Book contents
- Ethics and the Environment
- Cambridge Applied Ethics
- Ethics and the Environment
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Preface
- 1 The Environment as an Ethical Question
- 2 Human Morality
- 3 Moral Philosophy
- 4 Normative Ethics
- 5 Humans and Other Animals
- 6 Animals, Food, and the Environment
- 7 The Value of Nature
- 8 The Plurality of Values
- 9 California Conflicts
- 10 Nature’s Future
- 11 How Should I Live?
- References
- Index
11 - How Should I Live?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 November 2024
- Ethics and the Environment
- Cambridge Applied Ethics
- Ethics and the Environment
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Preface
- 1 The Environment as an Ethical Question
- 2 Human Morality
- 3 Moral Philosophy
- 4 Normative Ethics
- 5 Humans and Other Animals
- 6 Animals, Food, and the Environment
- 7 The Value of Nature
- 8 The Plurality of Values
- 9 California Conflicts
- 10 Nature’s Future
- 11 How Should I Live?
- References
- Index
Summary
The question of how should I live has special resonance in the Anthropocene, which threatens virtually everything we care about. This chapter answers this question by saying that I should live in a way that expresses my values, and that these values should be directed towards making the world better. In practice this means living car-free if possible, avoiding airplane travel, eating a plant-based diet, and having few, if any, children. In addition to living this way, we should try to change law and policy, and support individuals in their efforts to live in this way. Yet, no matter how much we may succeed, we will inevitably live with change and perhaps even disaster. These present threats to living a meaningful life, but they are also the elements from which meaning and joy must be forged.
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- Ethics and the EnvironmentAn Introduction, pp. 234 - 248Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024