Ecological justice
The environmental justice ( English ecological justice ) describes a treatment of natural resources that the rights of all living things involve.
In addition to humans, the rights of animals and plants are also included in the concept. Ecological justice thus concerns social and spatial distributive justice and procedural justice in questions of human interaction with their biotic environment. The term has its origins in the US environmental and civil rights movement . He was in the further development of the concept of environmental justice marked (environmental justice).
Definition of ecological justice
The term ecological justice describes a justice-theoretical approach that includes the rights of all living beings . This puts the focus of the more anthropocentric view of environmental justice on a more holistic treatment of nature . So it is not a question of dividing up natural assets or the negative effects of their destruction in a "fairer way". Rather, the question of distribution is seen from a point of view in whose radical approach z. B. a beetle has the same rights to its existence as a human. This presupposes that the human being grants nature a 'value-in-itself ' without a right to use it.
In common parlance, the terms ecological or ecology are used to describe a political-normative attitude ( political ecology ) . The Eco-justice is that of a biological definition of ecology , which in turn acts in debates politics.
Practical topics of ecological justice
Domestic distributive justice
Domestic questions of ecological justice in the distribution of goods arise within a relatively closed social system. That is why they usually have no national or international significance. Depending on the "civilization level" of a country, very different ecological problems play a role. The nature of the ecological problems in the USA compared to those in Europe is already considerably different. For the current Western European countries, Anton Leist identifies the following environmental policy goals:
- Reduction of CO₂ emissions,
- Risk minimization or withdrawal from nuclear energy
- Protection and sustainable use of existing natural spaces and species,
- Preservation and development of water supplies,
- Risk minimization of released genetically modified organisms,
- Reduction of air pollution, electrosmog, chemical emissions, waste, UV rays.
Although larger parts of these goals cannot be achieved by going it alone in individual states, Leist assigns them to this category, because only the common basis of culturally homogeneous societies can perceive obligations towards future generations as a common goal. On the other hand, because only on the basis of strong civil rights is there a chance to counterbalance the ecological destructive tendencies.
criticism
The main criticism of the concept of ecological justice is that de facto not all living beings can be included in the discourse, since justice presupposes social interaction : "If we assume that the meaning of justice is linked to the type of social relationships, Nature can only partially be included in conditions of ecological justice. The extent is in turn determined according to the criterion of the social relationships we have or can have with animals. According to the common understanding, we only have social relationships with the animals that we keep as pets or farm animals. Relationships with wildlife are minimal social at best, and we usually have no social relationships with plants and inanimate parts of nature. These parts of nature are not actors in any weak sense. As a result, one cannot speak of justice ›between species‹ either. ”(Anton Leist)
See also
- Institute for Theological Zoology
- Earth Charter
- Conservation Policy
- Environmental justice
- Climate justice
Individual evidence
- ^ Anton Leist: Ecological Ethics II: Ecological Justice: Global, Intergenerational and Human Ecological. ( Memento of December 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 991 kB) Section 1.2
- ^ Anton Leist: Ecological Ethics II: Ecological Justice: Global, Intergenerational and Human Ecological. ( Memento of December 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 991 kB) p. 3.