Università Roma Tre

We shall be discussing what are the ethical concerns raised by global warming, what the environment means and why that should be our concern. The world as we know it, characterized by great economic uncertainty, financial insecurity, dramatic levels of inequality both within and among countries, fast-paced technological progress, stratified and sometimes contradictory legal requirements and weak global institutions led to the rampant environmental crisis we live in. Environmental Ethics raises questions about a host of widely diverse issues: global warming, animal ethics, carbon emissions, the accountability of individuals and institutions, intergenerational justice, the galloping technological development and the overall sustainability - ecological, economic, and social - of current production and consumption patterns. This course will provide the basic ecology and environmental ethics concepts, and their relationship with globalization and society. This class will analyze the ethical problems of globalization and the impact in the ecosystems and environment. Topics that will be included are social responsibility, demography, sustainable development, contemporary eco-social crisis. Participants will overview the different solutions for globalization, environment and the social responsibility. By the end of the course, the students are expected to understand and articulate the fundamental ethical and cultural values at stake in environmental questions, as well as the history and diversity of the general frameworks out of which those values arise. Additionally, they will be expected to have good knowledge of real case scenarios in which environmental ethics is particularly relevant -from GMOs to pollution- and their connection to the socio-political contexts in which they take place globally.


Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

Categorize variables leading to a defined environmental ethics situation.

Properly identify cultural models and philosophical variables explaining the current environmental crisis.

Quantify the impact of “ethical approaches.”

Set realistic strategies under a well-defined context.

Evaluate objectively and subjectively the impact of the selected alternative strategy. "