Ethics of Biospheral Survival

Abstract

Where will human beings end up if they have no ethics, no strong rules of conduct, to guide human activities in the ecosphere? What happens when we do not have agreed-upon standards for treatment of all living things? The answer is abundantly clear to us as we look around Earth in all directions—;up and down as well as across land and water and back over the centuries of time. Western Man, especially, has predicated action upon an exploitative ethic towards the ecosphere, as I prefer to call the biosphere: ‘the world is my plum to pluck, eat, enjoy, consume—;as I see fit.’ A few enclaves can be found where people have exercised a different attitude and ethic, and their way of life has usually been equated with primitiveness and regarded as a problem.