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   krishna-agrawala Teacher
   Graduate School

   eNotes Editor

   Ethics may be described as doing something just because it is the right thing to to rather than for doing things only for personal gains and benefit.

   When most of the people act ethically the total good of the society is promoted and everyone in the society stands to gain from it. On the other hand, when most of the people act selfishly, without caring for the common good, every one suffers. Such ill effects of unethical behavior are most obvious in case of effect of industrial development and increasing standards of living on the environment.

   The impact of individual behaviour on the environment, viewed in isolation, may be considered to be insignificant. However we find that the combined effect of the progress of civilization on the environment has been very harmful for the whole humanity. In the past, people and industries caused environmental damage without realizing the impact of their action. But now we have much better understanding how individuals and industries are damaging the environment in a way which threatens to bring down the quality of life for the whole humanity, in addition to threatening the very existence of large sections of humanity in not so distant future.

   While, with the growing awareness of ill effects of environmental pollution, government all over the world have enacted laws to safeguard the environment. However, for several reasons the laws are not enough to combat the menace of environmental pollution. Voluntary action based on ethical consideration is the only way we can save the planet Earth from becoming a place unsuitable for human habitation.

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   Posted by krishna-agrawala on Thursday October 15, 2009 at 8:23 PM