Showing papers on "Environmental health ethics published in 2016"

Ethics of Caring in Environmental Ethics: Indigenous and Feminist Philosophies

Abstract: Indigenous ethics and feminist care ethics offer a range of related ideas and tools for environmental ethics. These ethics delve into deep connections and moral commitments between nonhumans and humans to guide ethical forms of environmental decision making and environmental science. Indigenous and feminist movements such as the Mother Earth Water Walk and the Green Belt Movement are ongoing examples of the effectiveness of on-the-ground environmental care ethics. Indigenous ethics highlight attentive caring for the intertwined needs of humans and nonhumans within interdependent communities. Feminist environmental care ethics emphasize the importance of empowering communities to care for themselves and the social and ecological communities in which their lives and interests are interwoven. The gendered, feminist, historical, and anticolonial dimensions of care ethics, indigenous ethics, and other related approaches provide rich ground for rethinking and reclaiming the nature and depth of diverse relationships as the fabric of social and ecological being.

Islamic ethical responsibilities for business and sustainable development

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of environmental development in view of the Islamic ethical responsibilities, and the extent to which businesses should be involved in environment development activities will be addressed. Design/methodology/approach – This study integrates the mainstream and Islamic positions on the subject of the environment and sustainable development based on published literature and argues that whichever definition of environmental development one might subscribe to eventually each arrives at an environmental concern. It takes inspiration from the verses of the Holy Quran and ethics of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in respect of environment and business that indicate a way out of this impasse. Findings – This study shows that the Islamic approach is more agreeable to environmental protection, and the issues associated with environmental and sustainable development have moral, ethical and social responsibilities, and the businesses shoul...

State of the Art of Empirical Research on Ethics and Integrity in Governance

Abstract: This paper reviews and assesses the body of empirical research conducted on ethics and integrity in governance with a focus on the United States. The review is structured around five major themes: (1) ethical decision making and moral development, (2) ethics laws and regulatory agencies, (3) organizational performance and ethics, (4) ethics management experiences and strategies, and (5) community, culture, and the ethical environment.

Brain matters: from environmental ethics to environmental neuroethics

Abstract: The ways in which humans affect and are affected by their environments have been studied from many different perspectives over the past decades. However, it was not until the 1970s that the discussion of the ethical relationship between humankind and the environment formalized as an academic discipline with the emergence of environmental ethics. A few decades later, environmental health emerged as a discipline focused on the assessment and regulation of environmental factors that affect living beings. Our goal here is to begin a discussion specifically about the impact of modern environmental change on biomedical and social understandings of brain and mental health, and to align this with ethical considerations. We refer to this focus as Environmental Neuroethics, offer a case study to illustrate key themes and issues, and conclude by offering a five-tier framework as a starting point of analysis.

Addressing Environmental Health Inequalities.

Abstract: Environmental health inequalities refer to health hazards disproportionately or unfairly distributed among the most vulnerable social groups, which are generally the most discriminated, poor populations and minorities affected by environmental risks. Although it has been known for a long time that health and disease are socially determined, only recently has this idea been incorporated into the conceptual and practical framework for the formulation of policies and strategies regarding health. In this Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH), “Addressing Environmental Health Inequalities—Proceedings from the ISEE Conference 2015”, we incorporate nine papers that were presented at the 27th Conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE), held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2015. This small collection of articles provides a brief overview of the different aspects of this topic. Addressing environmental health inequalities is important for the transformation of our reality and for changing the actual development model towards more just, democratic, and sustainable societies driven by another form of relationship between nature, economy, science, and politics.

The Centrality of Philosophical Anthropology to (a Future) Environmental Ethics.

Abstract: While environmental ethics has successfully established itself in philosophy, as presently conceived it is still largely irrelevant to grappling the global ecological crisis because, as Alasdair MacIntyre has argued, ethical philosophy itself is in grave disorder MacIntyre's historically oriented recovery of virtue ethics is defended, but it is argued that even MacIntyre was too constrained by received assumptions to overcome this disorder As he himself realized, his ideas need to be integrated and defended through philosophical anthropology However, it is suggested that current defenders of philosophical anthropology have not done it justice To appreciate its importance it is necessary accept that we are cultural beings in which the core of culture is the conception of what are humans This is presupposed not only in thought but in social practices and forms of life This was understood by Aristotle, but modernity has been straightjacketed by the Seventeenth Century scientific revolution and Hobbes' philosophical anthropology, identifying knowledge and with techno-science and eliminating any place for questioning this conception of humans The only conception of humanity that could successfully challenge and replace Hobbes' philosophical anthropology, it is argued, is Hegel's philosophical anthropology reformulated and developed on naturalistic foundations This involves subordinating science to a reconceived humanities with a fundamentally different role accorded to ethics, placing it at the center of social life, politics and economics and at the centre of the struggle to transform culture and society to create an ecologically sustainable civilization

A cross-disciplinary approach to global environmental health: the case of contaminated sites.

