CSU Graduates in Env Ethics & Animal Welfare (1993-2014)

Graduate Work in Environmental Ethics and Animal Welfare in CSU Philosophy Department

J. Douglas Daigle completed an M.A. thesis, The Role of a Planetary Narrative in Environmental Ethics. Spring 1993. Narrative forms the larger unitary framework in which we can best understand nature and the human place in nature, with a sense of present crisis in the planetary story. The concluding chapter is on oceans interpreted as the common heritage of humankind and their role in contributing to a sense of global history. Doug first worked for Pacific Environment and Resources Center, Sausalito, California, and later held a position with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 200 Lafayette Street, Suite 500, Baton Rouge, LA 70801-1203.

Leann Foster completed an M.A. thesis, The Self in Environmental Philosophy: Identification, Intrinsic Value and an Ecology of Self and Nature. Spring 1994. The deep ecological concept of self is compared and contrasted with the environmental ethical concept of self. Deep ecologists, such as Warwick Fox and Freya Mathews, expand the self into an identification with the whole, while environmental ethicists, such as Holmes Rolston, maintain a sense of others, centers of intrinsic value in the nonhuman natural world, who are morally considerable as others, differentiated from one's own self, and to whom one has duties of respect. Nevertheless the deep ecologists can find a place for pluralism and Rolston's ethic is based as much on love as it is on duty. Both ways of thinking are contrasted with the traditional concept of the autonomous self, represented by Kant. Leann graduated from the University of Vermont Law School, May 1998, and practiced environmental law in Trenton, New Jersey, with the firm Giordano, Halleran and Ciesla. She published "Wild Lands and System Values: Our Legal Accountability to Wilderness," Vermont Law Review 22 (no. 4, Summer, 1998):917-951. Now Leann Foster-Sitar, she later became Policy Director, American Littoral Society, Sandy Hook, Highlands, NJ, doing coastal conservation.

Marguerite S. E. Forest completed an M.A. thesis, Ought and Can in Environmental Ethics: Ethical Extensionism and Moral Development. Summer 1992. Extending the range of moral concern from humans to animals to plants to ecosystems is compared with stages in moral development. The position of J. Baird Callicott fails because the full sequence of stages has not been developed. Lawrence Kohlberg's concept of justice is inadequate because it is anthropocentric and not holistic and ecosystemic. Carol Gilligan's caring orientation integrates the needed holistic environmental ethics and the more advanced moral stages. Originally from South Africa, Marguerite, was formerly Grace Bell. She later completed a Ph.D. in geography at the University of Oregon, 2001. She taught at the University of Wisconsin- River Falls, then did GIS work on Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, where she had done her dissertation on environmental alteration. She later had a position at Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL, teaching as well as doing environmental education in southwest Florida, with a focus on what regional nature centers are teaching in terms of animal consciousness and animal rights.

Jeanne-Marie Bartas completed an M.A. thesis, A Tale of the Starry Heavens Above and the Moral Law Within: Kant's Ethicaesthetic Theory. Summer 1992. The standard interpretations of Kantian ethics focus on the early ethical writings, portraying the theory as a formalistic, rigoristic ethics of rules. The later Kant conjoins the sensible and rational aspects of human beings, and, consequently, his ethics is more appropriately portrayed as a virtue-duty-based, substantive moral code. Kant’s aesthetic theory is one way in which Kant supports his later view on ethics. There emerges in Kant a doubly positive feedback loop between ethics and aesthetics through sensible and metaphysical limits, unified by the imagination. Using thisethicaesthetic theory, I give meaning to a Kantian Commonwealth of Ends, and show practical applications. Bernard Rollin was the advisor. Jeanne was in the Peace Corps in Africa, and later completed a graduate program in environmental chemistry.

Christopher J. Preston completed an M.A. thesis, Reintegration with Nature: Against Dualist Metaphysics. Fall 1992. Cartesian metaphysics separates humans from nature. Both environmental philosophy and environmental science (especially Barbara McClintock) offer possibilities for metaphysical reintegration with nature. Christopher, who is from England, completed a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Oregon, with a thesis entitled: Epistemology and Environment: The Greening of Belief, 1998. Preston published "Epistemology and Intrinsic Values," Environmental Ethics 20(1998):409-428. There he argues that J. Baird Callicott's and Bryan Norton's claims that objective intrinsic value in nature are problematic because they are based on a foundationalist and a realist epistemology are misplaced. Holmes Rolston's position remains plausible, although further philosophical work on intrinsic value needs to be done. In the summers he has worked on an Alaska fishing boat that is also on standby alert for oil spills. He taught philosophy at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and is now at the University of Montana. Preston published Grounding Knowledge: Environmental Philosophy, Epistemology, and Place (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2003) and Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston III (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2009), an intellectual biography of Holmes Rolston.

Brenda Kay Hausauer completed an M.A. thesis, Philosophical and Literary Methodology: Holmes Rolston's Literary Philosophical Methods. Spring 1993. The differences between nature writing and environmental philosophy, comparing writer Annie Dillard and philosopher Holmes Rolston. All philosophical texts should be partially evaluated as artistic works. Rolston's more "non-philosophical" and literary texts are examined for the blending of appeal to experience and to argument. Rolston's non-philosophical, literary methods raise questions which could help reconceive philosophy's traditional methodology. Hausauer revised and published ideas from her thesis as “Words Gone Wild: Language in Rolston’s Philosophy of Nature,” in Christopher J. Preston and Wayne Ouderkirk, eds. Nature, Value, Duty: Life on Earth with Holmes Rolston, III (Dordrecht: Springer, 2007), pp. 143-165. Hausauer worked temporarily with an urban and environmental consulting firm promoting recycling in Boston, MA. She and Les Blomberg took a joint position with the Vermont Public Service Department rewriting their state energy plan, with an analysis of principles, policy, ethics, and operations, working out of Montpelier, Vermont. Since then Blomberg has taken the position indicated below.

