The chief value of this guide is that it will challenge you to clarify your own thinking about the various factors that need to be weighed to make an ethical decision regarding an environmental issue.

The decision making model has three steps: Analysis, Assessment and Action.

Answer the decision making model with satisfying answer.

               Analysis

Personal factors: Is there anything in your personal experience that affects how you view the case?

Power dynamics: Among all the stakeholders in the case, do all have relatively equal power in terms of making a decision? If not, why not?

Factual & scientific information: What are the key facts in the case? Is there any dispute about what those facts are? What is the most plausible account of the facts? Is there indication that scientific data is being presented in a biased way?

 Relationships: Do any of the key stakeholders have crucial issues of personal relationships that may affect how they view the case?

Ethical issues: What is the primary ethical issue in the case? What are one or two secondary ethical issues?

Alternatives and consequences: What are the key alternative courses of action? How do they treat the primary ethical issue in the case? What are the likely positive and negative consequences of these alternatives?

          ASSESSMENT

Ethical vision: What would be a just resolution to these issues? 

Coping with imperfect environmental knowledge: how do you evaluate the certainty with which alternatives are presented? How great are the risks of uncertain environmental impacts, and who bears the burden of risk?

Ethical reasoning: Which mode appears most appropriate? (commands, consequences, character)

Moral principles: What key ethical principles are relevant? (Examples: justice, sufficiency, sustainability, solidarity, participation and precaution)

Virtues: What kind of character traits do you want to be reflected in your decisions?

 

                ACTION

Decision: Which alternative is morally preferable?

Justification: how do you justify it in terms of the moral principles and the moral reasoning above?

Communication: How will you communicate this information to diverse audiences so it is morally reasonable?

Reflection: Looking back on the case, are there any aspects of it that were especially enlightening or troubling? What new developments might cause you to reconsider your decision?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Environmental ethics The subject of environmental ethics to be overwhelmed by the possibility that the privilege ecological activities require an adjustment of the worth frameworks of numerous individ... View the full answer