...However, it was an essay in Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, "The Land Ethic," in which Leopold explicitly claimed that the roots of the ecological crisis were philosophical (Davis 73). Environmental problems come in many forms and plague members of all societies. We are connected to everything in our world. We are connected thought the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the soil where we live.
To keep our world healthy, all these elements need to work together. There are no global laws protecting the environment and that is why everyone should practice good ethics when it comes to environmental issues. Most environmental problems are the result of the unethical actions of individuals or organizations. One of the worst industrial catastrophes ever was caused by the unethical behavior of a Union Carbide employee. In December of 1984, in Bhopal, India, water was mixed into a tank of methyl isocyanate (Ridgeway 93). A huge cloud of poisonous gases began to pour out of the tank. As the people of Bhopal slept, the cloud of gas rose up into the air. The wind allowed it to spread over a large area. Within a few hours over 2,000 people were dead. Today, over 18,000 people have died because of illnesses caused by the gas leak. Environmental Activists expressed that poison from the factory continues to creep into the local water system and continues to cause devastating effects to the environment (Ridgeway 95).
There are many groups that are concerned about the environment. The Sierra Club is one of many groups that have displayed a global environmental ethic when it comes to the environment. The Sierra Club has more than 700,000 members. The Club is America's oldest, largest and most influential environmental organization. The Sierra Club has lobbied Congress to pass bills that are environmental friendly and reject those that are not. The Sierra Club defends the environment and upholds a global environmental ethic on many issues; such as global warming, air pollution, water pollution, cleaner energy, land population, and human rights. The Sierra Club also helps by providing information to the communities on local and global environmental problems. Environmental education is the link to teaching environmental ethics. Environmental education provides countless contributions to ethical treatment of the environment. For example it can enlighten the public on many of the environmental issues we face today. At the same time, environmental education promotes stewardship of natural resources.
Most of all environmental education enhances the public's understanding of the need for a healthy plant, animal life and biodiversity. It also educates the public about how their actions affect natural ecosystems; and how positive steps taken to minimize impacts on these ecosystems will translate into improvements in our overall environment. Teaching about the environment is as important as teaching people to read or write. For many people, after learning about the impact that the human race has caused, they want to know how to correct the problems or reduce the impact on the environment. Source reduction is the key to answering this very complex question. Source reduction is about reversing one's lifestyle and building an economy that is environmentally sound, rather than one based on the throw-and-burn ethic. Source reduction is about designing, manufacturing and using products with the goal of lessening their quantity and toxicity in the waste stream. If waste isn't created, it presents no disposal problems. In the long run, source reduction provides the most ethical and cost-effective way of reducing our impact on the environment...

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