Ethics For Survival

Carolyn Raffensperger and Nancy Myers 18jan01

The Networker
The Newsletter of the Science and Environmental Health Network
Carolyn Raffensperger and Nancy Myers, editors
January 2001 - Volume 6, #1
www.sehn.org

In a recent trade skirmish over whaling, the Japanese government declared that the United States and aligned countries had to make decisions about whaling on the basis of "sound science." That is, if the populations of whales hunted by the Japanese had sustainable numbers, the U.S. had to allow the Japanese to hunt whales for meat.

Similarly, rural residents of Minnesota were recently told to leave their emotions at the door so the siting of a factory hog farm could be done purely on the basis of science. And opponents of genetically engineered salmon are told that risk assessors' decisions about harm are all that should be considered.

But what about those "emotions" of ours that tell us something is wrong with this picture? Most of us still look nervously over our shoulders when we start talking about affection for whales, our desire for good health for ourselves and future generations, or our worry about the human ability to create monstrosities. We are used to having such responses dismissed as emotional. But they are really expressions of values, based on human experience, and as such they deserve attention.

The problem is that when a certain kind of science, which is supposedly objective, is brought into the discussion, values such as these seem to have no place. Numbers trump.

In more than three years of working through the implications of the precautionary principle, we at the Science and Environmental Health Network have been astonished to find how radically the principle challenges that supposed separation of science and values. In November 2000 we convened thoughtful people, philosophers, scientists, and environmentalists at Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondacks to discuss what role ethics plays in the precautionary principle.

The beauty of the precautionary principle is that it allows us to integrate science and ethics. Science, of course, has never really been separated from values. It has been matched up with greed. It has served a worldview that maintains the value of separation--the assumption that values CAN be separated from knowledge, one form of knowledge from another, humans from their environment and other species, individual humans from each other.

The intellectual tradition that claims science and values can and should be separated goes back to Medieval times and a theologian named Occam. We are recognizing only now how short-sighted and destructive it can be, and what impoverished science it leads to.

The challenge before the Blue Mountain group was to articulate the ethic that lies behind the precautionary principle. Their answer was that it was an ethic of survival. Here is the Blue Mountain Lake Statement, which says that "emotional" values such as compassion, sympathy, gratitude, and even humor are based on sound instinct. They are not just nice things that nice people do so they don't displease Miss Manners. They are essential if we are to survive.

The Blue Mountain Lake Statement of Essential Values

Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY, November 12, 2000

Values become actions. Too many of our actions are killing our planet, our communities, and our spirit. Our actions are killing our loved ones. We are diminishing the future for everyone and everything.

Particular values form the basis of our survival. When practiced, they help us live in reciprocity with nature and with each other. We are the relationships we share, and we are permeable--physically, emotionally, spiritually--to our surroundings. Therefore, we hold these values as essential:

GRATITUDE, because our lives depend on air, water, soil, plants, humans, and other animals;

EMPATHY, because we are connected with all of creation;

SYMPATHY, because we all experience suffering and death, both necessarily in the course of life and unnecessarily when these values are not practiced;

COMPASSION, because it moves us to attend to suffering and injustice; and

HUMILITY, because we cannot know all of the consequences of our actions.

We belong to the community of the Earth. It is the source of our own life, and our actions affect its well-being. Therefore, we practice:

RESPECT, because it is fundamental to good relationships;

RESTRAINT, because the Earth is finite, and we must honor its limits;

SIMPLICITY, because we are only one species sharing Earth with many others;

HUMOR, because life is good, and humor disrobes tyranny and absurdity.

Human beings need sustaining social and natural environments. No one by law or habit is entitled to rob others or future generations of a diverse world vibrant with hope and possibilities. We have an obligation to restore social and ecological fabrics that have been torn by violence or exploitation.

We affirm that all being is sacred and has intrinsic value that is not monetary.

People who hold these values outnumber those who do not. We draw strength from each other. As we abandon harmful activities, we take nature as our guide. We explicitly consider the effects of actions on individuals, families, communities, species, landscapes, regions, and future generations.

It is through love for the particular--a child, a neighborhood, a family of otters, a meandering river--that we find our way to a sustaining relationship with the Earth and our communities.

Blue Mountain Participants

Andrew Jameton, Omaha Nebraska
Bill Vitek, Potsdam New York
Bruce McKay, Montreal Quebec
Carolyn Raffensperger, Windsor North Dakota
Craig Holdrege, Ghent New York
David Abram, Victor Idaho
Derrick Jensen, Crescent City California
Fred Kirschenmann, Ames Iowa
Harriet Barlow, Minneapolis Minnesota
Jennifer Sahn, Great Barrington Massachusetts
Katherine Barrett, Victoria British Columbia
Maria Pellerano, Annapolis Maryland
Marianne Spitzform, Missoula Montana
Mary O'Brien, Eugene Oregon
Mark Ritchie, Minneapolis Minnesota
Nancy Myers, Oak Park Illinois
Peter deFur, Richmond Virginia
Peter Montague, Annapolis Maryland
Peter Sauer, Salem New York
Sheila Kinney, Blue Mountain Lake New York
Steve Light, Minneapolis Minnesota
Ted Schettler, Boston Massachusetts
Tracey Easthope, Ann Arbor Michigan
Wes Jackson, Salina Kansas