Introduction to Ethics of Nature

What are the main practical issues and topics in the field of environmental ethics?
Environmental ethics encompasses both practical issues and philosophical questions concerning our relationship to the environment. The particular, practical issues arise due to our interactions with the environment, the effects we have upon it, and it upon us. Key debates include: environmental preservation and conservation, the mitigation of harm to other species and the non-animate environment which results from human activity, and the exploitation of natural resources. These issues give rise to more abstract philosophical questions which concern broadly (1) the concept of nature, (2) our relationship to nature, (3) the value of nature.

What are the main characteristics of 1) animal liberation movement, 2) ecofeminism and 3) ecological humanism?
(1) Animal liberationists, most famously Singer, argue that individual animals of a certain sophistication are worthy of moral consideration.
(2) Ecofeminists draw comparisons between humanities' relationship to nature and men's relationship to women. Both exhibit a relationship of domination and exploitation thinly veiled by a self-justifying ideology.
(3) Ecological humanists take human beings to be the key source of moral consideration, but emphasise their connectedness with nature, and the derivative importance of respecting nature out of concern for human beings.

What are the main characteristics of 1) the natural world, 2) the social world and 3) the world of the mind?
Pall Skúlason makes the following characterisations:

(1) Natural world: Independent of humans, objective, material, the container in which humans live, shared between individuals yet in some sense inaccessible.
(2) Social world: Dependent upon humans, shared between individuals, meaningful, linguistic, institutional, economic political and communicative systems
(3) World of Mind: Personal, individual, meaningful, somewhat incommensurable, consciousness, experience, systematic, subjective

What is the difference between conservation and preservation?
Conservation is about sustainable use and management of natural resources, which focusses on the needs of humans and accepts development as long as its not wasteful. It is anthropocentric and pragmatic, grounding questions about our relationship to the environment in the context of our responsibilities to other people. Preservation, in contrast, aims to maintain areas in a particular condition - so, nature reserves, for example. It is often motivated by the desire to protect against human interference, to allow nature to self-realize, to render the temporal more permenant. It is sometimes accompanied by a nature-culture dualism (e.g. Katz). But it may be supported by pragmatists too.