Chap. 5 可持續發展：對未來世代的責任

Responsibilities to Future Generations: Sustainable Development

鄭先祐 (Ayo)國立臺南大學 環境與生態學院

生態科學與技術學系

Ayo NUTN website: http://myweb.nutn.edu.tw/~hycheng/

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課程大綱Part I 基本概念

1 科學與倫理學 2 倫理學的理論 3 宗教的環境倫理觀 ( 儒家、道家、佛教、基督信

仰 ) Part II 環境倫理學與應用倫理學

4 倫理學與經濟學： 5 可持續發展：對未來世代的責任 6 對自然界的責任：植物和動物權利

Part III 環境倫理學的理

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Environmental Ethics

Carrying capacity ( 承載量 )The Population Bomb ( 人口炸彈 ) (1968)The Limits of Growth ( 成長的極限 ) (1972)the human population problem? Environmental Impact (I) =PAT

P = population A = affluence ( 富裕 ) (consumption) T = technology

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What is 人口問題？

The present size of the global human population is unsustainably high. 

Around AD200, when there were about a quarter of a billion people on Earth. 

By 2005 the total had risen to an estimated 6.5 billion (United Nations, 2005).

摘取自： Townsend, Begon and Harper (2008) Essentials of Ecology. 3rd. ed. chap.12, p.392-393, Blackwell Pub. chap.12, p.392-393.

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It is not the size but the distribution over the Earth of the human population that is unsustainable. 

The fraction of the population living, highly concentrated, in an urban environment( 都市人口 ) has risen from around 3% in 1800 to 29% in 1950 and 47% in 2000. 

Each agricultural worker today has to feed her-or himself plus one city dweller, by 2050 that will have risen to two urbanites (Cohen, 2005).

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The present rate of growth in size of the global human population is unsustainably high. 

Prior to the widespread agricultural revolution of the 18th century, the human population , very roughly, had taken 1000 years to double in size. 

The most recent doubling took just 39 years (Cohen, 2001)

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It is not the size but the age distribution of the global human population that is unsustainable. 

In the ‘developed’ regions of the world, the percentage of the population that was elderly (over 65) rose from 7.6% in 1950 to 12.1% in 1990. 

This proportion will jump dramatically after 2010 when the large cohorts born after World War II pass 65.

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It is not the size but the uneven distribution of resources within the global population that is unsustainable. 

In 1992, the 830 million people of the world’s richest countries enjoyed an average income equivalent to US$22,000 per annum. 

The 2.6 billion people in the middle income countries received $1,600. 

But the 2 billion in the poorest countries got just $400.  These averages themselves hide enormous inequalities.

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Worldwide, 1.2 billion people live on less that $1 a day and 2.8 billion people live on less than $2 a day.

In contrast, the 12% of the world’s population who live in North America and Western Europe account for 60 percent of worldwide consumer expenditures.

The wealthiest 25 % of the world’s population consumes 58% of the energy, 45% of the meat and fish, 84% of the paper, and 87% of the vehicles and accounts for 86% of the total private consumer expenditures.

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Less than 5 % of the world’s population, the United States uses 33% of the world’s nonrenewable energy and mineral resources and contributes more than 20%of CO2 emissions.

The richest 16% of the world’s population consumes 80% of the world’s resources.

Is it unjust?Our Common Future ( 我們共同的未來 ) (1987)

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References

Cohen, J. E. (2001) World population in 2050: assessing the projections. In: Seismic Shifts: the Economic impact of Demographic Change (J.S. Little & R. K. Triest, eds. ), pp.83-113.

Cohen, J. E. (2003) Human population: the next half century. Science 302,1172-1175.

Cohen, J. E. (2005) Human population grows up. Scientific American 293(3), 48-55.

Townsend, Begon and Harper (2008) Essentials of Ecology. 3rd. ed. chap.12, p.392-393, Blackwell Pub. chap.12, p.392-393.

United Nations (2005) The World Population Prospects: the 2004 revision. Analytical Report Vol. III. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, United Nations, New York.

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Do we have responsibilities to future generations?

生態環保， 關注「未來者」的權利。 可否持續？

我們對未來是否有責任？ 共同的祖先 生命的承繼與延續

對兒女子孫的責任 對未來世代的責任

短暫的生命，存在的價值？建構可持續的未來？

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可持續發展的原則簡單地說，生態主張就是企圖在有限的資源條件下，建立一個永續（或持續久些）的文明社會。建立永續的文明社會，當前的第一步就是放棄「量」 ( 拓荒 ) 的開發策略，改用「保育策略」。電力資源是一個好例子。長期而言，永續的原則可以用以下三個Ｅ項說明：

(1) 生態保全 (ecological integrity) (2) 經濟效率 (economics efficiency) (3) 公平 (equity)

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可持續發展的原則要達到跨世代的公平，有如下兩個通則：

(1) 每一代應必要維護其由上一代傳接得到的自然資源，使其留給下一代時，平均每人的資源總量不可少於其傳接得到時。 (2) 可再生資源、資源龐雜度、和生態功能，都應永遠地維持。

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Remarks

Simply applying standard ethical theories would not yield satisfactory analyses of these issues.

個人的倫理→族群的倫理→與未來的相關連。Philosophical ethics needed to be

extended beyond traditional boundaries.

下一章，延伸到非人類中心的倫理 (non-anthropocentric ethics)

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問題與討論1. 每個個人，對未來世代，是否有責任？倘若有，那麼是什麼責任？同時請按上課相關倫理學理論內容，說明理由。2. 個人有後代，或是沒有後代，對未來世代的責任，是否有差別？3. 倘若某個人都沒有後代，他 ( 她 ) 對未來世代，是否仍有責任？4. 請扼要說明理由。倘若仍有責任，請說明是什麼責任？