Abstract: Cross-disciplinary approaches to Global Environmental Health are essential to address environmental health threats within and beyond national boundaries, taking into account the links among health, environment and socio-economic development. The aim of this study is to present a cross-disciplinary approach where knowledge and findings from environmental epidemiology and social research are integrated in studying environmental health issues, focusing on environmental health inequities, public and environmental health literacy, and international scientific cooperation. In the case of contaminated sites, environmental epidemiology can contribute investigating the ultidimensionality of equity for sustainable development practices. These practices entail a better understanding of environmental contamination, health effects pathways and improved capacities of different stakeholders to identify policy options for environmental risk prevention, remediation and management that will foster informed participation in decisions influencing communities. International scientific cooperation frameworks adopting equity principles shared by scientific community, populations and decision-makers may be of valuable support to this task.

Ethical Issues in Environmental Health Research Related to Public Health Emergencies: Reflections on the GuLF STUDY

Abstract: Health research in the context of an environmental disaster with implications for public health raises challenging ethical issues. This article explores ethical issues that arose in the Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study (GuLF STUDY) and provides guidance for future research. Ethical issues encountered by GuLF STUDY investigators included a) minimizing risks and promoting benefits to participants, b) obtaining valid informed consent, c) providing financial compensation to participants, d) working with vulnerable participants, e) protecting participant confidentiality, f) addressing conflicts of interest, g) dealing with legal implications of research, and h) obtaining expeditious review from the institutional review board (IRB), community groups, and other committees. To ensure that ethical issues are handled properly, it is important for investigators to work closely with IRBs during the development and implementation of research and to consult with groups representing the community. Researchers should consider developing protocols, consent forms, survey instruments, and other documents prior to the advent of a public health emergency to allow for adequate and timely review by constituents. When an emergency arises, these materials can be quickly modified to take into account unique circumstances and implementation details.

The Evolution of the Concept of Environmental Discourses: Is Environmental Ideologies a Useful Concept?

Abstract: The concept of environmental discourses currently has two distinct meanings in environmental politics. The first approach emphasizes its traditional meaning, as textual and spoken interactions about the environment. The second, more recent approach utilizes the notion of environmental discourses as group worldviews towards the environment. This paper discusses the evolution of the term environmental discourses and the appropriateness of each approach for environmental politics scholarship. This study develops the concept of environmental ideologies as a belief system towards the environment, using the analogy of political ideologies that describes systems of beliefs towards political, social, and economic structures of a society. A formula: environmental discourse = environmental issue environmental ideology allows combining three core concepts of environmental politics: environmental issues come into environmental discourse, and, therefore, into existence as environmental policy problems, through the lens of environmental ideologies.

