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Fall Seminar Series

Environmental Ethics and Genetic Interventions in Conservation

Zoom Only | This talk will explore the ethical and philosophical issues raised by the growing use of bioengineering in conservation.

Ronald Sandler, PhD

Professor of Philosophy and Ethics Institute Director at Northeastern University | Profile

Dr. Ronald Sandler is a professor of philosophy and Director of the Ethics Institute at Northeastern University. His primary areas of research are environmental ethics, ethics and emerging technologies, and ethical theory. He is the author of Character and Environment (Columbia University Press); The Ethics of Species (Cambridge University Press); Environmental Ethics: Theory in Practice (Oxford University Press); and Food Ethics (Routledge). He is editor or co-editor of Environmental Virtue Ethics (Rowman and Littlefield); Environmental Justice and Environmentalism (MIT Press); and Ethics and Emerging Technologies (Palgrave). Sandler’s research has been supported by NSF, NEH, and the Woodrow Wilson Center, among others. His current research is at the intersection of conservation, biotechnology, and anthropogenic change.

Abstract

This talk will explore the ethical and philosophical issues raised by the growing use of bioengineering in conservation. Sandler will discuss why it is that conservation practitioners are interested in employing biotechnological tools, some of the ways in which they could be (and are already) being used, and why their use is so interesting from an ethical and philosophical perspective. The discussion will be grounded in actual and proposed cases, such as cloning black-footed ferrets, genetic control of introduced rodents, genetic modification of the American chestnut, and “de-extinction” of mammoths and thylacines. He will also introduce evaluative perspectives from environmental ethics and philosophy of technology that can be useful for working through the cases.

Related links:

• An ethical analysis of cloning for genetic rescue: Case study of the black-footed ferret – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109118
• Exploring the limits of saving a subspecies: The ethics and social dynamics of restoring northern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) – https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.241
• Should We Engineer Species in Order to Save Them? – https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics201941323
• The ethics of reviving long extinct species – https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12198
• The value of species and the ethical foundations of assisted colonization – https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01351.x
• The ethics of genetic engineering and gene drives in conservation – https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13407
• Download seminar poster

The Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Colloquium is a seminar series that brings in speakers to present and stimulate discussion on a variety of topics related to existing and proposed biotechnologies and their place within broader societal changes.

GES Colloquium is jointly taught by Drs. Dawn Rodriguez-Ward and Katie Barnhill, who you may contact with any class-specific questions. Colloquium meets weekly on Tuesdays from 12-1 pm via Zoom, with national/international guests joining us remotely, and local in-person guests every other week in the 1911 Building, room 129.

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