Environmental Ethics

There are many great environmental ethics research paper topics that one can explore. Paper Masters outlines a few choices for research and books about environmental ethics for you to choose from or use your own environmental issue to have one of our science writers write your paper.

This is a topic suggestion on Environmental Ethics from Paper Masters. Use this topic or order a custom research paper, written exactly how you need it to be.

Topic Suggestions for Research Papers on Environmental Ethics

1. Write a research paper discussing, in your ownwords, the cost-benefit analysis in relation to social ecology in the following:
   1. "The Creation of Property", written by John Locke
   2. "Why DoSpecies Matter", written by Lilly-Marlene Russow.
   3. "Why SpeciesMatter", written by Holmes Rolston III.
   4. "Patenting Life", written by Claudia Mills.
2. Write an environmental ethics research paper discussing, in your own words, the connection between corporate responsibility and food production/consumption in the following:
   1. "Consumption and theEnvironment", written by Herman E. Daly- found in the The Ethics ofConsumption, Report from the Institute for Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol.15, No. 4.
   2. "Consumption as a Theme in the North-South Dialouge",written by Luis N. Camacho found in the The Ethics of Consumption, Report fromthe Institute for Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 15, No. 4.
   3. "The Case That the World Has Reached Limits", written by Robert Goodland
3. Write an environmental ethics research paper discussing the effects of activism on global resource consumption and utilization inthe following:
   1. "Strategic Monkeywrenching", written by Dave Foreman.
   2. "An Apologia for Activism: Global Responsibility, Ethical Advocacy, andEnvironmental Problems", written by Kristen Shrader-Frechette.
   3. "Involuntary Simplicity: Changing Dysfunctional Habits of Consumption" written by Guy Claxton.

Personal Environmental Ethics Writing and Reflection

Consider the individual, and the impact a single person, through their own ethic, can have on the environment. One might begin with the adage, "tread lightly." If everyone, on an individual basis, were to decide to use as little, to waste as little, to damage as little as possible during his or her time on this planet, the overall stress placed on the environment by mankind would be reduced greatly.

Every day of our lives is a series of choices, and in many cases, we can opt for the least environmentally damaging of the available options. We can walk to work, ride a bike or take public transportation. If there is no choice but to drive, we still can take a small and energy efficient vehicle rather than an SUV.

We can chose the vendors we do business with, opting for the environmentally aware cleaner, the restaurant that does not use polystyrene containers, the printer that uses recycled paper. We can recycle ourselves, and encourage our relatives and neighbors to do the same. We can teach our children about the challenges faced by the environment and encourage them to become responsible adults.

On a broader level, we can use our personal finances both to protect the environment and to encourage the businesses we work with to do the same. Rather than picking the investment fund that we think will maximize our investment, we can chose one that will do well but one that also has a policy of investing only in businesses with good environmental records. We can put our money only in environmentally responsible companies and congratulate them on their programs. At the same time, we can take our investments out of, and our businesses away from, companies with poor environmental records and let them know why they are losing our business.

If we can afford to make charitable donations, we can make contributions to environmental organizations. We can check into the environmental records of those running for office, and make our decisions based, in part, on those records. We also can contact those politicians and let them know why we will, or will not, be supporting them. And between elections, we can contact all elected officials regularly and encourage them to act in an environmentally responsible manner. And we can be active on the local level by going to town meetings, participating in local environmental action groups, volunteering to help clean up the park or help run the local recycling post.

An individual's environmental ethic is both a profoundly personal and a public, political choice. One must do what is right for oneself, but without being selfish. Running for office on an environmental platform is not for everyone. But it is the appropriate choice for those able to do it. To act ethically in the environmental realm is do to everything within one's power to protect the environment, to do so consistently, and to encourage others to do the same.