Process philosophy and ecological ethics

We have now reached a peculiar state in the debate on ethics and ecology. In one sense the environmentalists are winning. Although there are powerful dissidents, there is now a general consensus that ecological destruction on a global scale is a major threat to the future of civilization, if not of humanity. While this has been brought home by global warming and its effects, there is a growing awareness that this is only the. most threatening symptom of the destructive trajectory we are on. It is also appreciated as never before that it will be poorer people who will suffer most from this destruction, at least to begin with, and that any ethics which does not take this into account is defective, if for no other reason than that the poor of the world will respond to environmental problems in ways that threaten the lifestyles of the affluent. Finally, it is being recognized that our present crisis has been brought about by a failure to comprehend the dynamics and intrinsic significance of life, both human and non-human. [Introduction]