Les Blomberg completed an M.A. thesis, From Labor to Recreation: The Role of Non-Alienating Wilderness Recreation. Fall 1993. Increased productivity from labor using advanced technology and modern capitalization can result in more free time from labor, although, in present economic emphases, the usual result is continued labor and more productivity, with an escalating need to consume what is produced. This produces alienation. Such free time can more meaningfully be put to recreational uses, including appreciation of the natural world, and one especially important area is wilderness recreation. Here one is removed from the technology-production-consumption mode for re- creation in the context of creation. In this respect, wilderness recreation has interesting similarities to the traditional concept of the Sabbath. Blomberg and Brenda Hausauer took joint positions with the Vermont Public Service Department rewriting their state energy plan, with an analysis of principles, policy, ethics, and operations, out of Montpelier, Vermont. Blomberg is now Director of the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, Montpelier, Vermont.

Blomberg is featured in an article, "Noise Busters," in the Smithsonian magazine, March 2001. "So think of Les Blomberg as the brainy, physics-savvy, but vincible, protector of the noise oppressed. Think of him as that limited-budget battler of rogue sound waves, Dr. Decibel!"

Lyanda Haupt completed an M.A. thesis, Bridging the Gaps: Theory and Practice in Radical Environmental Activism. Fall 1993. Radical environmentalism lacks a coherent philosophical basis, and the deep ecology to which it appeals is unable to supply such a grounding. Much activist practice is undertaken haphazardly and often undermines its own goals and proves self-defeating. The Chipko movement and the Redwood Summer events offer more promise of a successful, non-violent methodology that is well grounded philosophically. Haupt has published a short paper, "Scientists in Conservation Activism," Conservation Biology 9(1995):691-693.

Stephen N. Martin completed an M.A. thesis, The Moral Status and Well-Being of Animals: Extremes in Animal Rights and Environmental Ethics. Summer 1986. Although both animal rights and environmental ethics oppose the anthropocentric morality that has traditionally dominated ethical theory, their bases of opposition are significantly different. An animal rights ethic expands the previously human moral community, and is prepared to manipulate natural processes for the benefit of the human and animal community. The ethic is individualistic. The well-being of the community aggregates the well-being of individuals. An environmental ethic is systemic, holistic, and entities and individuals are parts in this larger whole. Natural processes are of value, and not to be manipulated for the benefit of individuals. An analysis of the extremes of each position finds quite different ideologies. Although they sometimes share common goals, the proposed solutions of each ideology are meaningfully different.

Martin completed a Ph.D. in geography at the University of Florida, 1999, a study of differing human perceptions of risk in natural threats (hurricanes) and in human-caused threats (pollution from a pulp mill) in a Florida coastal county. He later took a position teaching geography and environmental ethics at Florida State University, Tallahassee.

Katharine E. Rawles completed an M.A. thesis, Animal Welfare and Environmental Ethics. Fall 1990. Environmental ethics and animal welfare are not as antithetical as portrayed in J. Baird Callicott's "triangular affair," but an environmental ethics includes a concern for animal welfare, when animal welfare is appropriately understood. Kate later completed a Ph.D. at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and held a teaching position at the University of Lancaster, teaching philosophy, including environmental ethics. She has published a number of papers in environmental ethics and animal welfare. She was later an Honorary Research Fellow, University of Lancaster, and has been a "free-lance outdoor philosopher" in the English Lake District.

Randall S. Rosenberger completed an M.A. degree in philosophy with a field concentration (non-thesis degree) in agricultural and environmental ethics, fall 1992. He has since continued in agricultural and resource economics and completed his Ph.D. degree in the CSU Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Spring 1996. His thesis was: The Economic Value of Ranch Open Space: Efficiency and Equity Implications. He took a position as Assistant Professor, Forest Resources, Oregon State University, Corvallis.

Daniel M. Cowdin completed an M.A. thesis, Environmental Ethics and the Relationship between Human and Nonhuman Values. Spring 1986. An adequate ethic concerning humankind’s relationship to the non-human world must articulate the full range of human and non-human values involved. Past ethics have tended to gravitate toward one polar extreme or the other. This results in an inadequate ethical paradigm. A tentative skeleton for a more comprehensive approach is put forward, affirming preservation, transformation, and use of nature in their positive aspects and limiting each in their negative aspects. This involves seven principles and weighting between the principles. The last person on Earth test is then revisited.

Cowdin went on to complete a Ph.D. at Yale University Divinity School, later taught at the Catholic University of America, Department of Theology, and after that took a position teaching religious studies at Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island.

Matthew J. McKinney completed an M.A. thesis, Wildlands Valuation and Decision Making. Spring 1984. A philosophical analysis of the values at stake in wildlands conservation and some principles for political decision-making that incorporate these principles. McKinney went on to complete a Ph.D. in natural resources at the University of Michigan, and was for ten years Director of the Montana Consensus Council for Mediating Environmental Disputes, a conflict resolution agency for the State of Montana, Helena. He later became Senior Lecturer, School of Law, University of Montana, Helena. He is an author of: Harmon, William J., Matthew J. McKinney, James A. and Burchfield, "Public Involvement and Dispute Resolution Courses in Natural Resources Schools," Journal of Forestry 97(no.9, Sept. 1999):17-23.

Randy Larsen completed an M.A. thesis, Environmental Virtue Ethics: Nature as Polis. Spring 1996. Virtue ethics, developing the Aristotelian tradition, has promise for environmental ethics, although Aristotle's list of virtues needs to be supplemented with environmental ones. "Tenacity" can serve environmentalists, avoiding extremes of "apathy" and "obsession," finding a balance between the existential experience of nature and advocacy for environmental conservation. John Muir is an example of a successful holder of this environmental virtue. Larsen later became the host on a radio talk show, "Eco-Talk," on station KZFR serving the area around Chico, California, also syndicated on the Pacifica Radio Network with 67 radio stations in 27 states. Larsen also taught environmental ethics at Chico State College, Chico, California.

Dan Evans completed an M.A. thesis on the choice of scientific theories in the work of Thomas Kuhn. Fall 1995, and was simultaneously enrolled at the University of Colorado, Boulder in a degree course in ecology, focusing on conservation biology.

