Example research essay topic: Sense Of Justice Wrong To Kill - 1,493 words

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Humans live in the midst of an ecological community. Although living in cities has caused many of us loose touch with the land and the other species that inhabit it, our actions still effect the environment, thus we should still consider ourselves a part of this community. Just as humans have a set of rules of how to act within their own human community and social sphere so should they have a set of rules on how to behave within the larger ecological community. Rules for our own society are based on morality, concepts of right and wrong, and behaviors that help maintain the safety of individuals living within the society. For the same reasons we should have rules on how to behave within our ecological sphere. It is important to preserve our safety in this sphere, to keep pollution that causes health risks to minimum, and to make sure we our living sustainably by not over using our vital resources.

We also have an ethical obligation to the species with which we share our planet. They have the right to exist on this planet. That our sense of justice does not extend to them, that we do not recognize they have rights and that there are moral ways to treat them, proves that we are so focused on our own species, we do not realize we live in a larger community that we should respect. Our sense of justice should expand to include this larger community. I am not suggesting they be included in our judicial courts as member of our societies, for obviously we live in different societies. But we do live in the same community, and there should be rules that enforce just behavior towards that community and punishments for defecting from these rules.

Just behavior towards them means protection of the community and its stability. The other species of this planet are immensely valuable to us and we should work to conserve them and their habitats. Conservation will never be truly be sucessful unless we realize the economic value of other species and the services they provide as well as realize that their value goes deeper then economics. Our economy relies on natural capital. Natural capital is all the resources of this earth. These include not only the obvious physical resources such as minerals, soil, water, but also the living systems, such as rainforests and wetlands, the communities of species that inhabit them, and the ecological services they provide.

Species provide us with direct goods or raw material for manufactured goods, such as food, wood, fiber for clothing, paper, food, spices, and pharmaceuticals. They also provide many vital ecological services that allow industries, such as agriculture, to thrive. A few of these services include pollination of crops and natural vegetation, cycling and movements of nutrients, and preservation of soil. From natural capital all other forms of capital sprout.

The authors of Natural Capitalism state The industrial system uses the first three forms of capital (human capital, financial capital, and manufactured capital, ) to transform natural capital into the stuff of our daily lives. (Natural Capitalism, page 4) The authors of Natural Capitalism state that biological services are worth at least $ 36 trillion annually. Thus conservation of our natural resources is very important to our economy. But there is a danger in viewing our ecological community in strictly economic terms. There are several reasons for this. First the value of other species on this earth is often incalculable.

The authors of Natural Capitalism state that many of the services we receive from living systems have no known substitutes at any price; for example, oxygen production by green plants. (page 5) Other species provide us not only with the fuel for our economy but with life itself. While their economic value is important I believe by making that the sole reason for conserving them we loose site of the fact that they are valuable because they provide services that allow us to survive. For this reason alone we have an ethical duty to respect them and return the favor by not damaging their health more then absolutely necessary. There is also the danger of not caring about the conservation of those animals that do not provide us with economic gains. The species we rely on as natural capital in return rely on other species for survival.

The ecological services we depend on are carried out by many different species. Thus eliminating species that are not directly economically valuable to us may threaten the ones that are. This also applies to the species that provide us with ecological services that are not only economically valuable but also necessary to life. The authors of Ecosystem Services not that... no one knows which combination of species or even approximately how many are required to sustain human life. This is the reason that we should seek to protect all species.

Also viewing them in strictly economic terms emphasizes the role of humans as conquer with the other species of earth here merely to provide for us, when instead they have their own basic right to existence as living things. Aldo Leopold points this out in a Sand County Almanac. He notes that, We have no land ethic yet, but we have at least drawn nearer the point of admitting that birds should continue as a matter of biotic right, regardless of the presence or absence of economic advantage to us. (page 210) It would be considered wrong to kill of member of the human community for purely economic reasons. Because we are part of an ecological community it should also be considered wrong to kill off members of this community for purely economic reasons.

I believe that placing too much emphasis on economic values separates us from the other species of this planet and makes it to easy to forget the fact that they disserve our respect for making life possible. Aldo Leopold states that Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land. (page 207) To reach that state I believe people first need to remember how much we depend on the land and its other inhabitants, and how much we are a part of it. Because other species provide us with natural capital and life itself we have an ethical duty to protect and conserve the other species of this earth. From that duty should sprout laws and rules regulating how humans behave within the ecological community. I am not proposing that we never kill another animal or cut down another tree again. We should still continue drawing on our resources but in a sustainable manner.

There are of course some existing regulation but I think these rules will be easier to institute and enforce if the general mindset of people shifts to extend our sense of justice to other species. Once people recognize that protecting other species is an ethical obligation it will be easier to enforce laws that protect them. In the mean time I can make the personal decisions to behave in a more ethical way towards the other species of this planet. Any action that reduces environmental degradation will help conserve other species.

There are several choices I can make that benefit other species, some are relatively easy to make and some challenge the lifestyle I am use to. One choice is to decide to buy products that harvested or produced sustainably. An example would be to eat organic foods instead of commercially grown foods. In this way I do not support the use of pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals that damage the environment. Another choice I can make is one about transportation. The most environmentally conscious choice is not to have a car at all but to use bicycles or public transportation.

Personally this is a hard choice for me as I am use to living in an auto-dependent community. But when I buy a car I can choose to by one that uses cleaner technology and I can try to limit my use of to when I need to go somewhere farther than walking or biking distance. I can make the decision to buy fewer things in general therefore using fewer resources. If I choose to limit the pollution I cause and the resources I consume, than this in turn will benefit the other species of the planet. Sometimes I feel hopeless in the face of so much environmental degradation and doubt that my actions will ever make a difference.

But it doesnt cost me much to restrain from buying an extra pair of jeans I dont really need, spend a few cents more for an organic apple, and take a few minutes longer to walk to a friends house instead of drive. When I view these actions as an ethical duty, a way of acting just towards other species that make life on earth possible, it becomes even easier to make these small sacrifices.

Research essay sample on Sense Of Justice Wrong To Kill