Logical and Theoretical Foundations of African Environmental Ethics

Abstract: IntroductionA discourse on logical and theoretical foundations of African environmental ethics is important following recent efforts at developing an environmental ethics that bore African spirit or identity. Indeed, the framing of African environmental ethics is timely for three reasons. One, a firm foundation has now been laid for African Philosophy and its contingent disciplines. 1Hence, excited by this, the revolutionary African philosopher, Jonathan Chimakonam (2015b), announces that the time has come for African philosophy to engage the world. Two, the alarming state of ecological crisis in the continent and the cultural biasness of Western environmental ethics makes it imperative to develop an indigenous environmental ethics for Africa. Three, although ecological crisis is a global phenomenon the causes seems to bear cultural markings, in other words, the attitude of man towards the environment seems to vary from culture to culture. This makes it necessary to develop context-relevant ethics to engage the problem.Recognizing these facts, African Scholars began developing culturally relevant environmental ethics to deal with the problem in the context of Africa. No doubt their efforts are welcome development. However, there is need to rest the feet of African environmental ethics on sound logical and firmly established theoretical premises.Definition of ConceptsAfrican Environmental Ethics: In this study, I adopted the definition provided by Chigbo Ekwealor (2012) that "African environmental ethics deals with the fundamental principle that govern the relationship between man and the environment based on African worldview" by analyzing the basic concepts such as man, environment, spirit, et cetera and examines the approaches by which they are known (p.91). In other words, the main thrust of African environmental ethics is to understand the ontology of man within the context of an environment he shares with non-humans (including spirits) and reveal the relational order that (ought to) govern being-in-the-world.Anthropocentrism: The view that humans are the only or primary holders of moral standing. It is the belief that considers humans beings to be the most significant entities in the universe and interprets the reality in terms of human values. Anthropocentrism holds that every non-human entity is designed to serve human interests exclusively.Biocentrism: The view that life is central to being, reality and the cosmos, point of view that places the greatest importance on individual living beings or biological components of the environment rather than on the geological elements. It does not consider non-living things or abiotic aspects of the environment as important as living beings.Ecocentrism: The nature-centred perspective that places intrinsic values on all living and nonliving components of the environment. It attributes equal importance to biological and geological aspects of the environment. Unlike biocentrism that concerns with individual living members of the environment, ecocentrism focuses on the ecosystems as a holistic whole.Pentecostalism: The Christian movement that believe in spiritual giftedness, divine healing, demonic possession of beings and deliverance.Charismaticism: The Christian movement that emphasizes talents held to be conferred by holyspirit, such talents as speaking in tongues and miraculous healing. They also believe in deliverance from demonic possession of beings.Causes of Ecological Crisis in AfricaThe phenomenon of environmental crisis in Africa can be traced to three broad dimensions - economic, social and political. From the economic dimension, poverty can be identified as the cause of ecological crisis in Africa; from the social dimension, religious bigotry and ignorance can be identified; and from the political dimension, dysfunctional leadership or bad governance can be identified.Economic Cause:Poverty is perhaps the most endemic problem in Africa. …

Preventive Ethics Through Expanding Education

Abstract: Healthcare institutions have been making increasing efforts to standardize consultation methodology and to accredit both bioethics training programs and the consultants accordingly. The focus has traditionally been on the ethics consultation as the relevant unit of ethics intervention. Outcome measures are studied in relation to consultations, and the hidden assumption is that consultations are the preferred or best way to address day-to-day ethical dilemmas. Reflecting on the data from an internal quality improvement survey and the literature, we argue that having general ethics education as a key function of ethics services may be more important in meeting the contemporaneous needs of acute care settings. An expanded and varied ethics education, with attention to the time constraints of healthcare workers’ schedules, was a key recommendation brought forward by survey respondents. Promoting ethical reflection and creating a culture of ethics may serve to prevent ethical dilemmas or mitigate their effects.

African Environmental Ethics and the Poverty of Eco-Activism in Nigeria: A Hermeneutico-Reconstructionist Appraisal

Abstract: Discourse on the possibility and necessity of an African environmental ethics is widespread in contemporary African studies, albeit with new dimensions and emphasis. With the growing work of such scholars as S. Ogungbemi, A. Fadahunsi, G. Tangwa, P. Ojomo, C.J. Ekwealo, and W. Kelbessa, among others exploring (in different ways) the thesis of indigenous African environmental values and principles which are considered sacrosanct in the restoration of humans and the environment in Africa, it is less controversial whether or not there is awareness of environmental ethical thinking among Africans. Beyond this theoretical polemic, the present essay observes the paucity of environmental activism and movements in Nigeria, whose underlying principles and tenets are seen to be incongruent with the ostensible African environmental ethics and values. This lacuna, it is here argued, aligns with the failure to match theory with praxis in many African states—the problem of wrong prioritizing and a conceptually deficient framework for action. This essay accordingly questions some previous outlines of African ethical environmental theory, with a view to establishing a cogent hermeneutico-reconstructive theory of African environmental management, one that gives prominence to ethical theorizing without neglecting activism.

Democracy, Rights, Community: Examining Ethical Frameworks for Federal Public Health Emergency Response

Abstract: Public health emergencies like the H1N1 pandemic and the recent response to Ebola highlight the challenge that public health officials face when balancing protection of the public with upholding constitutional and ethical principles. Analyses of the report of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues and of ethics documents produced by the Ethics Subcommittee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before and after H1N1 revealed the presence of, and correlations between, three ethical frameworks. The findings indicate the power of the collective voice in public health emergencies and the vital importance of democratic participation and deliberation in better preparing the United States for future emergencies.

