Ethics in sustainability

What is sustainability?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, sustainability refers to the “quality of being able to continue over a period of time”. In the context of the environment, sustainability is “the quality to cause little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time”.

One of the most representative sustainable actions is recycling. By collecting and processing materials, we can reduce the amount of waste, conserve natural resources, and reduce pollution and energy consumption (compared to producing new materials from scratch). It is a simple yet impactful way to protect the environment for future generations.

What is ethics?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, ethics is defined as “the study of what is morally right and wrong”. This definition encompasses various branches, including metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics, each offering distinct principles and perspectives.

However, our attention is directed towards the fundamental essence of ethics: delineating what is morally right and wrong.

Sustainability is (un)ethical

As you can probably notice from the definitions, sustainability is not inherently a subset of ethics. While sustainable practices can align with ethical principles, they can just as easily veer into unethical territory.

Let’s give some examples:

• A company might adopt sustainable environmental practices, but still engage in underpaying workers, employing child labor, or forcing employees to work in unsafe conditions.
• Implementing sustainable agricultural practices like organic farming can be unethical if it involves displacing indigenous communities or encroaching on protected lands.
• Some farm practices might be considered sustainable in terms of resource use, but if they involve cruel treatment of animals, they could be deemed unethical.
• Urban renewal projects aimed at creating sustainable, green spaces might lead to the gentrification of neighborhoods, pushing out low-income residents and perpetuating socio-economic inequalities.

Ethics in sustainability

The pertinent question to ponder is: “Can sustainability exist independently of ethics?”

By definition, we may acknowledge sustainability devoid of ethics. However, the real value of sustainability ought to be rooted in ethical practice.

An unethical approach to sustainability risks rendering it ultimately unsustainable.