This lesson provides a decision-making guide to help you integrate what you've learned in previous lessons. The main benefit of this guide is that it will force you to think more clearly about the different considerations that must be considered when making an ethical decision about an environmental problem. Analysis, Assessment, and Action are the three general phases in the decision-making model. Even if you can't answer all of these questions, grouping your thoughts into these three main categories will help you avoid the fatal mistake of conflating empirical and normative, or spiritual, considerations.
This model is meant to aid a decision involving a case in environmental ethics. Other environmental ethics cases can be found by searching on the Web. It also highly encouraged to use these decision-making models on a real-life case that you may be confronting in your communities. Go through each step of the model, take notes as you go.
1. Personal factors: Do you have any personal experiences that influence your perspective on the case?
2. Power dynamics: Do all of the case's stakeholders have roughly equal power in terms of making a decision? Why not, if not?
3.Factual and scientific data: What are the most important facts in the case? Is there any disagreement about the facts? What is the most logical interpretation of the facts? Is it possible that scientific evidence is being interpreted in a skewed manner?
4. Complicating factors: Is there anything about the case that is especially odd or complicated? What does it mean in terms of science? Or is it a matter of law?
5. Relationships: Do any of the key stakeholders have crucial issues of personal relationships that may affect how they view the case?
6. Ethical issues: What is the case's main ethical issue? What are a couple of secondary ethical concerns?
7. Implications and alternatives: What are the most important alternatives? How should they approach the case's main ethical issue? What are the possible advantages and disadvantages of these options?