Journal Assignment One Deanne Johnson PHI216

After reading chapters 1 and 2 I have found that environmental management and environmental science is where I intrinsically desire to be. It seems to be in my very core as though I was born to speak for or represent the environment and all the shares its blessings. When I read about ethics and morality, I never thought of them as being different but the same. I was definitely someone who used the terms interchangeably. Looking at ethics I find it easy to see them as a list of codes that people or businesses use as characteristics. Thinking of my code of ethics at my employment that employees must follow doesnt make the company or employee moral but a character expectation not necessarily how we relate to each other or the world. I find it easier to see morality as a code of actions instead of characteristics. It is the action a person or company takes that is moral or immoral. This has made it easier to distinguish between the two where as before, as I said, I used them interchangeably. I find ethics and morality work hand in hand. Our morals will tell us how we are to act upon the code of ethics a business, school or church has laid out for us. If our actions were typically immoral then why would we consider following ethical guidelines or rules or laws? I can imagine being able to live a life of immorality yet being able to follow ethical rules or laws. Therefore I believe they work in together, going hand in hand. This led me into Moral Realism and Utilitarianism in lesson 2. Moral Realism, as I understand or understood it, is the judgement of ethics by human nature or things are as they are. Utilitarianism is defined by all humans should act in the best interest of self and everyone. I can not see society acting in just one or the other of these two ideas. I believe things happen in the natural world that just are no moral or immoral judgement added but nature does not act in the best interest of the group. A lion hunts and kills its prey for the benefit of its particular species but not in the benefit of all species. Humans on the other

hand should act with thinking how it would benefit all, including nature, not just the benefit of humans. Humans, unlike nature have the ability to reason what is right or wrong so our decisions impact others whether they are right or wrong. These particular ideas are important to my learning because it is central to my belief that humans need to act and make decisions knowing how it will impact the environment. Our relationship between humanity and the environment are so skewed that we have put our global Eco-systems in jeopardy. We so often assume our actions do not have consequences beyond our own doorstep that we act without thought. I am not sure how they have enhanced or changed my own beliefs. For as long as I can remember, long ago into my childhood long before becoming a Christian did I understand that the decisions I may today will impact me in the future and those, including nature, around me. So I think the lessons thus far have possibly enhanced or grounded what I already know to be true or environmentally conscious.