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Bohloul Alijani,
Volume 7, Issue 4 (2-2021)
Volume 7, Issue 4 (2-2021)
Abstract
Abstract
Corona Virus pandemic outbreak is the counter act and warning of the natural environment for the destructive activities of man in the nature. Many researchers and specialists believe that a risk free and sustainable life is possible if we correct our behavior toward the nature. This research was carried out to substantiate this hypothesis and offer a reasonable and rationale solution. It is believed that the best way to solve this problem is the environmental ethics. Many other ways such as technology have been proposed, but until the mind and thought of man has not changed to good relation with the nature, it is not possible to reach a viable solution. For this end, the integrated system of earth was analyzed to understand mechanism of the relation between nature and human. Two supportive theories of Markov Blanket and Gaia were addressed here to explain the relation between nature and society. According to these theories the system of earth and society is live and any change in one will mirror itself on the other. As a result, the society models itself to the nature in long run. This means that to have a healthy society we should have a healthy nature and environment. Thus, the UNEP has suggested the integrated One Health program to save nature, humans and animals at the same time.
The distortions of the earth during the past 70 years were sampled and described as the footprints of mankind. Some examples of environmental disorders such as climate change, droughts, floods and diseases were analyzed and their impacts on the society were displayd. In order to demonstrate the environmental ethics as the only solution to the current crises, first the ethics in general were discussed and then the environmental ethics were given a thorough explanation. Different underpinning philosophies are presented and accordingly different approaches to the nature such as development, preservation and conservation were discussed. A new philosophy, geocentrism, was suggested as the suitable and efficient thought. According to this philosophy it is the distributions which are in the forefront of human destruction. Therefore, we should try not to disturb the distributions of any kind. These include all ecosystems of any scale; because emphasizing on the ecosystems is not sufficient. The geocentrism philosophy covers all non - anthropocentrism philosophies such as biocentrism and ecocentrism. Of the different approaches, the conservation was selected as it assumes intrinsic value for the nature and sustainability of resources for ever.
To solve the problem and bring the earth system to sustainable state, the environmental ethics should be implemented. In terms of moral values, these include truth, good, duty and justice. The mankind should characterize himself with these genuine characters. He should do his duty as not making problem to the life of any creature; this being human, plant, animal or rock and soil and etc. He should do the good and justice. On the objective side, he should give intrinsic value for every creature on the earth including the environment and its components. In this way, we treat the environment with respect and dignity and not let ourselves to destroy or damage it. However, to achieve these goals we should use resources only as much as we need biologically, consider the long run benefits instead of short term benefits, treat the nature as having intrinsic value, implement the environmental distance from wild life, using vegetarian diet.
One important notice is the nature of human who we are asking to do these mandatories. Are we sure that what we are ordering human will be done by him. If he does not do then none of these comments is valuable. Therefore, we first should understand the humans and educate them to accept our orders. This is why that the ethics become important. We should train moral humans and then ask them to do. He will do only when he gets overarching and believed knowledge about the subjects we are offering. The main reason for the distortion of the nature is that the humans are not aware of the value of nature and the long run results of their actions. This is possible only through the good and responsible training of man. We are now missing this education. In brief, we understand that the main solution for the destruction of nature is empowering the humans with morals, especially environmental ethics. But to implement this objective, at the first point we need a wise and understandable human. Therefore, first we should train people and ask them to act as a moral and generous person and care for the nature and all creatures of the universe.
The distortions of the earth during the past 70 years were sampled and described as the footprints of mankind. Some examples of environmental disorders such as climate change, droughts, floods and diseases were analyzed and their impacts on the society were displayd. In order to demonstrate the environmental ethics as the only solution to the current crises, first the ethics in general were discussed and then the environmental ethics were given a thorough explanation. Different underpinning philosophies are presented and accordingly different approaches to the nature such as development, preservation and conservation were discussed. A new philosophy, geocentrism, was suggested as the suitable and efficient thought. According to this philosophy it is the distributions which are in the forefront of human destruction. Therefore, we should try not to disturb the distributions of any kind. These include all ecosystems of any scale; because emphasizing on the ecosystems is not sufficient. The geocentrism philosophy covers all non - anthropocentrism philosophies such as biocentrism and ecocentrism. Of the different approaches, the conservation was selected as it assumes intrinsic value for the nature and sustainability of resources for ever.
