Ethical Implication of Environmental Crises on African Societies A Challenge to Future Humanity.

Year 2019, Volume: 2 Issue: 3 - Advancing African Environmental Ethics, 109 - 115, 01.07.2019

Joseph Ogar

Abstract

African societies are becoming aware of the shortcomings of Western capitalist value system, because of its aftermath on individual, society, and environment. Many of African conservationist values, moral attitudes and ways of life have been destroyed by the exploitative capitalist ethos of European colonialism and modernity. Three decades of African countries trying to build their economies like the Western models have left her people wallowing in poverty, and her environment exposed to hazards. With this new imbibed Western values, Africa population will continue to rise, as well as innovation in science and technology, thus, there is a growing need to put adequate measures in place against further environmental degradation. This paper tends to show the ethical implication of environmental crises on African societies. It concludes with the need for Africans to jettison western anthropocentric, capitalist and individualist value for her communal value. This paper further acknowledges that due to modernity, African value systems such as taboo and totems are being outdated. This paper proposed that scientific methods of environmental conservation and Christian ethics in the spirit of African communitarianism can go a long way in curbing ecological problems within the continent. This work is carried out with the philosophical method of analysis and exposition.

Keywords

Environment, Environmental Ethics, Africa, Environmental Crisis

References

• [1] Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man and selection in relation to sex, in Charles Darwin, The origin of species and The descent of man (combined volume). Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 5 (Pt 2), 363–372. http://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511703829
• [2] Bassey, S. A. (2016). Karl Marx Alienation and the Nigerian Workers. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) 8th ser, 2, 1550-555.
• [3] Bassey, S. A., & Udoudom, M. D. (2018). Developmental Democracy in Africa: A Review. OmniScience: A Multi-disciplinary Journal, 8(2), 1-9.
• [4] Eyo, E., & Ogar, J. N. (2014). The Socratic “Man know thyself” and the problem of personal identity. Sophia: An African Journal of Philosophy, 15(1), 69-73.
• [5] Barrow, C.J, (1995). Developing the Environment: Problems and Management' published by Longman Group Ltd.
• [6] OGAR, J. N., & BASSEY, S. A. (2019). African Environmental Ethics. RAIS Journal for Social Sciences, 3(1), 71-81.
• [7] Wehr, K., & Zehner, O. (2013). Population/Overpopulation. In Green Culture: An A-to-Z Guide. http://doi.org/10.4135/9781412975711.n107
• [8] Nishi, Y. (1981). Measurement of thermal balance of man. Studies in Environmental Science, 10(C), 29–39. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-1116(08)71079-3
• [9] Maley, J. (1996). The African rain forest - Main characteristics of changes in vegetation and climate from the Upper Cretaceous to the Quaternary. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Section B: Biological Sciences, 104, 31–73. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0269727000006114
• [10] Heinrich, C. A. (2015). Witwatersrand gold deposits formed by volcanic rain, anoxic rivers and Archaean life. Nature Geoscience, 8(3), 206–209. http://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2344
• [11] Agrawal, A. B., & Shrivastava, V. (2010). Retrofitting of vapour compression refrigeration trainer by an eco-friendly refrigerant. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 3(4), 455–458. http://doi.org/10.17485/ijst/2010/v3i4/29735
• [12] Gyekye, K. 2003. “Person and community in African thought”. In P. H Coetzee and A. P. J Roux, (eds.), Philosophy from Africa: Johannesburg.
• [13] Murove, M 2004. An African commitment to ecological conservation: The Shona concepts of Ukama and Ubuntu. Mankind Quarterly -XLV: pp.195-215.
• [14] Opoku, K. 1993. African Traditional Religion: An enduring Heritage. In Religious plurality in Africa. (ed) Olupona, J and Nyang, S. Berlin: Mouton deGuyter.
• [15] OKPE, T. A., & BASSEY, S. A. (2018). Environmental Problems and the Question of Intergenerational Justice from the Kantian Perspective. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute (BIRCI-Journal): Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(3), 373-382