A brief overview of the moral responsibility of individual in environmental ethics

Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate whether individuals are morally responsible for protecting the environment and maintaining of this protection in the face of environmental problems. There are descriptions of the concept of responsibility in different disciplines. But here responsibility, will tried to be explained in the context of existentialism, based on its aspect which holds people accountable for their behavior. In order to be able to make this review, the discipline of environmental ethics and its approaches, which try to reveal the underlying reasons of environmental problems and to solve them, will be used.

Design for Healthcare Sustainability: Ethical implications of eco-design research

Abstract: The growing interest in environmental sustainability is the result of a new cultural awareness focused on the holistic conceptions of wellbeing and justice. However, this attention is also moved by economic considerations. The increasing awareness of the environmental impacts of medical treatments is a prompting example: the optimization of resource consumption and the reduction of wastes can lead to huge economic and environmental benefits. However, sustainable solutions might arise problems with regard to the patients' well- being. When talking about eco-sustainability, the ethics of design is usually considered as implicit; however this carries the risk of not being able to create a system that is ethically right. This study aimed to examine a practice-based approach to ethics in design projects addressing environmental sustainability in the healthcare field. Combining different theoretical approaches from bioethics, environmental and design ethics, this research determined a set of practical guidelines for the implementation and assessment of ethics into design practice. We investigated the responsibilities of design towards all the stakeholders involved, on the basis of the Bivins' bioethical obligation items. Then, the ethical implications were analysed by the definition of possible scenarios, starting from the Triple Bottom Line theory. Starting from these scenarios, the design team was involved in internal brainstorming sessions to define the personal motivations and ethical limits within the project. This enabled the creation of a detailed set of guidelines in the form of open questions. This approach has been applied to a case study on hemodialysis sustainability, that allowed to test this ethical approach

Environmental Ethics An Introduction To Environmental Philosophy

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What is the future of ethics teaching in the environmental sciences

Abstract: The article begins with the interaction between scientific knowledge, environmentalism and society, demonstrating how, at the beginning of the environmental movement, the scientific arguments of ecological science served as ethical justification for reporting the causes of environmental degradation. Subsequently, the environmental sciences encompassed the knowledge of human, social, political and economic ecology in which the central question is not the pure denunciation, but the proposals of solutions to the environmental crisis. The environmental knowledge of human and social sciences lead to greater ethical implications because they underlie moral positions. Thus, a question arises: what is a suitable model of ethics for the environmental sciences? There are three models: weak anthropocentrism, mitigated biocentrism, and global biocentrism or ecocentrism. The last seems more consistent with ecology, because it puts the ethical emphasis on the preservation of interdependent sets of living beings. Bearing in mind the environmental science and the resulting model of ethics, what are the objectives of the teaching of ethics in the context of environmental science? Such teaching needs to include emotional and cognitive oriented goals because they are related both to the learning of skills to analyse different situations and to the awakening of ethical sensitivity to critically reflect upon them.

View Points of an Ecologist on Practical Environmental Ethic: Socioecology, Common-Pool Resources and Conservation.

Abstract: The paper centers on environmental practical ethic point of views according to a professional ecologist. Ecology and the science of Socio-ecology are defined. The framework of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment initiative (MA 2003), including the use of ecosystems as the environmental unit of analysis, ecosystem services and human well-being as the center for assessment are discussed. Common-pool resources (CPR) and the allegory of the tragedy of the commons are used to illustrate main scientific and ethical environmental approaches, and above all to highlight the case of climate change, considering ″air-atmosphere″ as a CPR. The need to adopt practical personal environmental ethical positions is highlighted. Furthermore, on climate change, a discussion on the need to develop environmental and socio-ecological polycentric approaches: top-down and bottom-up, is included. An updated discussion on the concept of conservation, including main scientific and ethic points of view, is presented. Pope Francis's Encyclical, Laudato Si', is used to highlight environmental, socio-ecological and ethical aspects behind the comprehensive concept of Integral Ecology. The paper ends with a short synthesis on Earth modern unseen and astonishing environmental and socio-ecological rates of changes, and identifying the main barriers for personal environmental engagement. A call is done regarding the urgent need for socio-environmental ethic personal engagement and collective actions.