Andy Braks completed an M.A. thesis, Aristotle's Primary Substance: The Bio-Platonic Motivations behind Metaphysics Z and H. Fall 1997. Aristotle stood in the legacy of Plato, but has much more interest in biology. His thought develops and for him, in the Metaphysics, primary substances are species forms, they define concrete individual substances, although in Aristotle's earlier thought in the Categories substances are primarily individuals. But Aristotle is unable to entertain ideas similar to modern evolutionary ideas. His biological species-forms are essentially unchanging and perpetually instantiated by a never-failing succession of living individuals. Andy lives in Spokane, Washington, and has done teaching at Spokane Falls Community College and Gonzaga University.

Ronald Godzinski, Jr., completed an M.A. thesis, Hume's Emotivism and Callicott's Environmental Ethic. Fall 1997. J. Baird Callicott's environmental ethics is founded on David Hume's moral epistemology. Hume has problems with the is/ought fallacy, which Callicott believes he can overcome with the model of environmental health. But making a rational appeal to persons to act ethically because they are motivated by environmental health is more complex than Callicott realizes. Further, Hume is either a subjectivist or an emotivist in ethics, and both views have been subjected to severe criticisms. Callicott's environmental ethics needs to face these criticisms. In fact, Callicott's whole line of reasoned argument in defense of ecosystems and duties to conservation is not really permissible, if Callicott really follows Hume, who does not concede the power of reason to motivate behavior. Godzinski completed a Ph.D. program at the University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale and took a position teaching philosophy at Minnesota State Community and Technical College, Fergus Falls, MN.

Sandra Kay Woodson completed an M.A. thesis, Callicott's Criteria for Environmental Ethics and Advaita Vedanta. Summer 1998. Callicott, in Earth Insights, claims that Indian Advaita Vedanta, is too world-denying to be useful as a foundation for environmental ethics. But, especially if one considers authors other than Sankara, this need not be so. Advaita Vedanta can be more world-affirming, finding a sense of the sacred infusing all things, and this can serve, at least for Indians, as a basis of an environmental ethic. The principal advisor was Ron Williams. Woodson completed a further graduate program in creative writing and environmental literature at the University of Montana. She later taught freshman composition at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, a course entitled "Nature and Human Values," which combined environmental ethics with composition.

Jo Ann Hedleston completed an M. A. thesis, The Origins of the Animal Husbandry Ethic. Summer 1998. A historical account of the animal husbandry ethic as found in British and American culture. Hedleston deals in particular with the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson as the author of the American agrarian dream, with attention to the influence on the Christian tradition of the utilitarian ethic of Frances Hutcheson. Modern ideas of kindness to animals come from the social humanitarian movement in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The idea is transformed from the ethics that we ought not to be cruel to animals because it might lead in turn to cruel treatment of humans into a new ethics that claims that we ought to be kind to animals because they are sensitive creatures with a value of their own beyond that of human use. Comparisons with contemporary theological defenders of animal rights. Hedleston teaches as a part-time instructor in philosophy at Colorado State University.

Kara Lee Lamb completed an M.A. thesis, From Philosophy to Policy: Is There a Missing Link in Environmental Ethics? Summer 1998. Environmental ethics is often thought to restrict permissible environmental activities by introducing various duties, responsibilities, and prohibitions with which environmental policy and the public must comply. Rather, environmental ethics can and ought enlighten policy by providing a more adequate philosophical grounding in value for legislation. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), though it requires an Environmental Impact Statement, leaves deeper value questions untouched, and leaves agencies with conflicting goals often at cross purposes. Environmental ethics can clarify these value questions. Despite its many insights, however, environmental ethics itself contains conceptual conflicts which reduce its capacity effectively to link with environmental policy. Three proposals for making environmental ethics more effective are based on the work of Val Plumwood, Paul Taylor, and Holmes Rolston. Lamb took a position with the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation interpreting environmental policy to the public and overseeing the public participation process in evaluating that policy.

Lance Johnson completed an M. A. thesis, Philosophical Problems in the Evaluation of Genetic Engineering. December 1998. Analysis of the ethical models that are used to consider the moral import of genetic engineering: a "scientific naysayer" model and an "intrinsically wrong model." There are difficulties in assessing the potential effects of genetically engineered organisms released into the environment. This is demonstrated with a case study, a genetically modified canola (Brassica nigra), widely used and a plant with numerous wild relatives. Virus resistant plants are a special concern; genetically engineered microorganisms are another. Two potential ethical difficulties: (1) Genetically engineered organisms may be unique enough not to model analogously to wild species. (2) Human activities disturbing the environment may invite invasive species problems. Non-genetically engineered aggressive weedy species that humans have introduced are already a quite serious problem. Users seeking commercial benefits are likely to underestimate the risks of harms. The thesis advisor was Holmes Rolston. Johnson later completed his teaching certificate in secondary school science at Metro State College, Denver, a post-baccalaureate certification. He was several years the supervisor of Inverness Water and Sanitation District, a subdivision of the Colorado state water authority, in the metro Denver area.

Francoise Delehanty completed an M.A. thesis, The Metaphysics of Wildness and its Ethical Implications. Spring 1999. "Wildness" is the universal essence of matter, shared by all natural entities such as rocks, plants, and animals. Original, universal wildness generates dynamic relations and drives evolution. Natural objects are like individual leaves of a tree, but the sap is essential wildness, manifest in variant forms of individuality. This metaphysics of wildness generates an environmental ethics. Humans ought to recover this wildness, both in themselves and by establishing connections with the earth. This thesis elaborates what Thoreau suggested aphoristically: "In wildness is the preservation of the world." This is also an insight for which deep ecology is striving. The thesis advisor was Donald Crosby.

Molly McDonald Yandell completed an M.A. thesis, Conflict and Consensus in Environmental Ethics and Policy. Summer 1999. Bryan Norton's convergence hypothesis states that a consensus among environmentalists is emerging at the most basic level of policy formation, regardless of the diversity of value concerns. This consensus, Norton believes, is capable of healing the fragmented environmental movement and producing environmental policy that will better protect the natural world. The aim of this thesis is to give evidence for the accuracy of Norton's convergence hypothesis. I begin by contrasting John Muir and Gifford Pinchot in order to illustrate the traditional divide that has separated environmentalists into two camps. In the second chapter, I compare the viewpoints of Warwick Fox and E.O. Wilson in order to demonstrate that even with starkly different values, it is possible for environmentalists to agree on basic policy goals. Finally, I argue that Holmes Rolston, III and Bryan Norton also have similar policy goals, regardless of the fact that they do not share the same values. The advisor was Holmes Rolston.

