Discussion Plan: The limits of our care for the environment

Discussion Plan: The limits of our care for the environment

  1. If you are on a nature walk and there is rubbish lying around from people who did the walk before you, do you find this disrespectful? If so, in what way?
  2. If you are on a nature walk and throw an apple core off the path deep into the forest, does this matter? Is it being disrespectful? If so, what is it disrespectful of? If not, why not?
  3. If you are on a nature walk and throw an empty can off the path deep into the forest, does this matter? Is it disrespectful? If so, what is it disrespectful of? If not, why not?
  4. Are there ways you are already actively involved in caring for the environment? If so, in what ways? Why are you involved in doing this?
  5. Is there a difference between using nature for our own purposes and exploiting nature?
  6. When someone says that we are responsible for maintaining a ‘clean’ environment, what reasons might they give for thinking this? What do you think about these reasons?
  7. When a cat covers up their waste, do you think they acting toward maintaining the health of their own environment? If so, in what way? If not, why not?
  8. Elephants, like humans, bury their dead. Could they be doing this for the same reasons we do?

Is it possible that other animals take care of the cleanliness of their immediate environment  instinctively,  while people have to do it consciously/intentionally? If so, why do you think there is this difference?