ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS IN MAHAYANA

As transgenic crops introduce extraneous genes into the ecosystem, they create the potential for destroying or seriously changing the structure of ecosystems and mechanisms of evolution. There are also problems with chemical pollution, including heavy metals, agricultural chemicals, food additives, as well as endocrine dis- rupters. These problems are rooted in two main activities: extraction of naturally occuring materials such as heavy metals, and the synthesizing of artificial compounds by using, oil and chlorine, for example. In gen- eral, living things throughout history have acquired the capacity to cope with various chemicals. However, as new chemicals are released into the biosphere, living things have had difficulty in adaptation. Many arti- ficial chemicals tend to turn toxic when accumulated in the human or animal body. One clear example is agricultural chemicals, which are designed to kill insects that damage crops. Insects are killed by extrane- ous chemicals that destroy the mechanism of living. However, because all living things are fundamentally functioning by the same principle, agricultural bioaccumulate and become detrimental all living things. Endocrine disrupters have been shown to affect reproduction through lower sperm count, as well as ontogeny seen through higher risk of deformity. As pointed out in Silent Springby Rachel Carson,6 Our Stolen Futureby Thea Colborn,7 and The Feminization of Nature by Deborah Cadbury,8this problem is qualitatively different from past environmental problems. Although past environmental problems were a threat to the survival of individual lives, they did not function as endocrine disruptors do in acting against posterity. Now how do the above mentioned problems relate to human nature or ethics? In addition to the problems associated with deforestation and com- mercialization of wildlife, the fundamental cause is associated with vio- lence and pillaging, which indicates that there is a problem in human nature or ethics. This is clearly seen when developments violently destroy nature, where wildlife habitat is reconstructed and pillaged to suit the desire for comfort and profit. Furthermore, if human beings are incapable of considering or predicting how certain developments would affect an ecosystem, it becomes either a question of arrogance or igno- rance. If we do not feel a sense of responsibility for our actions on the ecosystems, it then becomes an issue of irresponsibility. We are deceiv- ing ourselves if we fail to consider the consequences of certain develop- ments and instead only emphasize advantages such as convenience and safety. Naturally, these developments are carried out to profit human beings by making life more comfortable and safer. From this we can conclude that profit and desire are usually intertwined. If we also remain indifferent to the adverse effects of chemicals on our ecosystems, the problem then becomes an issue of arrogance. How- ever, if we are unable to predict the influence of the use of chemicals on our ecosystems, it then becomes a question of ignorance. Moreover, since agricultural chemicals were made with the aim of killing living things, there is an aspect of cruelty to be found in human nature that must be considered. The desire for profit, however, tends to overrule this ethical dilemma and encourage the development of chemical com- pounds such as agricultural chemicals and food additives. Such new developments aim to increase profits for producers by manufacturing attractive, easy-to-preserve, and cheap food items as well as increase the purchasing power of consumers. The desire of consumers for cheap and attractive food further sustains this process. But the synergistic effect of producers and consumers stimulating each other’s desires is tends to increase in food and environments polluted by artificial chemi- cals. Such developments have also brought many disadvantages, such as general health hazards, destruction of ecosystems, and impediments to reproduction capacity in forms of lower sperm count and sterility which are detrimental to the posterity of living things. Considering these prob- lems we can draw up two opposing interests: profits and disadvantages for human beings and disadvantages for ecosystems or living things. In the end, the problem is an ethical one.