Kathy Ann Stepien completed an M.A. thesis, Does an Ecological Self Need an Environmental Ethics? An Analysis and Critique of Warwick Fox's Deep Ecology. Fall 1999. Warwick Fox's interpretation of the deep ecological position takes Self-realization as the fundamental norm, a self essentially interconnected with all other entities, and contrasted with a tripartite conception of the self in traditional accounts. Fox rejects the need for environmental ethics, as a result of his expanded sense of self. The self's behavior is internally motivated, not externally regulated. Stepien argues that this is a mistake; rather a deep ecological ethics is in fact needed, offering much-needed moral reasoning to the expanded self, making difficult decisions in the real world. Rejected environmental ethics is reaffirmed, enabling the moral development of the expanded self, seeking to care in a complex world. The advisor was Holmes Rolston. Stepien, who is also a physical therapist, lived in Alaska in a cabin outside Juneau (where she drank the water that ran off her roof into a cistern) and assisted in some teaching at the University of Alaska--Southeast in Juneau. She has subsequently graduated from medical school, University of Washington (2007).

Lori Arevalo completed an M.A. degree, sitting an examination in general and environmental philosophy. Fall 1999. Her work emphasized concepts of natural value, metaphysics of nature, the social construction of nature, aesthetics of nature, and indigenous peoples and their relations to the environment.

Megan Fischer completed an M.A. degree, Should We Save Nature While People Go Hungry?: An Analysis of Nature Preservation and Poverty. Fall 2000. Sometimes, the most ethical decision is to preserve nature even if some people have basic needs unmet. This issue is important and often faced in nature preservation internationally. Some case studies. Priority should be given to win-win situations, where needy people can remain on lands without degrading them or harming wildlife. Attention needs to be given to the deeper social problems that underlie and cause such poverty. Also one must consider whether policies are likely to succeed or be counter-productive. Sustainable development, though desirable, is not always an answer. Analysis must take all values into account, including the holistic values, and optimizing such value will require saving nature even though human needs go unmet. This should serve only as an interim ethic, and on longer time scales future generations of humans are likely to be better off in result. Megan lives in Erie, Colorado, where her husband is an engineer making cellular telephones.

Matthew Gowans completed an M. A. degree, A Latter-day Saint Environmental Ethic. Summer 2001. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supports a strong environmental ethic. This is developed here (1) in teaching regarding the intrinsic value of the "soul," a concept applied not only to humans but to animals, plants, and all living beings (recalling both Biblical and Mormon texts and Aristotle's concept of soul). All creation can express a kind of joy in life. (2) Teachings regarding stewardship show that God expects humans to be stewards of the Earth, a concept defended against criticisms. The principle of sacrifice emphasizes human interdependency and selfless sacrifice. (3) Latter-day saints work for a promised "Zion," a vision of harmony and flourishing on Earth. Philip Cafaro was the principal advisor. Gowans spent summer 2002 censusing amphibians and reptiles for the Utah Division of Wildlife and later taught philosophy at Utah Valley State College.

Chris Hains completed an M.A. thesis, Development and Conservation Issues in Africa. Summer 2001. The thesis evaluates ways in which development and nature conservation, both valuable goals, can be achieved in Africa. Hains considers objections to prevailing forms of development, that they do not succeed for pragmatic reasons and that Western ideas about development and conservation are misplaced impositions on Africa. Although improving the lives of humans and conserving nature can be difficult, there is adequate evidence that these goals are attainable. Nor is it always necessary to favor human centered development over the conservation of nature. Some conservation projects, even if they do not focus on improving the welfare of humans, can still be justified. Hains, who spent two years in the Peace Corps in Lesotho (South Africa), entered a Ph.D. program in African history, University of Minnesota. Holmes Rolston was the principal advisor.

Jo Thiel completed an M.A. thesis, Land Communities, Land Ethics, and Private Land. Fall 2001. Three metaphysical views of land are analyzed: the market view, the mechanistic view, and the land community view. The land community view is most adequate and leads to a land ethic, with the goal of land health, distinguished from the pristine integrity of wild nature. Land health is the responsibility of private landowners as well as appropriate public policy. Land owners must envision themselves as members of three types of community in order correctly to pursue a land ethic: the ecosystemic community, the ethical community, and the social community. Holmes Rolston was the principal advisor. Now Jo (Thiel), she completed a Ph.D. in the Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver and took a position in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She is now the chair of that Department.

Ketil Rogn completed an M.A. thesis, From Earth Ethics to Political Ecology: Theory and Practice in Environmental Philosophy. Spring 2002. In both environmental ethics and discourse ethics theory precedes and governs practice. Environmental ethics operates from theory that creates substantive recommendations for practice. The discourse ethicist argues that such recommendations can only be created in communication among those involved, but this communication is subject to certain formal demands. This thesis proposes an alternative model in which political and ethical organization precedes and gives rise to political and ethical principles. Adapting ideas from Spinoza about the concrete reality of the body, there arise assemblages of organizations concerned about environmental issues, engaged in political advocacy and advocating an ethic. We generate and revise principles in result and accordingly. Rogn is from Norway and did a Ph.D. at the University of Oslo researching indigenous knowledge and the conservation of nature.

Elizabeth Fenton completed an M.A. thesis, Wild Animal Welfare and Common Sense Ethics. Spring 2002. Environmental ethics includes an ethics of respect for wild animals. There are two dimensions here, one is respect for the integrity of animal life, which includes caring for animals welfare; the other is respect for wildness. In much environmental ethics, for example in that of Holmes Rolston, valuing the wildness takes precedence over concern for animal suffering. This is similarly true when exotic (feral) animals are removed by killing in order to protect endangered species of plants, or ecosystems, also argued by William Throop.

