The Role of Environmental Ethics in Decision-making

A discussion on the values and basis that environmental professionals and companies use to make decisions that affect their interaction with the environment. This will be a discussion on environmental ethics and not on professional ethics, such as honesty, fraud, or disclosure. An environmental ethic is based on the values that an individual places on the natural environment. There may be many values that impact a person’s environmental ethic; for example, aesthetic value of the natural environment, utility value, intrinsic value, etc.

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 questions that need to be asked and answered here are:

Is having an environmental ethic an essential part of, or does it naturally accompany, being an environmental professional? What values do you place on the environment?

Which of these values have the largest impact on the creation of your environmental ethic?

What is the impact of your environmental ethic on the decisions you make as an environmental professional?

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