Union News

Join us!

Join EEIULIST!

New Links

Brochures

Chapters

Resources

Fellows

Members

Sponsors

Letters and Discussions

Constitution

Contact

Disclaimer

The EEIU Sevastopol 1 Youth Group comprises members of the Scientific Society of the Lyceus Students and the Chair of Natural History Sciences, School-Lyceum No.8, Sevastopol. It is open for membership to and collaboration with active pupils, students and teachers of schools, organisations and universities of Sevastopol, Ukraine, CIS, as well as the world community.

SEVASTOPOL YG MEMBERS

1. Definition, assessment and classification of eco-ethical principles and their ecological substantiation.

2. Implementation of these principles by addressing (a) influential decision-makers in Sevastopol and other areas; (b) the young generation, especially pupils and students; (c) the general public, including local/regional press.

II. PROGRAM (for studies, activities and youth conferences)

1. Modern societies increasingly violate the billions-of-years-old rules of organismic coexistence on Earth. They deform normal metabolic dynamics, mainly as a result of the technologic-industrial revolution. Originally a fully integrated member of the Ecosystem, Homo sapiens has developed into an Ecosystem Destroyer.

1.1. Nature will punish us severely unless we re-establish compatibility between our own population metabolism and nature's grand metabolic designs. With increasing intensity, modern mankind produces and releases amounts of waste which exceed nature's carrying capacity. Considerable amounts of these waste materials are foreign to the Biosphere.

1.2. Compatibility between human societies and nature demands compensation for matter and energy withdrawn from the Biosphere by means of their return in forms and amounts (fluxes) which can be assimilated by nature. The matter and energy (wastes) used and released by man:

• should be in recoverable non-agressive states,
• should not exceed the limits of ecological capacity of natural formations and processes,
• should not damage the essential structures and/or functions of ecosystems,
• should not diminish biological diversity,
• should not result in toxic effects to sensitive species, including man.

Eco-ethical precept: 'Pay Your Debts to Nature in a Form Acceptable to Nature; Teach this to the Young Generation'.

2. The concept of environmental protection must be enlarged to include species other than Homo sapiens (no anthropocentrism).

2.1. Homo sapiens often protects the environment for selfish reasons only — to the detriment of species considered beneficial, non-aggressive, non-pathogenic, non-parasitic.

2.2. We need a new concept of environmental protection based on our responsibility to all biocomponents of the whole ecosystem. There is urgent need for thorough ecological education and for appropriate training at schools and universities.

Eco-ethical precept: 'Respect the Environments of All Species; Instill this Respect in Future Generations'.

3. The destructive/predatory instincts of Homo sapiens must be curbed.

3.1. Many of the activities of Homo sapiens are increasingly dangerous to the balance of the Biosphere, with increasingly little consideration of the long-term consequences to nature.

3.2. We must strengthen our awareness and learn to foster and promote

• ethical values: self-restriction, modesty, responsibility, honesty
• ethical aims: peace, freedom, dignity, justice, human rights
• ethical ideals: virtue, altruism (unselfish regard and concern for the well-being of another), helpfulness, love (profound feeling of selfless attachment and fidelity).

4. Intercompatibility of economics with ecology must be achieved.

4.1. Ethical concepts such as 'harmful' and 'useful but non-harmful' have been largely absent in the development of Economic systems.

4.2. In order to bring Ecology and Economics into accord, a means of reinforcement of the useful and non-harmful and a limiting of the harmful in the development of economic systems should be found.

Eco-ethical precept: 'When managing your household, do not harm your house; Teach this to your Youth'.

5. Will Homo sapiens survive as a species or will our behaviour destroy us, too?

5.1. Great contingents of people in the world suffer the ravages of war, hunger, poverty, disease and misery. Up to 2 billion people indirectly support this situation, never admitting that the ills (drug abuse, brutality, murder, the sqaundering of natural resources, pollution) and economic defects (greed, exploitation, large-scale destruction of natural resources, pollution) of modern society can only lead to a catastrophic end. Homo sapiens refuses to see the all-too-real correlation between destruction of the Biosphere and self-annihilation.

5.2. Homo sapiens may disappear from the stage of life in the not-too-distant future.

5.3. Homo sapiens means 'wise man'. But are we wise? Can we, as 'sapient' beings, justify our Latin name? Only if we learn to protect our biosphere and therefore ourselves, only if we invest the diligence, knowledge, forethought and self-restriction required to live wisely and in balance with Nature. The Ecosystem Destroyer will ultimately destroy himself. The wise man ensures his perpetuation by becoming a conservator of the Earth and all therein, by taking responsibility for his actions in the biosphere. Homo sapiens must develop a sense of what is ecologically ethical: what is necessary, what is enough, what preserves, what maintains the balance. Only through the application of eco-ethics can we safeguard our resources, our environment, and our future. Only that which profits the earth profits us. Survival will be made possible mainly through the ecological-ethical education and training of the young generation. Homo sapiens will survive if persuasions and habits in the field of ecological ethics, morals and manners are successfully instilled in the next generation.

Eco-ethical precept: 'Save and Preserve the Human Race in the Bosom of Nature; Teach this Precept to your Children'.