But a common sense ethic moves us to care about animal suffering; and such an ethic is, on reflection, well founded. The desire to extend humane treatment to wild animals expresses human moral compassion, and recognizes the fact that the capacity to suffer is a morally relevant characteristic shared by all sentient beings, regardless of whether they are wild. On occasions when we do encounter wild animals in distress, the moral and compassionate action is to reduce their suffering, not to let wild nature take its course.

Fenton, from New Zealand, served as policy analyst for ethical issues with the Strategic Analysis Team, Senior Policy Directorate, Ministry of Health, New Zealand. She later took a Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, defending a thesis on human rights in 2008. After that she did a post doc at Harvard University in their Program in Ethics and Health. She has published “Making Fair Funding Decisions for High Cost Cancer Care: The Case of Herceptin in New Zealand,” Public Health Ethics 3(2. 2010):137-146, reprinted in Jonathan Boston, Andrew Bradstock, and David Eng (eds.), Ethics and Public Policy: Contemporary Issues (Wellington, NZ: Victoria University Press, 2011).

Filip Henryk Panusz completed an M.A. thesis, Bodily Work and Value: Merleau-Ponty, Marx and Environmental Ethics. Spring 2002. A quasi-materialist approach to value theory. Bodily work is one of the means through which values arise, as with laboring on the land. Values are not created out of pure mind. They are not discovered through pure reason, independently of the material manifold that surrounds us. It is impossible to speak of value without phenomenological inquiry into the subject's immediate experience of the world. Value is first approached here through Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the lived body and the Life-world. Continuing, values are not intellectual beliefs that one "has." A value exists when it is "lived." Value is next approached through Karl Marx's critique of idealism and his materialist emphasis upon praxis, as expressed in the labor theory of value.

Among the consequences for environmental ethics are that (a) environmental education must educate entire embodied beings, that (b) isolation from the sensuous environment may have deleterious ethical consequences, and (c) that some kinds of physical work on the land are particularly fruitful and salubrious in invoking a moral sense within the laborer. Panusz is originally from Poland, now resident in the United States. In 2012, he was resident in Missoula, MT, and director of Footloose Montana, an NGO dedicated to getting passed better and more humane trapping state legislation, on both public and private lands. Trapping is largely unregulated in Montana.

Jennifer A. Corwin completed an M.A. thesis, An Evaluation of Kant's Claims Regarding the Non-Rational Nature of Non-Human Animals. Fall 2002. It is generally accepted that Kant's ethical theories cannot serve as a basis for a non-anthropocentric environmental ethic because Kant asserts that non-human animals are not owed direct duties from human beings because non-human animals are not rational creatures. But Kant's conception of rational does not permit him to make such a "knowledge claim." At most Kant can only theorize or postulate the non-rationality of animals as a theoretical possibility and not a cognitive certainty. Lacking such knowledge, we can and ought to expand Kant's ethical theories to include direct duties toward non-humans, serving as a basis for a non-anthropocentric environmental ethic. The thesis advisor was Jane Kneller. Jennifer Corwin later took a position as Environmental Protection Specialist, Federal Highway Administration, Denver, CO.

Karen Gordon completed an M.A. thesis, The Metaphysical Link between Freedom and Morality: A Bergsonian Perspective. Spring 2003. Henri Bergson develops a metaphysical perspective in which time and space, mind and matter, recollections and perceptions, being and becoming are manifestations of durée--a temporal and dynamic process. Bergson will not stop a dynamically unfolding reality in order to analyze it. This offers a continuous flow in morality as well, a morality that, rather than being fixed by laws, rules, and principles, proceeds by actively seeking out unique solutions to particular problems. Such a morality offers promise for environmental ethics. The thesis advisor was Donald Crosby.

David R. Wiles completed an M.A. thesis, Neo-Aristotelian Environmental Virtue Ethics. Spring 2003. Neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics has recently emerged as an important ethical alternative, challenging Kantian and utilitarianism for theoretical dominance. This thesis argues that virtue ethics is indeed the best ethical theory available, both generally, and as a grounding framework for environmental ethics. An environmental virtue ethics uniquely recognizes the intricate connections between a healthy environment and human flourishing. It also recognizes the diverse values that nature affords in our quest for eudaimonia, and provides good reason for protecting and preserving these values. Specifically, environmental virtue ethics recognizes the importance of living materially simple lives in our quest for the good life, and stresses the fact that material simplicity is needed to ameliorate the environmental crisis caused by over-consumption. Living close to nature, endorsed by an environmental virtue ethic, facilitates a materially simple lifestyle, which facilitates eudaimonia. Solitary time spent in nature gives us the "mind-time" needed for wisdom. With wisdom, we come to see how truly important nature is for living well. The advisor was PhilipCafaro. Wiles later took a Ph.D. in the program in religion and nature, University of Florida.

Rod D. Adams completed an M.A. thesis, Liberal Education the Environment: An Analysis of David Orr's Green Proposal for Higher Education. Fall 2003. Liberal education, Orr argues, has been equipping students with industrial minds and proposes educating for ecologically literate minds instead. I examine his proposal in the light of the history of liberal education, which has two competing traditions, the rhetorical and the philosophical. Universities tend to emphasize one or the other at various times; a better education would enable students to make their own choices here. Orr requires ideals from both traditions, as well as elements from ancient, modern, and postmodern philosophy. The advisor was Philip Cafaro. Adams is now teaching philosophy at Front Range Community College, Fort Collins, CO.

Jane F. Compson completed an M.A. thesis, Whose Pain, Which Morality? A Defense of the Moral Considerability of Animals Using a Coherence Model of Ethical Justification. Spring 2004. In a search for a sound theoretical justification for the equal consideration of animals, moral realism and foundationalism are rejected as implausible. First general accounts to raise the moral status of animals (such as those of Peter Singer and Tom Regan) are beset by related difficulties. The coherence approach, demonstrated by second generation ethicists (such as Bernard Rollin and David DeGrazia) is defended. The epistemological differences between the realist and the coherence approach are exemplified with a discussion on value; the coherence approach is more plausible, though it does have to be defended against relativism. The coherence approach is applied to the counter-intuitive arguments of Peter Carruthers, showing that the coherence approach does not lead to a relativist free-for-all, but provides firm evaluative criteria for making moral judgments without having to postulate objective, mind-independent truths. The advisor was Bernard Rollin.

