful side effects of the use of fossil fuels, such as the air pollution and acid rain that can result when coal is burned to produce electricity. However, if it turns out that the manufacture of the panels needed to collect sunlight and batteries needed to store the energy causes serious pollution or other long-term problems, then the use of solar panels might not be more sustainable than the use of fossil fuels. Thus, one important aspect of determining whether a policy is sustainable is the collection of scientific data about the long-term consequences of the policy.
Question: This module focuses on the problem of sustainability. In order to allow human beings to thrive in the long term, given the natural world in which human societies are located, we need to adopt practical steps to ensure that we continue to have basic needs such as water and food.
Consider the issue of water scarcity. What do you think the most plausible approach to water sustainability is, taking into account all the relevant moral considerations? Use an argument to support your view.