Environmental Ethics

     One tension that stood out to me in Lori Gruen and Robert C. Jones’s "Veganism as an Aspiration" is the uneasy relationship between the idea that animals have equal moral worth and the reality that animals themselves often cause harm to one another. Gruen and Jones advocate for veganism not as a rigid rule, but as an aspirational practice — a way of striving to minimize the suffering we cause to other sentient beings. They argue that recognizing animals as moral equals obliges us to change our eating and consumption habits, even if doing so is difficult and imperfect.      However, this idea becomes complicated when we reflect on the fact that nonhuman animals regularly harm and kill each other in nature. If animals, too, are moral equals, does their causing of suffering undermine the claim that we are obligated to avoid causing any suffering? It seems hypocritical to expect humans to uphold an absolute principle of nonviolence when those we are morall...

   On a warm, sunny morning in spring, I sat quietly in Memorial Park in Colorado Springs, observing subtle yet unmistakable signs of seasonal transition. Winter’s grip was visibly loosening, revealing vibrant patches of bright green grass spurred on by the rain . Trees around me have beg u n to bud, delicate green tips breaking through stark winter branches, signaling renewal. Each branch seemed to reach tentatively toward the sunlight, seeking warmth and nourishment after months of dormancy .      Birds hopping energetically between branches, their songs rich with anticipation of warmer days ahead. Their movements seemed inspired and almost frantic , as though they too were trying to make the most of what is typically a short-lived spring . Occasionally, I spotted robins hopping along the ground, searching for worms in the softening earth. Their focused, deliberate actions look   instinctive and hurried , reminding me of the deep-seated rhythms that ...

     When thinking about my own relationship with the environment, I have a much broader view than most. To me, the environment is everywhere that you are. The environment is a combination of the places and things that make up the world around us. I believe that defining "the environment" as places set aside from human activity opens the door for us to abuse the places and resources closest to home. As someone who likes to think about how their actions affect the environment, I think it is very important to have a very wide definition of the environment. This forces us to treat the places which we might see as mundane or  inconsequential with the same care that we give to the places which are hailed as natural wonders.          As someone who has grown up with a strong interest in outdoor activities, it feels like my care and reverence for the environment was inevitable. When spending extended periods of time in natural areas, ...