Environmental Ethics: Balancing the Values of Current Lives, Future Lives, and Quality of Life

E ethics literature often argues that we should conserve the environment in order to (1) preserve the lives of future people and (2) provide future people with a basic level of quality of life. (For instance, see the writings of Barry, Bayet, and Naess.) But what must we give up in exchange? Garrett Hardin’s argument for lifeboat ethics implies that we should conserve the environment even if it requires sacrificing the lives of current people (see section 2). Should we sacrifice current lives in order to save future lives? Should we sacrifice current lives in order to provide a certain level of quality of life for future people? Should we regard current people’s quality of life interests as equally valuable to future people’s quality of life interests? This paper examines these moral concerns within the context of environmental ethics.