Environment Ethics And Cultures

Disparate perceptions and conceptual frameworks of environment and the relationship between humans and nature often lead to confusion, constraints on co-operation and collaboration and even conflict when society tries to deal with today’s urgent and complex environment research and policy challenges. Such disparities in perception and "world view" are driven by many factors. They include differences in culture, religion, ethical frameworks, scientific methodologies and approaches, disciplines, political, social and philosophical traditions, life styles and consumption patterns as well as alternative economic paradigms. Distribution of poverty or wealth between north and south may thus be seen as consequence of the above mentioned disparities, which is a challenge for it’s universal reasoned evaluation. This volume discusses a wide range of factors influencing "Environment across Cultures" with a view to identifying ways and means to better understand, reflect and manage such disparities within future global environmental research and policy agendas for bridging the gap between ecology and economy as well as between societies. The book is based upon the results of a scientific symposium on this topic and covers the following sections: Cross Cultural Perception of Environment; Ethics and Nature; Environment, Sustainability and Society. Corresponding contributions were made by well-known scientific authors representing different cultural spheres in accordance with the inter-cultural approach of this effort.

"This collection engages environmental, ethical and cultural values perspectives to show how Design and Technology (D&T) Education actively contributes to the significant educational goal of attaining sustainable global futures. An international collection of authors representing all levels of education articulate how D&T research, curriculum theory, policy, and classroom practices can synergise to contribute positively to the education of children for sustainable global futures. The book offers a spectrum of theorised curriculum positions, political and policy analysis, and case studies of successful school practice. A key word in the title is that of contribution which is construed in several senses: first, of D&T as a vehicle for understanding the range of political and social values that arise with such a major educational challenge; second, of D&T as an agent of critical and practical action for students as global citizens; third, by taking global and multiple perspectives (rather than, say, Western or mono-cultural positions); and, fourth, by demonstrating D&T’s capacities for working in holistic and integrative cross-curricular ways. The authors show how students can not only learn about their potential as humans-as-designers but can also develop designerly capacities that enable them to contribute meaningfully in practical ways to their communities and to wider society, that is, as global citizens who can apply design capability in ethical ways that are respectful of peoples, cultures and environments alike."

Disparate perceptions and conceptual frameworks of environment and the relationship between humans and nature often lead to confusion, constraints on co-operation and collaboration and even conflict when society tries to deal with today’s urgent and complex environment research and policy challenges. Such disparities in perception and "world view" are driven by many factors. They include differences in culture, religion, ethical frameworks, scientific methodologies and approaches, disciplines, political, social and philosophical traditions, life styles and consumption patterns as well as alternative economic paradigms. Distribution of poverty or wealth between north and south may thus be seen as consequence of the above mentioned disparities, which is a challenge for it’s universal reasoned evaluation. This volume discusses a wide range of factors influencing "Environment across Cultures" with a view to identifying ways and means to better understand, reflect and manage such disparities within future global environmental research and policy agendas for bridging the gap between ecology and economy as well as between societies. The book is based upon the results of a scientific symposium on this topic and covers the following sections: Cross Cultural Perception of Environment; Ethics and Nature; Environment, Sustainability and Society. Corresponding contributions were made by well-known scientific authors representing different cultural spheres in accordance with the inter-cultural approach of this effort.

The volume "Environmental Ethics: Cross-cultural Explorations" places cross-cultural study at the center of inquiry. The cross-culturally rich explorations collected in this volume seek to critically examine some theoretical assumptions driving current debates in the field like anthropocentrism, individualism etc. In addition, they also endeavor to develop an integrative approach which can better channel ways in which current global challenges to the environment can be met.

Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures consists of about 25 essays dealing with the environmental knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside of the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Indian, Thai, and Andean views of nature and the environment, among others, the book includes essays on Environmentalism and Images of the Other, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Worldviews and Ecology, Rethinking the Western/non-Western Divide, and Landscape, Nature, and Culture. The essays address the connections between nature and culture and relate the environmental practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both environmental history and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.

In this much-needed account of what has gone wrong in our thinking about the environment, Val Plumwood digs at the roots of environmental degradation. She argues that we need to see nature as an end itself, rather than an instrument to get what we want. Using a range of examples, Plumwood presents a radically new picture of how our culture must change to accommodate nature.

Papers presented at the UNCED Consultative National Symposium on Environmental Ethics, New Delhi, March 1-3, 1992.

Environmental ethics presents and defends a systematic and comprehensive account of the moral relation between human beings and their natural environment and assumes that human behaviour toward the natural world can and is governed by moral norms. In contemporary society, film has provided a powerful instrument for the moulding of such ethical attitudes. Through a close examination of the medium, Environmental Ethics and Film explores how historical ethical values can be re-imagined and re-constituted for more contemporary audiences. Building on an extensive back-catalogue of eco-film analysis, the author focuses on a diverse selection of contemporary films which target audiences’ ethical sensibilities in very different ways. Each chapter focuses on at least three close readings of films and documentaries, examining a wide range of environmental issues as they are illustrated across contemporary Hollywood films. This book is an invaluable resource for students and scholars of environmental communication, film studies, media and cultural studies, environmental philosophy and ethics.