To solve the problem and bring the earth system to sustainable state, the environmental ethics should be implemented. In terms of moral values, these include truth, good, duty and justice. The mankind should characterize himself with these genuine characters. He should do his duty as not making problem to the life of any creature; this being human, plant, animal or rock and soil and etc. He should do the good and justice. On the objective side, he should give intrinsic value for every creature on the earth including the environment and its components. In this way, we treat the environment with respect and dignity and not let ourselves to destroy or damage it. However, to achieve these goals we should use resources only as much as we need biologically, consider the long run benefits instead of short term benefits, treat the nature as having intrinsic value, implement the environmental distance from wild life, using vegetarian diet.
One important notice is the nature of human who we are asking to do these mandatories. Are we sure that what we are ordering human will be done by him. If he does not do then none of these comments is valuable. Therefore, we first should understand the humans and educate them to accept our orders. This is why that the ethics become important. We should train moral humans and then ask them to do. He will do only when he gets overarching and believed knowledge about the subjects we are offering. The main reason for the distortion of the nature is that the humans are not aware of the value of nature and the long run results of their actions. This is possible only through the good and responsible training of man. We are now missing this education. In brief, we understand that the main solution for the destruction of nature is empowering the humans with morals, especially environmental ethics. But to implement this objective, at the first point we need a wise and understandable human. Therefore, first we should train people and ask them to act as a moral and generous person and care for the nature and all creatures of the universe.
Key words: Corona Virus, Covid-19, sustainability, environmental ethics, human-nature relation, Markov Blanket, natural resources, UNEP One Health program, Gaia, Anthroposcene.
Professor Bohloul Alijani,
Volume 8, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Volume 8, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract
Geography and the Paradigm of Sustainable Development
Extended Abstract
Geography and sustainable development
The relation between society and environment has gone through different phases. During the years before the World War II, the environmental determinism controlled this relation. However, after the 1950’s the anthropocentrism replaced the environmental determinism and humans began to overuse the nature in such a way that nature lost its sustainability and many hazards and crises occurred. These destructions were so intense and widespread that some researchers compared with the episodes of geologic time and named the era beginning from 1970’s the Anthropocene epoch. During this period, the planetary boundaries were crossed in some areas such climate change, nitrogen cycle and biodiversity. Climate change has created most of other hazards.
To overcome these problems in 1978 the Brandtland report announced the sustainable development as not to spend resources more than the nature’s production capacity and not to pollute the nature more than it can assimilate. In other words, the nature should remain in its sustainable state so that the future generations can live with no limitations. The principles of the sustainable development were defined in the earth summit of Rio in 1992 such as social equity, economic viability, and environmental sustainability. These principles were broken down in 17 goals. The Rio conference asked all countries to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030.
Methodologically the sustainable development requires integrated multidisciplinary approach to investigate the complex system of human- environment in different temporal and spatial scales to achieve the social equity, economic viability, and environmental sustainability. For this reason, many disciplines such as natural resources, environmental sciences, ecology and geography have contributed to the field. Different data from natural resources, human needs and drivers and environmental changes are required to process in very complicated models. In addition to different variables, the hazards are very important component of the sustainable development research, which also requires multi-aspect complicated approach and models. Spatial dependency is another aspect of sustainable development as it differs from place to place in many characteristics. In brief, from the spatial perspective the sustainable development is an integrated multi-approach research about the human-environment system to establish the sustainability on the earth. All of the related fields should study the sustainable development in collaboration with each other. However, the geography due to its long history of studying the relation between human and environment and its spatial dependency is the best single scientific field which can afford studying the sustainable development. Since the earliest times geography has developed quantitative methods, spatial techniques such as geostatistics, and environmental ethics to conserve the nature and human prosperity. The multi approach and systematic works are the main characteristics of Geography. On the other hand, Geography’s vision of defining the location for human’s activities while saving the nature’s sustainability covers the sustainable development completely. Therefore, geography is the overarching field for the sustainable development and it is the main intention of geographers to research and implement the sustainable development to reduce the environmental hazards and develop the sustainable environment for all the human beings at present and in the future. Geography studies the sustainable development through three steps including spatial analysis, spatial planning, and spatial management. In addition, geographers should learn different skills such remote sensing, multivariate statistics and above all develop a common language between different branches of geography.
