Nature matters: caring and accountability

Introduction

Nature Matters considers environmental responsibility and what may matter from a caring perspective and an accountability perspective. A reading by Andrew Light reflects on four key debates in environmental ethics regarding the way in which nature is valued, and prompts the question on how such debates might inform environmental responsibility.

Section 2 examines the formal processes involved in developing accountability in the context of sustainable development. The persuasiveness of the sciences (both social and natural) in deliberations around sustainability, and more specifically on issues of ecological restoration, is the subject of a reading by Eric Higgs. Higgs draws out the problems associated with the duality of cultures – science and non-science – in raising issues that matter for environmental responsibility.

This unit is an adapted extract from the Open University course Environmental responsibility: ethics, policy and action (TD866). [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]