Lifeboats & Trolley Cars

Environmental Ethics

This post is a reminder that on Wednesday we’ll start discussing the book Deep Economy. Although I’ll structure the discussion somewhat, this is the first of several days when we’ll practice a fairly intense and inclusive discussion method. Please come prepared by having completed the reading assignment, and do have a question or comment that you’re ready to talk about. In a classroom this size, I expect nearly universal participation.

One topic that I want to take up is something that McKibben raises in the Introduction:

We will have to make the biggest changes to our daily habits in generations–and the biggest change, as well, to our worldview, our sense of what constitutes progress. Such a shift is neither “liberal” nor “conservative.” It borrows some elements from our reigning political philosophies, and is in some ways repugnant to each.

This is a class in ethics, not in politics, and I don’t want politics to prevent us from exploring ideas together. So we will from time to time talk explicitly about whether some issues are political or not in order to keep that worry from festering.

Another theme we will return to frequently is whether a problem is a matter to be addressed by personal choice and a sense of responsibility, or whether it is a social problem that is best addressed by social or political actions.

Matt Sokol, a member of our class, sent me a link to a video by Tim Minchin (a musical comedian) called “Canvas Bags.”

This is a funny and sarcastic video, but I think that it treats the subject matter quite sincerely. Matt said

I watched an interview with him where he openly states that his songs are intended to tackle weighty/uncomfortable subjects.

Matt also passed on a video about an egoistic rationalization for philanthropy. I won’t embed it, as the language is vulgar, but if you’re interested, it’s here.