Module 1
Seven Environmental Principles, Ecosystem Services. Environmental Ethics
What is the Environment? -Human interaction with nature oftentimes
alters the ecosystems. The waste we
Environment refers to the immediate
improperly dispose of brings about the
surroundings of an individual. It is also a
deterioration of land and water quality.
complex system that deals with a network
of living and non-living entities. It is 2. All forms of life are important.
composed of 3 main components.
-All living organisms were created for a
1. Physical Components (air, water, purpose in relation to humans, other
land, energy) species on earth and global ecosystem in
2. Biological Components (plants, general. The variety of life forms,
animals) manifested by the different levels of
3. Socio-Economic Components biological diversity – community, species
(people, communities, institutions, and genes – contributes to the stability of
values) the environment.
Ecosystem is the basic functional unit of -Food webs, food chains and ecological
nature. It is the interaction of the relationships link plants and animals
community (living components) and the together in the web of life. Even bacteria,
non-living environment. insects, snakes and rats have ecological
functions even though humans perceive
The Seven Environmental Principles
them as parasites or pests.
By Barry Commoner
-The Philippines ranks high among the
1. Everything is connected to everything biodiversity hotspots – the richest but the
else. most threatened of terrestrial ecosystems
in the world.
-The intricate relationships of various
elements of the ecosystem bind the -The composition of biological diversity
components together into one functional naturally changes slowly but the rate of
unit. transition has become faster due to factors
such as habitat destruction. Deforestation
-The trees in the forest are home to ferns, may diminish forest species such as birds
orchids, birds, insects and mammals. When that are vulnerable to modification of their
these plants and animals die, their products home. Pollution of waters reduces the
of decomposition contribute to soil fertility. quantity of fishes, shells, algae and other
Plants provide oxygen to animals for aerobic aquatic life. Over harvesting of natural
respiration while animals furnish carbon products likewise contributes to the
dioxide to plants for photosynthesis. The unsustainable use of food and material
quality of the soil determines the type of resources.
vegetation that exists while vegetation
contributes to the minerals of the soil when • Biological Diversity or Biodiversity
they die. is the variety of all life forms on
Module 1
Seven Environmental Principles, Ecosystem Services. Environmental Ethics
Earth – plants, animals, that way, habitats for organisms are not
microorganisms…”. The three types destroyed or deteriorate.
of diversity are:
4. Ours is a finite Earth.
✓ Ecosystems diversity
- interdependence within species -Everything that we need is provided by
✓ Species diversity – basic unit of nature in abundance – food, water, energy,
biological classification minerals and air. However, some resources
✓ Genetic Diversity – variation within that we depend upon nowadays are
species extracted excessively but are slow to
replace.
3. Everything must go somewhere.
-These non-renewable resources
-By-products of consumption go back to the
experience limits of supply. For instance,
environment. Everything that we throw
fossil fuels produced over thousands of
away have to go somewhere. Even plants
years may be exhausted in a hundred years.
and animals have their own wastes. It is the
Some energy sources like water, and wood
law of nature that the by-products of
may be replaced easier but have become
metabolism return to the soil and then
inaccessible due to pollution and excessive
converted into minerals, to be again
extraction.
absorbed by plants and eaten by animals.
But what happens if what we throw is an -The increasing population decreases the
artificial product such as plastic? amount of resources available to each
person. Carrying capacity, or the ability of
-In our present consumer-oriented, setting
the ecosystem to support a number of
up an ecological solid waste management
people, maybe influenced by limit of
system becomes necessary for maximizing
resources due to an increasing population.
the use of resources. Ecological solid waste
Competition increases as the carrying
management recommends that solid
capacity is reached.
wastes be reduced, segregated, re-used and
recycled. Biodegradable materials are either -Per capita consumption must also be taken
to be eaten again or composted. into account because people in Northern
countries generally consume more food,
-Industries have their own responsibility in
energy and resources than people in the
reducing their effluents. End-of-the-pipeline
developing Southern countries. Carrying
technologies are augmented by clean
capacity may be addressed two ways:
technologies in raw product extraction and
increase resources and reduce population
manufacturing.
growth.
-The “polluters pay” principle adopted by
-Pollution reduces the absorbing capacity of
governments intensifies the campaign for
air and water. Pollution likewise reduces the
clean land, water and air. Waste exchange
availability of land and water to produce
programs by industry turn wastes of one
food for human consumption.
industry into raw products of another. In
Module 1
Seven Environmental Principles, Ecosystem Services. Environmental Ethics
-Several solutions have been suggested to -Creation presumes the existence of a
solve this problem: reduction of Creator. The beautiful nature around us,
consumption, increased use of renewable perfect by itself, has deteriorated due to the
energy, emissions trading, and pollution negative impacts of human use. This
control. principle suggests how a Human-Creator
relationship is translated in our attitude
5. Nature knows best.
towards creation.
-Nature manifests certain processes that
-Divinity in all forms of life.
enable it to maintain balance and remain in
a state of equilibrium. -Religion is one of the most influential
aspects that affect values and the
-Biogeochemical cycles.
environment.
-The flow of energy from the sun enables
-The goal of environmental education and
light to be converted into sugar in plants
biodiversity conservation education is to
through photosynthesis, and later for
motivate target audiences towards
consumer organisms to obtain energy from
developing an eco-spirituality that moves
plant starch.
them into a more meaningful relationship
-Food chains and food webs allow transfer with nature and greater participation in the
of energy from producers and consumers biophysical economic processes that make
and provide the means for all living this world a better place to live in.
organisms to acquire nutrition.
