HON351
Spring Semester 2008
Study Sheet
Environmentalism as Ideology/Ideology Wrap Up
"The Earth and the fullness of it belongs to every generation, and the preceding one can have no right to bind it up from posterity."
Adam Smith, 1766, Lecture on Jurisprudence
Reading Assignment:
Ball and Dagger, ch. 9 (chapter 11 optional)
Herschel Elliott and Richard Lamm, "A Moral Code for a Finite World," Chronicle of Higher Education, November 15, 2002, pp. B7-B9
Optional articles
Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons"
Kenneth Boulding, "Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth"
Bill McKibben, "Reversal of Fortune," Mother Jones, March/April 2007
IPCC, "Climate Change 2007: The Synthesis Report," (Summary for Policymakers)
Websites (optional):
Environmental Performance Index (rankings of nations)
Wikopedia, Green Parties Worldwide
Negative Population Growth (Advertisements)
Questions to consider in reading Ball and Dagger's chapter 9:
1. What is the relevance of the concepts collective action and free rider for preservation of the environment?
2. What are the basic elements of an "ecological ethic" as defined by Ball and Daggar?
3. What are the differences between the various green ideologies?
4. What is the relationship of green ideologies to other ideologies studied thus far?
Questions to consider while reading the article by Elliott and Lamm
5. What concerns to the authors have about the relationship the Earth's human population and its natural environment?
6. What type of moral code do the authors believe is appropriate for the modern world?