Shaping bioethics: environmental bioethics

Abstract

Bioethics is the study of the ethical and moral implications of new biological discoveries and biomedical advances. This article covers the historical perspective of the development of bioethics during the 1960s in the USA. It further discusses environmental bioethics within the context and discourse of climate change. The authors highlight the importance of environmental bioethics education, if we are to save the earth from the negative consequences of climate change and degradation. They conclude by stating that environmental bioethics provides the venue in which we can explore reasons and methods of understanding the human impact on our planet, and provides us with a different way of exploring ethical responsibilities.