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A Philosopher Looks at The Impacts of Pollution on Health
Summary
This philosophical study examines the ethical dimensions of pollution's health impacts, including microplastics, air pollution, and chemical contamination, arguing for ethical obligations at individual, corporate, and governmental levels. The author considers practical solutions such as electric vehicle adoption, congestion charges, recycling schemes, and encouraging alternatives to plastic, while emphasizing the need for internationally agreed regulation.
This study of the impacts of pollution on health opens with a discussion on the role of applied ethics when such issues are considered, which includes seeking clarity and presenting the case for ethical obligations at levels ranging from that of individuals via companies to governments and inter-governmental co-operation. This approach is then applied to issues of air pollution from nitrogen dioxide and particulates, as in my book The Ethics of the Climate Crisis (Attfield 2024), and then to issues surrounding microplastics and other global issues of pollution (such as that of carbon monoxide). It is also applied to more local issues, such as the impacts of desert sand on locations like Beijing, of photochemical smog on Los Angeles, and of chemical dumping on the coast of East Africa. Some ethical findings are also conveyed. Normative solutions considered for air pollution include the replacement of petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles with electric vehicles, and (meanwhile) the introduction of congestion charges and of zones that only vehicles with low emissions are allowed to enter. Solutions considered to counter plastic pollution include recycling schemes and public encouragement for plastics manufacturers to make use of alternatives to plastic. Generally, internationally agreed regulation is also needed.
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