Individualist Consequentialist Approach

Out of the four utilitarian positions given in Clare Palmers "An Overview of Environmental Ethics", I agree with Robin Attfield's beliefs.  The four positions discuss the ethical beliefs about the values of every organism and whether or not some are worth more than others.  The philosopher Peter Singer view is organisms that can perceive pain or pleasure are more worthy than those that are unable to perceive these things.  Such as a human is worth more than a bug because a bug is unable to perceive anything other than chemicals in the air that lead it to food and water.  Donald VanDeVeer extends Singer's view by stating that the more complex the organism is, the more value it has.  Because humans are so complex, such as having the ability to perceive pleasure vs pain, than a fly, it is more valuable.  VanDeVeer created a priority system that are concerned with how complex an organism is and the importance of the claim of every organism.  Gary Varner also argues with the belief that an organism "has a welfare or good of its own matters from a moral point of view."  A bug may not understand its welfare or its desire, the way Varner rates the organisms welfare, but a human, chimp or whale does.  However, these are not justified reasons as to why an organism should be worth more than another.  Every single organism is a necessary part of life, such as a single wave is significant to the whole ocean.  Robin Attfield's states that "It is not simply the ability to experience, to feel pleasure and pain, which makes an organism morally considerable; it is, rather, its ability to flourish, to exercise the basic capacities of a species.  An organism that has the ability to flourish and develop has an interest in doing so.  Thus all organisms, regardless of their sentence, are morally considerable".  He expands his explanation with his belief that "it is the state of affairs of flourishing which is valuable, rather than the organism itself".  He explains further into the reading that there are values put on every organism determined by its psychological complexity and its needs, interests, wants, and preferences.  However, I do not agree with this.  It does not mean that one should never take the life of another organism because they are worth just as much as ones self, but it should be recognized that all life is equal and that humans should be more conscientious of our negative effects towards the environment.