Keywords: geography, sustainable development, environmental ethics, human nature relationship, Anthropocene, planetary boundaries, sustainability.
Prof Bohloul Alijani,
Volume 10, Issue 1 (5-2023)
Volume 10, Issue 1 (5-2023)
Abstract
Abstract
During the recent decades the discipline of geography has lost its priority and position to some degree in Iran. Most of the graduates could not enter into the work in the universities and other organizations. The human-environment system, the main area of geographical specialty - has experienced many crises and hazards among which the global warming and climate change being the most destructive. This means that the ongoing curriculum is not working well and needs to experience a fundamental change. To implement this operation some points should be cleared out: The hazardous condition of the world and especially Iran, the education history and state of geography in Iran, and the relation between geography and sustainable development of the world. The discipline of geography has changed its approach according to the circumstances of each period several times. For example, at the beginning of the twenty-century due to the dominance of the environmental determinism, the dominant approach of geography was the relation between man and environment. But since the 1970’s the earth has encountered with different hazards and crises to the extent that it is named as the period of Anthropocene. Accordingly, the dominant approach of geography during this Anthropocene era is to identify and solve the hazards and crises and lead the man- environment system towards the sustainability as once was requested by the secretary general of the United Nation. In this regard the geography should adopt the sustainable development concepts and goals. For this reason, the geography of Iran should make a switch from its very specialized approach to a relatively wholistic view and pay more attention to the human- environment paradigm. To implement this order, the following assumptions should be considered.
- The applied objective of the discipline should be defined as “locating the suitable place for the living and activities of man without endangering the sustainability of the natural environment. This objective is not clear at the present curriculum. Defining this objective will clearly show students what is their job after finishing the career.
- The main vision of geography education is the creation of the sustainable geographical space or environment.
- The research approach is problem solving. Because most of the laws and concepts are identified and defined. Due to the hazardous nature of the earth system geographers should identify the problems and research to solve them via geographical thought and knowledge.
- The terrestrial unit for working is region. This is very important concept in geography. We cannot prescribe one sustainability procedure for all of the world. But we do one for each region. When regions became sustainable, all the world will be sustained.
- In any region the hazards and crises will be identified and described through the spatial analysis methods and will be conducted towards sustainable human – environment system. This monitoring is composed of the stages of spatial analysis, spatial planning, and spatial managing.
- All of the geography subjects and materials are necessary for sustainable development goals. The only criteria will be added is the environmental ethics in all of the geography activities and applications.
- Instructors and students should be familiar with the techniques of integration and multi-dimension modelling.
- All geography graduates will respect the nature and its resources and should consider the environmental ethics during their academic career. They should be able to identify and solve the environmental problems through the geographical thinking. Geographical thinking means asking geographical question, gathering geographical data, processing the data with geographical (spatial) methods, and presenting the results in the geographical forms, i.e., maps. All the graduates should be creative and critical and should have the power of scientific challenging and discussions.
- Geography is one independent and overarching discipline and we will offer only one total geography in bachelor level. The master career can be specialized according to the applied objectives of the societies. The doctoral program is also one integrated discipline. The specialty of graduates will be defined according to their dissertation.
- The subjects include the fundamental courses such as physical geography and sustainable development, regional courses such as the human geography of Iran, technical courses such as remote sensing, GIS, and statistics, the applied courses such as evaluating the natural resources, and so for. The students with any high school background should pass all the courses with high quality so that after graduation they have the potential to analyze the human- environment problems and recommend the required solutions.
Key words: geography curriculum, sustainable development, geography of Iran, twenty first century, environmental ethics, geographical thinking, Geography and sustainable development.
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