Environmental Issues: Environmental Ethics And Social Construction

Environmental issues are some of the most important issues in today’s society. Not only are there a plethora of environmental problems generated by humans but they are all very difficult to solve. Many theorists have come up with general approaches as to solve such problems. Such examples would include population and scarcity introduced by Robert Malthus, environmental ethics and social construction. These approaches suggest different problems and solutions to these problems. It is hard to choose which approach can be considered the most accurate but each approach does offer a different strategy into fighting environmental problems.
There are many different approaches that can be used to target environmental issues. The first approach would

For instance, being able to change the mindsets of people about what is considered morally bad towards the environment. As of right now, while nearly half of Americans believe in climate change (Gallup, 2017), only 32% of people care about such problems (Sifferlin, 2015). So, while many may want environmental change due to political affiliation, personal experience, or protection of future generations, most people continue to consume energy and are unwilling to change their lives in order to save the planet. Since there is a social context that relates the environment more to “nature” and less to humans, it becomes easier to exploit and take advantage of. A reason that social construction believes to be the main problem as to the social aspects behind people not worrying about environmental problems. A way in which social construction tends to go against this problem is through environmental discourse, or “taking the understanding further to explain how and why specific ideas of nature come to be normal, taken for granted, when they are not” (Robins et al. 2014). In other words, bring light to environmental issues that normally are not considered a dramatic enough to worry about. A discourse can help communicate ideologies to people taken from simple environmental concepts that tend to be under looked. An example would be climate change, specifically raising global

First, lectures tend to give a generous amount of information of each approach. Additionally, lectures provide deeper questions that stimulate critical thinking towards the issues. Another great source that provides support for finding conclusions would be discussions. Discussions allows for students to get a general understanding of what was taught in lecture and how students should be interpreting that information. Along with this, discussions tend to hit the key points surrounding each approach, problems they suggest and their solutions. Last, another great source for students would be the readings that are provided. The book Environment and Society a Critical Introduction by Robins et al. provides in depth concepts and ideas that look towards each approach in more detail than what would have been discussed in class. Because of these resources, students have very many ways to come about conclusions for environmental