Compson has a PhD in Comparative Religion, University of Bristol, UK. She taught philosophy at the University of Central Florida, Orlando. and is now in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (Philosophy and Comparative Religion), University of Washington at Tacoma.

Padraig Gallagher completed an M.A. thesis, Flannagan's Naturalized Ethics: Epistemology, Ecology, and the Limits of Pragmatism. Spring 2005. A critique of Owen Flannagan's work, especially his "Ethics Naturalized as Human Ecology" (1995) and his "pragmatic naturalism." Flannagan claims a parallel between biological ecology and human ecology through the concept of "flourishing," which has to be localized, flourishing in particular environments. Flannagan does recognize some transcultural human universals, but these nevertheless take their specifics in local cultural contexts. Gallagher argues that Flannagan is "methodologically infirm," because of the lack of criteria with which to judge better and worse in these locally flourishing groups, an evaluation needed for humans with their options in life choices, but not needed in biological ecology, where ethical choices do not apply. The advisor was James Maffie. Gallagher was later an instructor in philosophy at CSU.

Christopher Jon Thomas completed an M.A. thesis, A Philosophical Justification for the Legal Rights of Animals. Spring 2005. Previous attitudes and reasoning about human duties to domestic animals, which are largely based on duties to owners of the animals, are inadequate. This is partly because of our increased capacities to exploit animals and partly because of increasing ethical sensitivities. Domestic animals need now to be given rights, and such rights ought to be increasingly adopted into law. An examination of theory and practice in law and its application to extending legal rights to animals. The advisor was Bernard Rollin, co-advisor Holmes Rolston.

Alyson Elizabeth Huff completed an M. A. thesis, An Ethical Defense of Vegetarianism. Spring 2005. The vegetarian lifestyle is characterized in three different ways: a pseudo vegetarian, a practical vegetarian, and an ethically motivated vegetarian. Huff makes particular analysis of the ethically motivated vegetarian. Major philosophical theories that support, and reject, vegetarianism are examined for their credibility and relevance. Real life implications of vegetarian actions, intentions of the actors, potential consequences. Actual social sentiment is appraised and compared to the ethically motivated vegetarian’s ultimate goals. A possible solution to reducing animal suffering, as our moral obligation, is proposed. The advisor was Bernard Rollin.

Jacob R. Neely completed an M.A., Plan B, with a professional paper on animals and the law. Spring 2005. He inquired about possibilities for incorporating animal rights into law, using the concept of guardianship as an intermediate stage. The advisor was Bernard Rollin. Neely later took a Ph.D. at Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.

Brian R. Depew completed an M.A. thesis, There Is a Moral Obligation to Save the Family Farm. Summer 2005. Many persons have an attraction to family farms but without a clear moral argument for them, while family farms flounder. The two live options for agriculture in the United States are a family farm system or an industrial agribusiness system, and they differently affect individual autonomy, environmental stewardship, and community well-being, with the family farm system proving superior. This has significant implications for farm and rural policy. The advisor was Michael Losonsky. Depew later entered a Ph.D. in rural sociology, also with further work in philosophy, at Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Kelsi Nagy completed an M.A. thesis, Values in Action: A Philosophic Analysis of Moral Motivation in Two Classics of Environmental Literature. Fall, 2005. Neither Kant's ethics nor utilitarianism gives a convincing account of how people are motivated to act as moral agents. Environmental literature is often a more successful way to motivate people to accept the environment as an object of moral concern. This thesis analyzes Thoreau's Walden and Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, using Harry G. Frankfurt's theory that a free action requires that a person engage in reflection, choose which value she wants, then is effectively motivated by the freely chosen value. Thoreau and Leopold use literature to engage the reader into reflection on values, specifically those economic and scientific values that have an effect upon our actions toward the environment. Narrative discourse can lead people to reflect on values that effectively motivates action in a way that, while different than philosophic argumentation, may be an equally important discourse for moral motivation. The chair of her committee was Holmes Rolston. She and Phillip David Johnson II have edited an anthology: Trash Animals: Natural and Cultural Perspectives on Maligned Species (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012).

Alicia Swaine Blaney completed an M.A. thesis, Environmental Conservation at Multiple Landscape Scales: An Analysis of the Ethical Past, Present, and Future. Summer 2006. Environmental ethics is on the forefront of contemporary ethical thought, but its language is problematic, with different parties meaning different things by similar words, often giving rise to conflict and confusion, even by those who share values in common. We do not have available a universal environmental ethic, but there are convictions broadly shared. Ethics is functional at different levels and goes into a webwork of belief. Further issues arise with institutional divisions of the landscape into private and public, rural lands, park lands, national forest lands, wilderness, often producing fragmentation rather than a comprehensive ethic. If this philosophical confusion is to be overcome, and if land is to be appropriately respected, then there must be a new ethic, one that is "loosely naturalized." Such an ethic will begin with the broad assumption that nature exists and has intrinsic value but that an inclusive ethic will move into the cultural realm where subjective interactions at multiple levels are better able to discover and appropriately respect the objective realities in the natural world. The chair of her committee was Holmes Rolston, III. Blaney later taught English at Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado, where her husband was on the faculty in political science, specializing in environmental policy.

David Ehrensberger completed an M.A. degree, non-thesis, featuring a comprehensive examination in environmental ethics. Summer 2006, David became an electronic resources librarian and part-time philosophy instructor at Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania near Scranton.

David S. Chermak completed an M. A. thesis, Theoretical Environmental Philosophy Is Not Environmental Activism. Summer 2007. J. Baird Callicott claims that theoretical environmental philosophy is environmental activism, with a strong sense of how by offering good reasons justifying ethical beliefs, ethicists may affect the actions of individuals. Callicott's ethic is grounded in an evolutionary-ecological worldview, which understands humans as a part of the greater biotic community, which leads to the realization that we ought intrinsically to value nature, expanding our moral sentiments. Callicott believes that his environmental ethic demonstrates why individuals ought to value the natural world, and he asserts that his ethic is genuinely normative.

