A selection of original articles from our facebook page, Young Environmental Philosophers. Click on the links below to access the full articles:

• Empathy and its connection with moral behaviour, with a consideration of the role that empathy with non-human beings can play in averting ecological destruction, as well as the benefits and risks of anthropomorphism.
• The problem of ‘plant blindness’, including a critique of Victoria’s Western Highway expansion, with reference to Indigenous philosophies.
• Observations on our political climate and its prioritisation of economic efficiency and short-term self-gratification ahead of a concern for the wellbeing and survival – including a critique of Australia’s resistance to a Pacific-wide consensus on the phase-out of coal.
• The science denial, or brazen self-contradiction, in the rhetoric of the UK minister in charge of COP26 who acknowledged climate catastrophe while backing the UK’s plan for new oil and gas fields.
• The baseless assurances offered by a VicForests spokesperson that salvage logging does not increase the risk of wildfires.
• The use of motivated reasoning to justify a high-emissions economy and lifestyle, as exemplified by Senator Jim Molan’s attempt to defend climate denialism live on air on Q & A.
• The concept of ‘sacrifice’ with respect to nations’ unwillingness to sacrifice economic benefit for the sake of the environment, even though economic success depends on the health of the environment.
• The use of evaluativist thinking in protecting our natural life-support systems – including a critique of the Federal Environment Department’s decision to approve the clearing of critical koala habitat.
• The affordances of nature, and how we can avoid irreversible ecological damage and promote environmental goods – including a critique of the gold mine construction near Mount Ida, Turkey.
• The reasonableness of optimism vs. pessimism when contemplating our climate and ecological future.
• The failure to acknowledge how unsustainable our current way of life is with respect to the planet – a critique of a bioethics teaching document published by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.