Negotiating Environmental Rights1

1. This article grew out of a seminar in political science I directed at Cape Breton University in 2007–2008 on the science, technology, and society perspectives of the Sydney tar ponds.

Abstract

Environmental ethics arises as the output of a trade-off between our rights and nature's right to life. This negotiation secures the possibility of achieving sustainable developments, if it is conducted fairly. The rights of persons are delimited by their origin, as are the rights of the other. A person is the output of relationships taking place at three levels: (1) a material self; (2) a social self; and (3) a private or internal self. Pollution and war serve as an epitaph to remind us of failed ethical trade-offs in these associations.

Notes

Notes

1. This article grew out of a seminar in political science I directed at Cape Breton University in 2007–2008 on the science, technology, and society perspectives of the Sydney tar ponds.

2. James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis postulates that ‘the living systems of the earth—the animals and plants collectively called the biosphere—regulate physical systems such as temperature and the balance of gases and acidity in the atmosphere so as to protect and support life’ (Lovelock, 1979).

3. Debbie Ouellette (a coke ovens resident of Frederick street) and Neila MacQueen (a tar ponds site resident) presented their views on the state of their health and their sense of loss at being forced to move away from their life-long home to a Political Science 420 class at Cape Breton University (25 February 2008). They expressed a loss of personal identity. Debbie Ouellette has initiated a civil suit against the former owners and operators of the former steel plant (Cape Breton Post, Tuesday, 29 January 2008). For additional information on the history of the tar ponds, see http://www.safecleanup.com