Callicott's claim to normativity fails, however, as he is unable to bridge the is/ought gap. There does not seem to be a rationally compelling argument from the evolutionary-ecological worldview to an environmental ethic. Though Callicott's ethic lacks normative force, it remains important in a descriptive sense. Humans naturally broaden their identification to include family, friends, and community. Viewing humans as a part of a larger biotic community further broadens their identification to include the natural world, as is promoted by deep ecologists. Such an outlook has been a powerful source of motivation for committed environmental activists, although it is not rationally compelling. Bernard Rollin and Holmes Rolston were advisors.

Joshua Colt Gambrel completed an M. A. thesis, The Virtue of Simplicity. Spring 2008. Modern American life has become increasingly complex. A paradigm shift is needed and this transformation can be accomplished by cultivating the virtue of simplicity, with a deeper questioning and discovering of more lasting needs and interests. A voluntary simplification of life questions our over-consumptive lifestyles, especially the impact on the ecosphere. Simplifying lifestyles helps produce empowerment, equity, and justice. The virtue of simplicity addresses responsibilities to ourselves, our families, our place, and to the environment and animals; it means giving to ourselves a higher quality of life. The principal advisor was Philip Cafaro. Summarized results have been published as Joshua Colt Gambrel and Philip Cafaro, "The Virtue of Simplicity," Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 23(nos. 1-2, 2010):85-108.

Winthrop R. Staples completed an M.A, thesis, For a Species Moral Right to Exist: The Imperative of an Adequate Environmental Ethics. Spring 2009. The worsening environmental crisis and the anticipated mass extinction of the world's species require developing an environmental ethics more capable of restraining destructive human actions. The vital step is to recognize that all species have immense intrinsic value. Species lineages are super-individuals that are morally considerable and environmentalists should support the species' "biotic right" to exist, as asserted by Aldo Leopold. I propose that this right is equivalent to a right of nonhuman species to the majority use of a minimum of 50% of every major ecotype on Earth, which would ensure the survival of approximately 85% of all species. Similarly, because intimate contact and dialectic with nature is necessary for the survival and flourishing of humanity, common people have a moral right to the abundant access to nonhuman comrades made possible by this 50% allocation.

The objection that the human right against poverty overrides the moral right of species to exist fails. Human societies have the ability and moral obligation to the larger biotic community and future human generations to restrain human population growth and consumption that cause species extinction and ever more poverty. Staples is a wildlife biologist who became concerned with species extinctions and took the M.A. in environmental ethics to develop this environmental ethics. The co-advisors were Philip Cafaro and Holmes Rolston.

Elijah John Weber completed an M.S. thesis, A Neo-Sentimentalist Theory of Intrinsic Values in Nature. Spring 2009. Neo-sentimentalism can provide solid metaphysical grounds for an objectivist theory of intrinsic value in nature. The objectivist view of Holmes Rolston, III, is examined and compared with the subjectivist views of J. Baird Callicott and Robert Elliot, with reference to their mind-dependence and independence. The subjectivist views are inadequate and Rolston's view is insufficiently supported with reasons. In the neo-sentimentalism of John McDowell value is a genuine property of objects, although intelligible valuing takes place only with human evaluators. Such objective value properties are those that would be valued by an appropriate subjective evaluator. One ought to value whatever merits valuing, accompanied with sufficient reasons. Neo-sentimentalism is much closer to the objectivist view than to the subjectivist with regard to mind-independence. A neo-sentimentalist view is mind-dependent in ways that do not lead to the same limitations that challenge the subjectivist account. The advisor was Katie McShane.

Constance Taylor Uliasz completed an M. A. thesis, Ethical Issues in the Use of Weather Modification Technologies. June 2009. Weather modification programs continue to be quietly implemented throughout the world, even though those involved are fully aware that these activities may cause as much harm as good. This thesis is a study of some of the ethical issues related to implementing weather modification technologies. The Weather Modification Association has developed a Code of Ethics that is also considered. Believing that the current Code is inadequate, this thesis is an effort to show how it is lacking and to develop a set of criteria that weather modifiers might consider in order to design and implement more morally defensible weather modification programs. Committee members: Richard Kitchener (Philosophy, Advisor), Bernard Rollin (Philosophy), William R. Cotton (Atmospheric Science).

Christopher Coley completed an M. A. thesis, Holding Agriculture Accountable: Moral Obligations in the Dairy Industry. Spring 2011. The present social attitude towards agriculture is in disarray. The average person has developed more robust opinions about the ethical implications of agriculture; yet remains more removed from the actual practice itself than in any other time in history. Meanwhile, the growing popularity of "ethical" foods such as organics, GM-free, etc., show the public's growing concern with food. This tension has introduced several misconceptions and failed judgments about agricultural products, putting greater social and governmental pressures on the industry as a whole. Because of this, it is important for philosophers to consider the ethical obligations of agriculture and its associated responsibilities to incorporate moral values into its future practices. The goal of this thesis is to confront these issues within the dairy industry (a paradigm case) by developing a historical account of the industry and its guiding paradigm, engaging the paradigm's moral instability, and then offering a means of creating adequately pragmatic, yet ethically rigorous solutions. The advisor was Bernard Rollin. Coley entered a Ph. D. program at Amrita University in Kerala, India studying social sciences and applied philosophy, specifically natural disaster management.

