ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN THE NIGER DELTA AN ETHICAL APPRAISAL

Abstract

From the beginning, humans have consistently interacted with the
environment. Available evidence suggests that from the earliest
times, humans’ relationship with the environment was perceived as
that of a superior and a subordinate, with man regarding nature as
the super-ordinate reality and themselves as the subordinate.
However, rapid advancements in science and technology have
brought about radical changes in human’s attitude towards nature.                                                                            Equipped with sophisticated and more efficient tools, and propelled
by a radically different intellectual orientation and religious outlook,
humankind’s attitude and relationship with nature began to change.
Nature became depersonalized, and the earth no longer considered as
something organic, but as dead matter that could be taken apart,
studied and ultimately understood and synthesized. This radical
change of attitude, which some environmentalists choose to refer to
as the “arrogance of humanism” has culminated in the ruthless
exploitation, depletion and degradation of the environment.
Capitalist economics now assert that the earth is a mere resource that
can be tapped, managed, developed and distributed. This nonchalant
attitude has led humans to exploiting the resources of the earth
without caution, neither are they perturbed about the damage being
inflicted on the earth.