7. Everything changes.
-Population control also occurs naturally
-Changes in the biophysical world occur
through predator – prey relationships.
naturally.
-The equilibrium in the ecosystem is
-The metamorphosis of caterpillars to
maintained, thus if humans intervene,
butterflies illustrates morphological
unforeseen negative impacts known as
changes that occur in living forms.
ecological backlash, may arise. Floods are
often times backlashes of excessive felling -The increase of vegetation on earth
of trees. augmented the amount of oxygen in the
atmosphere through time.
-The importation of golden kuhol, that
became a pest, reminds us that biological -Seasons are cyclic changes that contribute
organisms may not acclimatize in a new to the diversity of flowers, fruits,
environment or may cause harm to vegetables, and other crops during the year.
indigenous species.
-Random changes manifested by a natural
6. Nature is beautiful and we are stewards catastrophe such as typhoons and volcanic
of God’s creation. eruptions destroy forests, coral reefs, and
mangroves.
Module 1
Seven Environmental Principles, Ecosystem Services. Environmental Ethics
-Human-induced alterations, such as Four Types of Ecosystem Services
climate change and land-use change,
[Link] Services
change the composition of vegetation and
animals. A provisioning service is any type of benefit
to people that can be extracted from nature.
-Environmental impact assessment (EIA)
Fruits, vegetables, trees, fish, and livestock
provides a tool for the projection, planning
are available to us as direct products of
and management of change brought about
ecosystems. Along with food, other types of
by industrialization and human settlement
provisioning services include drinking water,
expansion. Effluents can be managed
timber, wood fuel, natural gas, oils, plants
through policy and pollution control
that can be made into clothes and other
techniques by both industry and
materials, and medicinal benefits.
government to achieve clean air and water.
[Link] Services
Ecosystems Services
A regulating service is the benefit provided
Ecosystems Services refers to the benefits
by ecosystem processes that moderate
provided by ecosystems that contribute to
natural phenomena. Regulating services
making human life both possible and worth
include pollination, decomposition, water
living.
purification, erosion and flood control, and
-Wildlife is important to the heritage, carbon storage and climate regulation. All
culture, and heart of a country, and we want these processes work together to make
to preserve it as a legacy for our children. ecosystems clean, sustainable, functional,
and resilient to change.
-We have a stronger economy, diverse food
products, and advancements in medical [Link] Services
research as a result of wildlife and natural
A cultural service is a non-material benefit
ecosystems.
that contributes to the development and
-The value of nature to people has long been cultural advancement of people, including
recognized, but in recent years, the concept how ecosystems play a role in local,
of ecosystem services has been developed national, and global cultures; the building of
to describe these various benefits. An knowledge and the spreading of ideas;
ecosystem service is any positive benefit creativity born from interactions with
that wildlife or ecosystems provide to nature (music, art, architecture); and
people. The benefits can be direct or recreation.
indirect—small or large.
As we interact and alter nature, the natural
world has in turn altered us. It has guided
our cultural, intellectual, and social
development by being a constant force
present in our lives.
Module 1
Seven Environmental Principles, Ecosystem Services. Environmental Ethics
4. Supporting Services of nature's intrinsic, rather than
instrumental or use value to humans. For
Ecosystems themselves couldn't be
some ethicists and scientists, this attitude of
sustained without the consistency of
respecting species and ecosystems for their
underlying natural processes, such as
own sakes is a consequence of embracing an
photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, the
ecological worldview; it flows out of an
creation of soils, and the water cycle. These
understanding of the structure and function
processes allow the Earth to sustain basic
of ecological and evolutionary systems and
life forms, let alone whole ecosystems and
processes. We will consider how newer
people. Without supporting services,
scientific fields devoted to environmental
provisional, regulating, and cultural services
protection such as conservation biology and
wouldn't exist.
sustainability science are thus often
Environmental Ethics described as "normative" sciences that carry
a commitment to the protection of species
What responsibilities do we have to and ecosystems; again, either because of
wild species and ecosystems — and to their intrinsic value or for their contribution
present and future generations of humans to human wellbeing over the long run.
dependent on critical ecological services?
How does the recognition of rapid, global The relationship between
environmental change challenge our environmental ethics and the
traditional understandings of these environmental sciences, however, is a
obligations? What does it mean to be complex and often contested one. For
"sustainable" and why do many believe that example, debates over whether ecologists
achieving sustainability is an ethical and conservation biologists should also be
imperative for science and society in this advocates for environmental protection — a
century? role that goes beyond the traditional profile
of the "objective" scientist — have received
These questions, and others like them, much attention in these fields. Likewise, we
are explored in this series. Environmental will see that issues such as the place of
ethics is a branch of applied philosophy that animal welfare concerns in wildlife
studies the conceptual foundations of management, the valuation and control of
environmental values as well as more non-native species, and the adoption of a
concrete issues surrounding societal more interventionist approach to
attitudes, actions, and policies to protect conservation and ecological protection
and sustain biodiversity and ecological (including proposals to relocate wild species
systems. As we will see, there are many and to geoengineer earth systems to avoid
different environmental ethics one could the worst effects of global climate change)
hold, running the gamut from human- frequently divide environmental scientists
centered (or "anthropocentric") views to and conservationists. This split often has as
more nature-centered (or "non- much to do with different ethical
anthropocentric") perspectives. Non- convictions and values regarding our
anthropocentrists argue for the promotion
Module 1
Seven Environmental Principles, Ecosystem Services. Environmental Ethics
responsibility to species and ecosystems as
it does with scientific disagreements over
the interpretation of data or the predicted
outcomes of societal actions and policies.