Cheryl Elizabeth Abbate completed an M. A. thesis, Research on Prisoners: an Alternative to Animal Testing. Spring 2011. Members of the biomedical community justify research on sentient beings by depicting the benign results which are regarded as necessary for scientific and medical progress, which in turn is absolutely necessary for maintaining human health, well-being, and life. Rather than take for granted that the burden of biomedical research be spread across only nonhuman animals, I will explore whether or not there is a more appropriate class of sentient beings on which we should conduct our biomedical research. I argue, based on utilitarian principles, that if we can maximize overall happiness by conducting our research on a different group of beings, then we should opt to conduct our biomedical experiments on these beings. My central proposal is that our decision to experiment on nonhuman animals is not the best alternative available; rather, if we were to experiment on violent criminals, we would increase overall happiness. Since conducting biomedical research on this particular group of prisoners would fulfill the aims of retributive punishment, deter crime, and procure optimal scientific results, we would produce the maximal amount of benefits by experimenting on violent transgressors. Thus when faced with the choice to experiment on either violent criminals or nonhuman animals, the morally commendable decision would be to perform research on violent criminals. The advisor was Bernard Rollin. Abbate entered a PhD in Philosophy at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Marcus Schultz-Bergin completed an M. A. thesis, The Poverty of Protectionism. Spring 2011. Much of the modern debate on the global economy takes the form of two ships passing in the dark. The economics literature on the subject defends liberalized trade on empirical grounds while the philosophical literature defends protectionism on theoretical grounds. I aim to unite the literature, arguing against protectionism and defending liberalized trade both empirically and theoretically in the name of poverty reduction. I explore two country-specific case studies to get an idea of how trade liberalization benefitted their development and poverty reduction efforts. I also establish a general background for both the economic theory, between protectionism and trade liberalization, as well as the current state of poverty and protectionism in the world. I then seek to expand the case study analysis to analyze three general ways protectionism and trade liberalization interact with poverty reduction efforts. I argue that trade liberalization, as opposed to protectionism, promotes short term gains to national wealth. Additionally, trade liberalization, as opposed to protectionism, promotes sustained growth and poverty reduction. Finally, I argue that trade liberalization contributes to good governance, while protectionism works against it. In conclusion, I consider a theory of fairness for the global economic system and its implications on three aspects of the global economic order: worker exploitation, protectionism in the developed world and the Fair Trade movement. The advisor was Bernard Rollin. Shultz-Bergin entered a Ph.D. program in Applied Philosophy at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.

Joey Tuminello completed an M. A. thesis, Invasive Species Management: An Animal Ethics Perspective. Spring 2012. The scholarly literature on invasive species management tends to neglect the moral relevance of sentience when determining management strategies regarding sentient members of invasive species. Further, invasive species are viewed as "bad," nuisances and must be gotten rid of, often inhumanely. If sentience is morally relevant, I argue that it continues to be so even when invasive species are considered. This claim is strongly supported by the large-scale vagueness and disagreement over terms such as "invasive," "native," and "exotic." Members of such species should be treated humanely and in accordance with their respective telos as much as possible. Typically, this will entail prioritizing nonlethal and preventive methods of control. Even lethal control should be implemented humanely. The negative bias against invasive species as inherently "bad" is unfounded. I provide evidence of a variety of negative, positive, and neutral aspects of invasive species. Our attitudes toward such species should be developed on a case-by-case basis. This must be combined with the moral relevance of sentience. I provide an overview of different sorts of lethal, nonlethal, and preventive methods of invasive species management, and discuss how each can be implemented in a more humane fashion. The advisor was Bernard Rollin. Tuminello entered the Ph.D. program in environmental philosophy, University of North Texas.

Adrian A. Flygt completed an M.A. thesis, The Ethical Hunter: How to Consume Animal Life. Fall 2013. Humans have been hunting and killing animals for survival throughout history, though in modern times the hunt is largely recreational. Various justifications for recreational hunting are examined, which often fail, but some are better than others. These include hunting by Fair Chase and efforts to minimize animal pain. Comparisons with killing animals in industrial agriculture are made. The ethical hunter should appear less an antiquated ideal of evil and brutality and more like the most justified consumption of animal life: a collection of searching, connection, awareness, and minimized environmental impact, not justified because of any single reason, but because a number of perspectives, all taken together, make ethical hunting superior to current alternatives. Bernard Rollin was the advisor.

Eric Easley completed an M.A. thesis, Of Mice and Kant: Re-Examining Moral Considerability to Non-Human Animals on Kant's Cognitive Grounds. Spring 2014. I examine Kant’s criterion for moral considerability in the light of the intersection between the moral, critical, and epistemic principles to which Kant commits himself and evidence of advanced cognitive capacities in non-human animals. Kant’s denial of crucial cognitive capacities in non-human animals represents a flawed attempt at applying a principle of parsimony which threatens to undermine the transcendental base of his theories. Further, expelling the anachronisms and human exceptionalism to which Kant fell victim in his theories reveals a robust sense of ethical duties directly to non-human animals, beyond non-cruelty. I argue that the basis of moral considerability in Kant’s ethics ought to extend directly to non-human animals if they possess sufficient degrees of the three cognitive capacities that comprise dignity and the ability to meaningfully set ends: reason, autonomy, and self-consciousness. I then examine Kant’s cognitive theory and argue that it lacks a developmental account in terms of degrees of these capacities that is crucial to completing Kant’s ethical project. Finally, I develop a model for such an account based upon evidence and theories in the philosophy of mind and the sciences, concluding that many non-human animals do possess advanced cognitive capacities and that we, thus, have moral duties directly to most non-human animals. The advisor was Bernard Rollin.

Morgan Elbot completed an M. A. thesis, Valuing Water: A Normative Analysis of Prior Appropriation. Summer 2014. This thesis provides a normative evaluation of the Western U.S. water law of prior appropriation, using a contextual analysis of water value pluralism. I examine and critique the major justificatory arguments made in defense of prior appropriation. These assume a utilitarian criterion by which water is viewed as an economic good with monetary value. I then introduce and analyze non-monetary water values, and examine the social and cultural contexts surrounding such values. These are shown to be incommensurable with monetary valuations. I offer a theoretical framework for incorporation such non-monetary values, using Thomas Arnold's principle of complex equity. This provides decision-making criteria in terms of their ability to recognize and preserve the multiple meanings and values of complex social goods, such as water. So far as prior appropriation fails to take such values into consideration, it will be unable to produce water allocations that satisfy principles of justice. The principal advisor was Bernard Rollin.

Philosophy is not the only place to do environmental issues at CSU, often for many people not the best place. There are various other fields to consider: political science or law, for example. Natural resource economics. Geography. There are numerous programs in environmental studies, sometimes more, sometimes less science-oriented.

Colorado State University has strong programs in global sustainability (School of Global Environmental Stability), in forestry, wildlife, and fisheries, veterinary medicine, environmental education and conservation, and environmental policy.