Environmental Ethics: Theory and practice

Wednesday 1:30pm-4:00pm

Afternoon Mini Workshop

Leaders

Jeffrey Spike, George Washington School of Medicine

Elizabeth Spike, Clean Air Partners

Students are not only interested but motivated by the ethical dimension of environmental science. Instructors should use that motivation in their courses rather than send a message that ethics is excluded from the course because it isn't science. This session builds capacity in instructors in their ability to address the ethical issues of complex environmental problems with a presentation followed by small and large group discussions. Participants will learn how to introduce environmental ethics as a driver of content and skills in their science teaching.

Participants will engage in a brief exercise to reflect on their current pedagogy and educational beliefs. Participants will then explore the four environmental ethical principles of the Precautionary Principle, Biodiversity, Environmental Justice, and Sustainability through interactive slides and handouts. Specifically, the session will compare the four environmental ethical principles to biomedical and public health ethical principles used in medical schools and schools of public health.

The long term outcome is for students to make better reasoned and more ethical decisions about managing our natural resources and protecting human health using the four environmental ethical principles.

Goals

By the end of this workshop, participants will:

Identify and describe the four environmental ethical principles
Become comfortable introducing environmental ethical principles into their teaching

Program

1:30 Welcome and introductions

1:35 Participants will engage in a brief reflection on their current pedagogy and educational beliefs.

1:45 Participants will explore

The four environmental ethical principles of the Precautionary Principle, Biodiversity, Environmental Justice, and Sustainability.
The four environmental ethical principles compared to biomedical and public health ethical principles.

3:15 Break

3:25 Participants will test and explain how the four environmental ethical principles apply independently and can present conflicts that necessitate trade-offs in various examples.

3:45 Participants extend their experience with the four environmental ethical principles in small groups to brainstorm and propose mini-lessons with assessments.

4:05 Participants share their small group products with the whole group.

4:25 Exit Ticket: I used to think..., now I think...

4:30 Adjourn