Environmental ethics is a growing consideration in business decision-making, destined to mark a major turn in business philosophy this century. Environmental values of biodiversity, access of all species to energy supporting evolution and human development, and the sustainable disposal and recycling of our waste are the determinants of eco-justice. Because the environment can’t inform us about its ‘interests’ that are the focus of traditional ethics, team decision-making involving all stakeholders based on the best science is essential to ‘draw the line’ between human and environmental interests. Climate change poses challenges for all businesses especially those based in developing countries struggling to catch up to western standards of living but possessing much of the raw materials required for the world to transition to renewable energy.

1. 1.

   Heidegger (1977,1988).

2. 2.

   Dawson (2002, pp. 25–26).

3. 3.

   For example: The relative electricity consumption in terms of kwh/person/annum in India, China and the USA is 857, 3991 and 11,730 respectively. Environmentalists have consistently claimed it would take several planet Earths to accommodate the rubbish discarded by everybody when the developing world caches up to the developed world.

4. 4.

   Leaky and Lewin,The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind, p. 241.

5. 5.

   Ibid. The current extent of biodiversity extinction is obscured by new species being discovered all the time, especially in the depths of the ocean still largely unexplored. The risk of particular species becoming extinct, like bees for example, is often more important than statistics.

6. 6.

   I’m referring here to Yellow Vests riots in Paris about increases in the price of fuel, and similar protests in Canada.

7. 7.

   Open ended evolution here separates the natural cycle of evolution from the wonton demise of species caused by human interaction with the environment. The latter is avoidable, the former isn’t.

8. 8.

   Hans Jonas (1984, pp. 10, 21, 82, 118, 23).

9. 9.

   Ibid, p. 113.

10. 10.

    Johnson, “The Thermodynamic Origin of Ecosystems: A Tale of Broken Symmetry” p. 81. See also Zeman, “Information, Knowledge and Time” pp. 246–7.

11. 11.

    For some interesting background on Johnson’s contribution to the Deep Ecology Movement see Bilimoria and McCulloch,Environmental Ethics, p. 28. The following paragraphs are adapted from Dawson (2010).

12. 12.

    Johnson (1991, p. 162).

13. 13.

    Ibid, p.45.

14. 14.

    Ibid, pp. 226, 27.

15. 15.

    Ibid, p. 244.

16. 16.

    Ibid, pp. 260, 70, 71.

17. 17.

    See for example Marohasy (2020). The contradictory science accepts the basic premise of CO₂ being a greenhouse gas. The debate concerns the extent to which CO₂ is the primary attenuator of climate change. Obviously, admission of any possibility the influence of CO₂ is less than what IPCC models predict (like empirically observed satellite data patterns) is supressed by Wokists as denialism because it would impact the already slow actions of governments towards a net zero carbon economy where words abound, actions less so. The status of fossil fuels in the catalogue of world energy sources has been stuck at around 80% for the last 10 years. This is why climate change woke activism has moved to the board room where the course of technology’s interaction with the environment runs ahead of government policies. Less developed states are obviously keen to advance the prosperity of their people and wait to see how the west manages net zero carbon economies.

18. 18.

    Data in this para are derived from readily available internet sources. Windfarm specific power in W/sq.m. come from Deutsch Windguard GmbH: “Capacity densities of European offshore wind farms”. I’ve used the average from a quoted range of 300–500 W/sq.m. in the text. The solar power density comes from ‘The Azimuth Project’ website. In the desert solar power is 20 W/sq.m. and in Germany it’s 5 W/sq.m. I’ve used 20 W/sq.m. in the analysis. The same source references coal powered stations at 1000 W/sq.m. and gas powered stations at 5000–15,000 W/sq.m. I’ve used 10,000 W/sq.m. in the analysis.

19. 19.

    G. Bateson,Ecology of Mind, p. 470.

20. 20.

    Next two paragraphs adapted from Dawson, “Climate Change and Development Ethics after Sen” p. 22.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Highton, VIC, Australia

   Lindsay Dawson

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