Ethi- Reasoning

Source
Project Wild - Secondary Activity Guide, Pgs. 193-194.

Objectives
Students will be able to: 1) examine their own values and beliefs related to wildlife and other elements of the environment; and 2) evaluate possible actions they might take that have an impact on wildlife and the environment.

Method
Students read, discuss, make judgments and write about hypothetical dilemmas concerning wildlife and/or natural resources.

Background
This activity is designed to give students the opportunity to examine their own values and beliefs as they relate to wildlife and other elements of the environment. It is not the intent of this activity to prescribe “right” and “wrong” answers for the students. One exception is the areas where information about laws are conveyed. There are variations from state to state in laws affecting wildlife and the environment. Each state has an official public agency which is legally responsible for caring for most wildlife within the state. This agency can be contacted to request general information about laws affecting most wildlife in your area.

For example, it is legal to hunt and fish for some animals in all states; however, what animals and under what conditions are specified by laws and regulations for which the state wildlife agency is responsible. There are also federal regulations affecting wildlife. The US Fish and Wildlife Service can be contacted for information about such laws. For example, federal laws protect all birds of prey - eagles, hawks and owls - from shooting or any other intentional cause of death, injury or harassment. All threatened and endangered species are protected by law. Songbirds are protected by law; that is, it is against the law to intentionally harm songbirds. It is also generally illegal to possess birds’ nests, eggs and feathers, even those found lying on the ground. It is generally against the law to pick up the carcass of an animal which has been killed by a vehicle along a highway or road. Instead, local wildlife authorities should be notified.

In many cases, it is against the law to take an injured wild animal home to care for it. For example, birds of prey cannot be cared for by private citizens unless those citizens have a permit to do so. There are many laws, and they are complex. Again, it is useful and important to contact local authorities about the laws protecting and affecting wildlife in your area.


Whether right or wrong, questions of law can be separated from questions of ethics. At a personal level, an individual’s choices as to what seems right or wrong for him or her in terms of values and behaviors may be described as a personal code of ethics. Hunting, for example, is controversial for some people from an ethical point of view. Some people say that even though hunting is legal, it is unethical, because a human is taking the life of a wild animal. Others believe hunting to be a responsible and ethical form of recreation, acquiring food, or animal population control. These differences of belief may be sincerely held. Whether or not a person chooses to hunt is a personal choice dictated by one’s personal ethics. Conflict arise, however, when a person motivated by one set of ethics tries to force his or her ethics on others through activities such as arguments, harassment or legislative action.


It is the major purpose of this activity to provide students with an opportunity to come to their own judgments about what they think are the most responsible and appropriate actions to take in situations affecting wildlife and the environment.

Materials
Copies of “dilemma” cards

Duration
one 30-45 minute period

Procedure

  1. From the attached pages the teacher should copy and cut up the dilemma cards.Other dilemmas could be written that are more specific to problems in your areas. Students could also be involved in the process of creating the dilemma cards, with each student responsible for one card. Dilemmas can be left entirely open-ended, with no options suggested for consideration.
  2. Divide the class into groups of four, and give each group a stack of dilemma cards. Place them face down at the center of the group.
  3. The first student draws a card from the top of the stack. The student studies the situation, decides what he or she should do, and formulates his or her reasons.
  4. When the student is ready - typically in less than two minutes - the student reads the situation and the options aloud to the rest of the group. The student gives the decision he or she has chosen, and briefly describes the reasoning involved. In turn, each of the other members of the group is invited to comment on the dilemma, and what he or she would do in the situation. The discussion of each dilemma by the members of the group should take about five minutes. The person who dilemma is being discussed should have the opportunity to ask questions of the other members of the group, and to offer clarification about his or her decision. The discussion gives the students experience in having ideas examined by peers, and is intended to remind the students of the need to take personal responsibility for decision-making. It is not necessary and may not be desirable for the students to reach consensus; there are legitimately ranging views of the most appropriate and responsible actions to take in many situations. The purpose is to provide students with an opportunity to examine, express, clarify and take responsibility for their own reasoning.
  5. The card is then returned to the bottom of the stack and the next student selects a card from the top of the stack. Continue this process until all students have had the opportunity to express their decision and rationale about a dilemma.

Extensions and Variations

  1. Here are a few other general topics around which dilemma cards could be created: abandoning pets to fend for themselves to try to find new homes; impact of pets on wildlife, like cats catching wild birds and dogs chasing deer; use of pesticides in gardens; live Christmas trees versus artificial; acid rain; picking wild flowers and fruit; feeding wildlife around your home, etc.
  2. Adapt this to a debate format.
  3. Write and discuss your own dilemmas.

Evaluation
Choose a dilemma. Write a short paragraph on the positive and negative effects of all the options listed for that dilemma. Indicate what additional information, if any, is needed in order to make a responsible and informed decision. Identify what seems, in your judgment, to be the most responsible decision - and explain your reasoning.

Dilemma Card
You are president of a large corporation. You are very interested in pollution control and have assigned a task force to study the pollution your plant is creating. The task force reports that you are barely within the legal requirements. The plant is polluting the community. To add the necessary equipment to reduce pollution would cost so much that you have to fire 50 employees.

