Preventing the Next Mass Extinction: Ethical Obligations

Journal Article · Sun Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 2009 · Journal of Cosmology

OSTI ID:989137

Tonn, Bruce Edward ^[1]

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1. ORNL

This paper presents a framework to judge whether we are meeting our ethical responsibilities for preventing massive species extinction. The framework is a generalization from another framework, one that addresses ethical responsibilities related to preventing premature, involuntary human deaths from environmental risks and the extinction of the human race. The resulting ethical risk standards are quite stringent and it is argued that we are nowhere close to meeting any standards, except in the cases of human extinction and extinction of all life on earth, which are met by chance, not by design. Much work is needed to build the 'technology' needed to estimate probabilities associated with massive losses of human life and species extinction over the suggested 1000 year planning horizon.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
• Sponsoring Organization: EE USDOE - Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 989137
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology, Journal Name: Journal of Cosmology Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
ANIMALS
DEATH
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ETHICAL ASPECTS
HUMAN POPULATIONS
MITIGATION
PLANNING
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION