5.2.3 Ethical scales

Benefit vs harm

Decisions are also about balancing benefits and risks. They are not just about positive intention, but also possible side-effects, both now and into the future. The risk of causing harm.

For example, let’s say we want to grow food with a higher yield to feed more people. The intention is a positive one. But if the methods for increasing the crop yield are associated with chemical exposure to the people growing or eating the food leading to disease down the line, or if the methods used  are likely to deplete the health of the soil to the extent that food cannot be grown on that same land in the future, then we can see that these practices are unsustainable.

Knowledge grows responsibility

As our knowledge base grows, our responsibility grows with it. We have more ability to understand the risks and they need to be factored into our decision making both individually and collectively. And we also need to consider that there might be risks we don’t even know about yet. How can we make decisions and choices that not only leads to something good, but that avoids causing harm along the way? We may never be able to foresee all the possible impacts of our actions, but we need to try. And seeking diverse opinions can be a good start.  

Effects beyond the here and now

Whatever we do, there will be ripple effect, impacting on other humans and non-humans, both geographically and over time. Another ethical dimension to keep in mind is that of justice. As we briefly touched on in module 3, there is vast inequity when it comes to who in the world is using the most resources, and who is being most impacted by the negative effects of the instability caused by this. If we can begin to factor equity into our ambitions, it can play an important role in our everyday actions, resource use and conversations with others.