Approaches in Environmental Ethics for Business and Engineering

This module has been developed for students in Business Administration and Engineering. Students learn to integrate ethics into environmental problem-solving by studying different approaches (deontology, utilitarianism, virtue) that take different perspectives (individualistic/holistic, anthropocentric/nonanthropocentric) on real world environmental problems. Three cases taken from Puerto Rico introduce these themes: Super Aqueduct, Windmills, and Gas Pipelines. The characterization of environmental problems as "wicked" comes from Rittel and Weber. Students are given tools for tackling these ill-structured situations that resist more traditional approaches. Ethical approaches in environmental are presented to help uncover the ethical, social, political, economic and ecological dimensions of interdisciplinary environmental problems. Real world cases provide a practical "laboratory" in which students can try out and test problem solving frameworks. Finally, reflective activities and reference materials are provided to help achieve module closure. This module has been developed as part a project funded by the National Science Foundation, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF-SES-0551779.