Prepared remarks by Johnny Lin, Assistant Professor of Physics, North Park University, at the panel discussion on integrative environmental stewardship, held at North Park University, Chicago, IL on Sep 30, 2005. Delivered remarks may differ.
During this week we've surveyed the current scientific understanding of climate change, and their relationship to storms, and looked at the tools available to water resources engineers in analyzing and implementing flood mitigation measures. But how do we go from science to individual action and governmental policy?
Many times this question is unasked, as if the translation from science to policy is obvious. But science, in and of itself, does not contain an ethic. Rather science provides a certain type of knowledge, one that is descriptive of certain parts of the material realm. What we do with that description, what we believe we are compelled to do in response to that description, is fundamentally rooted in the morals and ethics we bring to bear on the issue. For instance, global warming is science, but our response to global warming as faithful stewards is an ethical decision.
In today's conversation we wish to flesh out what a stewardship ethic would look like. The stewardship we possess is one inherited from our predecessors, who in the Garden of Eden God asked of them "to work it and take care of it" (Gen. 1:15b, NIV). But stewardship is not the only ethic one can use to translate science and policy in terms of caring for the environment. Here is a short list of some other ethical principles one could use:
- Non-interventionist principle: Nature should be kept pristine. Thus the goal is to minimize anthropogenic impact.
- Anthropocentric principle: Evaluate options primarily in terms of its effects on (help or hurt?) human beings.
- Hippocratic principle: "Do no harm": The priority is to avoid activity that injures the ecosystem.
- Precautionary principle: In situations of uncertainty, choose the option that minimizes risk of catastrophic results.
- "Keep options open" principle: In situations of uncertainty, choose the option that avoids shutting down future alternatives.
- "No regrets" principle: Believes it is better to do something than nothing, and so in situations of uncertainty will prefer options for change rather than the status quo.
Stewardship may include some, none, or all of these other ethics. This is what we wish to discover, in the hope that ultimately we can be better stewards of what has given us, both individually and as a society.
