A NEW ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

Holmes Rolston III

Abstract

In this second edition of A New Environmental Ethics: The Next Millennium for Life on Earth, Holmes Rolston III presents a powerful account of environmental ethics, picking up from where he concluded his monumental work on this very topic in the first edition. The first edition examined humanity’s insignificance in the cosmic scheme of things. The focus of the second edition is on the challenges confronting humanity and all its inhabitants, ‘the Earthlings,’ in the new millennium. The human species, a ‘unique species of a unique planet,’ also belongs to earthlings. Laced with lifelong research and richly gained experiences in the field, Rolston encourages the readers to choose whether or not humanity wishes to live on a green planet or the planet that has been ruined and charred beyond recognition. Without effective environmental ethics, humans will have no option but to live a ‘denatured life’ on a ‘denatured planet,’ having little hope for a bright future in the next millennium.