Abstracts Category : Other

A Scientific and Ethical Argument against Deforestation in Latin America: Costa Rica as a Case Study

by Renate Schlaht

Deforestation in tropical rainforest is primarily due to anthropogenic causes and destroys unique and important environments. Not only does deforestation threaten the habitat of animals, but it alters the global carbon and water cycles and leaves remaining forest areas fragmented, changing the microclimates of forest edge and constraining many animals to the exponentially smaller and isolated forest interior. I look specifically at Costa Rica for first hand scientific evidence of the harmful effects of deforestation, as well as for ethical ideas from the novel policies this country has put in place. I outline some of the primary schools of environmental philosophy as a means of understanding different effective arguments for conservation. The protection of tropical rainforests as well as of all other natural places is our duty as a dominant species, and we need both scientific knowledge and ethical guidelines to move forward. Advisors/Committee Members: Amy Schreier.