Essential Cases in the Development of Public Health Ethics

Abstract: While “public health” has been defined as what society does to “assure the conditions for people to be healthy” (Institute of Medicine 2003, xi), public health ethics is a “systematic process to clarify, prioritize, and justify possible courses of public health action based on ethical principles, values and beliefs of stakeholders, and scientific and other information” (Schools of Public Health Application Service 2013). Despite several important characteristics that distinguish public health from clinical medicine, from the beginning, public health ethics borrowed heavily from clinical ethics and research ethics (see Chap. 1). In the 1980s, with the onset of the AIDS epidemic and unprecedented advances in biomedicine, the inability of clinical ethics to accommodate the ethical challenges in public health from existing frameworks led pioneering ethicists to reframe and adapt clinical ethics from an individual and autonomy focused approach to one that better reflected the tension between individual rights and the health of a group or population (Bayer et al. 1986; Beauchamp 1988; Kass 2001; Childress et al. 2002; Upshur 2002). Others called for public health ethics to emphasize relational ethics and political philosophy (Jennings 2007). More recently, some authors have suggested outlining foundational values from which operating principles for public health ethics can be articulated only after careful consideration of the goals and purpose of public health. This approach would require us to establish a clear definition of the moral endeavor of public health as a field (Lee 2012) and construct an ethical framework stemming from the nature of it (Dawson 2011).

International Society for Environmental Ethics

Abstract: The ISEE Listserv is a forum for serious discussion of environmental ethics and to disseminate information quickly to your colleagues. To subscribe, send email to: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU, with the entire body of the message reading: SUBSCRIBE ISEE-L. You should then receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your participation. As soon as you follow the instructions in that email, you will be subscribed to the list. Questions, contact Gary Varner at gary@philosophy.tamu.edu.

Environmental Challenges Facing Public Health in 2016

Abstract: Since the origin of academic Schools of Public Health in the 19th century, the study of our environment has been part of the public health research agenda and our teaching curriculum. In the first few months of this year, the importance of environmental health and toxicology has again come to the fore in public health debate through major public health challenges to water supplies and the environment. This year, it is the 110th anniversary of the 1906 publication of Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, which described pollution and contamination in the Chicago meatworks. This book led to an expansion of food hygiene in Schools of Public Health, the enactment of food safety law in the United States, and the beginning of the Food and Drug Administration.1-3 This novel is a “must read” for all public health academics and students, as among other things it shows the power of the printed word.1 More recently, scandal has erupted in the neighboring state to Chicago, in Flint, Michigan, where a contaminated water supply has exposed many to high levels of lead and other toxins. Rosner has highlighted a long history of social environmental and public health problems that have best the community of Flint.4 The recent water contamination in Flint, Michigan, has shown no society is exempt from environmental hazards when costs are cut or profits maximized at the expense of public health. As the world population continues to grow and standards of development rise, the range of chemicals that we are potentially exposed to continues to increase. Highly toxic chemicals can remain in use for many decades despite continuing morbidity and mortality. Paraquat is a highly efficient, but deadly herbicide that is banned in Europe, but still widely used in Asia.5 A tiny amount ingested causes an agonizing death by lung fibrosis.6 Another herbicide that continues to engender controversy is glyphosate, which was classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a carcinogen in 2015.7 Since much of the world’s food supply depends on this product, the decision was reviewed by other organizations, including the European Food Safety Organisation. The latter declared the product to be safe, but was criticized for only including 6 industry-funded studies in its review.8 The classification of glyphosate continues to produce controversy.9 The use of chemicals in our environment has led to research demonstrating that some are endocrine disrupters, and there is concern about the long-term effects of exposure of children on health and even a possible role in the etiology of obesity.10,11

Environmental Ethics and Responsibility

Abstract: This paper resumes a previous discussion on Environmental Ethics and Irreversibility, which was presented in 2005. There I first faced the problem. Now I would like to reevaluate the issue. Was my paper “catastrophist”? Or was it, instead, realistic? Which are today the main issues confronting Environmental Ethics? Plainly speaking, what can we really do? These are some of the questions I would like to bring in to the debate with my colleagues and the public. In other words, instead of focusing in the aspect of “irreversibility”, I prefer here to focus on the “responsibility” of agents and institutions. It rescues the so-called “Principle of Responsibility”, by Hans Jonas. There is also some debate with Karl-Otto Appel and Habermas. If, on one hand, there are irreversible damages to nature, as the extinction of species and even of natural locations, as rivers and other natural accidents, there are, on the other hand, many actions that can and must be taken in order to preserve or deter the grave consequences of the environmental degradation. In this paper, I try to discuss some of the problems and propose some solutions, but the more important thing is to call everyone – individuals, groups, or institutions – to responsibility face the Earth, the Human and not-human beings, and mainly the future generations.