Should you:

  • add the equipment and fire the employees
  • not add the equipment
  • wait a few years to see if the cost of the equipment will drop
  • hire an engineering firm to provide further recommendations
  • other

Dilemma Card
You are fishing at a secluded lake and have caught seven fish during your first day at the lake. Now, on the second day, the fishing has been great and you have caught five fish in the first hour, all of which are bigger than yesterday’s fish. The law allows you to possess 12 fish.

Should you:

  • continue to fish and keep all the fish
  • dispose of the smaller fish you caught yesterday and keep the big ones to stay within your limit
  • have fish for lunch
  • quit fishing and go for a hike
  • other

Dilemma Card
You are a member of a country club that has recently voted to build a game farm to raise animals for members to hunt. You are not a hunter, you think hunting is okay to do in the wild, and you are opposed to the building of the game farm.

Should you:

  • stay in the club and do nothing
  • stay in the club and speak out strongly against the subject
  • resign from the club
  • other

Dilemma Card
You are finally able to build the home your family has dreamed about. After reviewing the plans for your home you realize that you cannot include all of the features you had planned for, due to rising construction costs. You must decide which one of the following you will include:

  • solar heating
  • recreation room with fireplace
  • hot tub and sauna
  • greenhouse
  • other

Dilemma Card
You love children and would like to have large family. You are aware, however, of the world’s population projections for the future.

Should you:

  • plan to have a large family anyway
  • decide not to have children
  • limit yourself to one or two children
  • other

Dilemma Card
You have found a young screech owl which you have managed to raise to maturity. You have been told that you cannot keep the owl any longer because keeping it without the proper permit is in violation of state and federal laws.

Should you:

  • offer it to your local zoo
  • keep it as a pet
  • call the fish and wildlife agency and ask their advice
  • determine whether it could survive in the wild and, if it appears it could, release it in a suitable area.
  • other

Dilemma Card
A deer herd has grown so large during the past ten years that many of the deer appear to be starving. The herd is severely damaging the habitat, eliminating much of the vegetation that the animals use for food or shelter. There is a disagreement within your community as to what course of action is best to take. You are personally opposed to hunting. A limited legal hunt has been proposed in order to reduce the herd in this area.

Should you:

  • investigate and consider the situation to see what, in your judgment, seems to be the most humane and reasonable solution, including the feasibility of options such as moving some of the deer to other area, understanding that they still may not survive.
  • attempt to identify the causes of this population increase and propose action to return the system to a balance
  • organize a protest to bring people opposed to hunting to the recreation area at the time the legal hunt is to begin
  • allow the habitat degradation to continue and the deer to starve
  • leave it to the state wildlife agency to work with the land holder to arrive at a solution
  • other

Dilemma Card
You are walking in the woods and come upon a young fawn. There is no sign of the fawn’s mother.

Should you:

  • leave it where it is
  • move it to a sheltered area
  • take it home
  • other

 

Dilemma Card
You are out in the woods with a friend when you spot a hawk perched on a high limb. Before you realize what is happening, your friend shoots the hawk. An hour later, you are leaving the woods and are approached by a state wildlife officer, who tells you a hawk has been illegally shot and asks if you know anything about it.

Should you:

  • deny any knowledge of the incident
  • admit your friend did it
  • make up a story implicating someone else
  • say nothing, but call the fish and wildlife office later with an anonymous phone tip
  • other

Dilemma Card
You are an influential member of the community. On your way home from work, you are stopped by a police officer and cited for having excessive auto emissions.

Should you:

  • use your influence to have the ticket invalidated
  • sell the car to some unsuspecting person
  • work to change the law
  • get your car fixed and pay the ticket
  • other

Dilemma Card
You have purchased a beautiful ten acre property in the mountains to build a summer home. One hillside of the property has a beautiful view of the valley and lake below and is your choice for your home site. However, you discover there is an active bald eagle nest site on the hillside. The bald eagle is sensitive to disturbance around its nest tree and is a protected species. Bald eagles are highly selective in choosing nest sites and usually return to the same nest year after year.

Should you:

  • select a different site on the property to build your home
  • sell the property
  • chop down the tree and build your home
  • other

Dilemma Card
You are on a picnic with your family and you see another family leaving to go home without having picked up their own trash. It is clear the other family is going to leave litter all around.

Should you:

  • move quickly and ask them to pick up their trash before they leave
  • wait for them to leave and pick up the trash for them
  • do nothing
  • other

Dilemma Card
You are on a field trip with your class to the zoo. Although you know that feeding of the animals by zoo visitors is prohibited, some of your friends are feeding marshmallows to the bears.

Should you:

  • tell them that feeding marshmallows may harm the bears and ask them to stop
  • report their behavior to the nearest zoo keeper
  • ask the teacher to ask them to stop
  • not do anything
  • other

Dilemma Card
You are a farmer. You’ve been studying and hearing about farming practices like leaving edge areas for wildlife, an organic pest control. Although these practices may improve your long-term benefits, they may reduce your short-term profits. You are already having trouble paying your taxes and keeping up with expenses.

Should you:

  • sell the farm
  • keep studying farming practices, but make no changes for now
  • try a few methods on some of your acreage
  • try a few methods on some of your acreage and compare the results with other similar areas on your land
  • other

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