Workshop: The Role of Environmental Ethics in Decision-making
April 2, 2009 by Brian Butler , John Morelli and | Filed under: The Role of Environmental Ethics in Decision-making
This workshop will be an exploration and discussion of what environmental professionals believe is the basis for decisions they make and whether the values that an environmental professional places on the environment have a place in decisions related to company policies and actions that have the potential to affect the environment (both positively and negatively).
If there is time, we will discuss whether a company can have an environmental ethic and what impacts that may have on the company and the environmental professional’s ability to make certain decisions.
The workshop objective is to try and formulate answers to some of the following questions:
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Is having an environmental ethic an essential part of, or does it naturally accompany, being an environmental professional?
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What values do you place on the environment?
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Which of these values have the largest impact on the creation of your environmental ethic?
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What is the impact of your environmental ethic on the decisions you make as an environmental professional?
Moderator: Danielle Mettler,
If the company policies are addressed in the company’s MS (Mission Statement), then the Environmental Professional will need to comply with the MS. The Environmental Professional’s environmental ethic will therefore be affected, either positively or negatively, if this mission statement is a consensus of stakeholders with varying degrees of “environmental ethics”. I do believe a company can and should have an environmental ethic but I think the Environmental Professional’s ability to make decisions based on his/hers own environmental ethic could be limited or challenged, given the mission statement.