Ethics in the Biosphere

Key Questions

• How do ethical viewpoints inform the meaning and practice of sustainability?
• What are the moral norms that animate environmental policy and wildlife management?

Our “Ethics and the Biosphere” initiative examines how we ought to live and ‘do right’ by ourselves and others. This is a matter of both critique and vision – critically examining what is going wrong in our current way of life, and envisioning how we as individuals and communities may do better. Whether the issue is one of social justice, animal welfare, environmental protection, sustainability, or human wellbeing, ethics lays at the core of these concerns. We use ethics as a point of departure for exploring such issues, and in doing so, seek to provide insight on the moral norms at stake, and guidance on what can be done to help individuals, society, and the community of life flourish.