The world itself creates an ethical dilemma in that the earth has been piecemealed up and sold (rarely to the original population), yet what happens to the earth impacts all residents. If third-world countries destroy the rain forest, it impacts all of us. If industrialized populations create global warming, it impacts all of us, although the poorest populations tend to be the most impacted. This creates an ethical dilemma in which those who do not own or live in an area attempt to exert control or influence over what occurs there.

Chapter 16 explores many of these environmental issues at length. Some may increase the risks of pandemics. Poverty, overcrowding, lack of vaccinations, nutrition, and healthcare, often combine with poor sanitation practices and polluted water. These conditions make outbreaks of infectious disease more frequent and serious. The poor bear the brunt of the lack of distributive and economic justice.

Other countries may indeed feel they have a legal interest in environmental issues such as the Asian animal or ‘wet markets’ (which flows into chapter 17 Animal Ethics) we introduced earlier in the course. Many of these markets use illegally obtained wild animals. Contact with these animals can provide an opportunity for pathogenic (disease-causing) organisms to jump from wild animal to humans. It is controversial whether this occurred in the 2020 Pandemic, however, it has happened in the recent past with outbreaks such as Ebola (bats), SARS (bats to civets to humans), Zika (nonhuman primates) and MERS (bats to camels to humans). (https://www.sciencenews.org/article/snakes-probably-not-source-spread-new-coronavirus-outbreak-china).

Consider an ethical environmental pandemic plan.

Include the following aspects in the assignment:

Outline an environmental plan to decrease the risk of pandemics

Include the ethical principle(s) you base your plan on

Include human rights (if any) your plan may infringe upon

Does your plan lean more utilitarian or deontology