Making Ethics an Everyday Activity - How Can We Reduce the Barriers? - Resumé

Oct 15, 2026

Making ethics an everyday activity requires identifying the barriers that prevent citizens from practicing it daily. After clarifying what blocks integration, the work explores how environmental educators can create conditions that make ethics part of mainstream routines and inquiry processes. Practical examples and suggestions support the argument, aiming to turn ethical reflection into a serious educational endeavor by addressing both social realities and contested values.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLifestyle

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Identifying barriers to everyday ethics

Creating conditions in environmental education

Case examples from environmental discourse

Interpreting conflicting messages through Marcuse

Making Ethics an Everyday Activity:How Can We Reduce the Barriers? Bob Jickling.Lakehead University,Canada ## Abstract I propose that for ethics to become a normal activity,practiced by citizenson a daily basis,we begin by identifying barriers to this activity.Oncethings that ger in the way have been identified,I examine ways that envi-ronmental educators can create conditions for ethics to become part ofmainstream practices and processes of inquiry—to become a serious educa-tional endeavor.Some practical examples and suggestions are provided. Resumé A mon avis,si nous voulons que Péthigue fasse partie intégrante de la vie.quotidienne des citoyens,il faut commencer par déterminer quels sont lesobstacles aIatteinte de cet objectif.Apres avotr discute des obstacles a I'in-tégration de Iéthique dans la vie courante,j'examinerai comment lesenseignants en études environnementales peuvent créer des conditionspropices a l'integration de Pethique dans les pratiques et les processus dequestionnement de sorte que I'education environnementale prenne plusd'importance.Des exemples et des suggestions pratiques seront fournis. In August 2002,I read about the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.It was dur-ing the early days of this conference and the pages of our national newspa-per,The Globe and Mail,presented an array of perspectives.Some authors weremore positive than others,but there was an overall sense of anticipation and,dare I say,hope.Big issues like global climate change and biodiversityseemed to be at the forefront. I had been thinking about biodiversity,and read with interest,prospectsfor pressing this agenda forward.Canadians had been lobbying hard forendangered species legislation(Austen,1996).Some opinion poles hadindicated that as many as 94%of Canadians had urged the Minister of theEnvironment to give our country strong legislation in this area.Many of usworking on environmental issues found comfort in these numbers.We saw,in this,a strong undercurrent of environmental concern and,in particular,con-cern for disappearing species and habitats that support them.So,I read thenewspaper with a renewed sense of optimism knowing that biodiversity wasbeing discussed in mainstream media as the Earth Summit was gettingunderway.This optimism wasn't to last long. My attention next turned to the Air Canada inflight magazine en Route(August,2002).Here I was drawn to an advertizement for the all-wheel Canadian Journal of Environmental Education,9,Spring 2004 drive vehicle made by Subaru,the Outback.Picture a photograph of a stationwagon sitting in the middle of a jungle stream.Now picture the caption pre-sented below:"Start a rare bug collectlon on your windshield."Furtherbelow,in the smaller print,the advertizement read,“Entomologists aren't theonly ones who can discover a new insect.All you need is the 20026-cylin-der Subaru Outback." Here the marketing gurus at Subaru had invoked the collectability of rareinsects—or even worse,the destruction of rare insects by their products'wind-shields—as a sales gimmick.And,their pitch is made to the same commu-nity that overwhelmingly approves passage of strong endangered species leg-islation.What gives?Marketers are clever,they know how to sell products.Yet,this advertizement seems to fly in the face of public sentiment.Why? Canadians are not alone in such apparent confusion.Earlier the same year,I saw a Scottish tourism flyer encourage visitors to experience a “natural high”in the CairnGorm mountains.The flyer advertizes the“inspiration,adventure,and enjoyment”of mountains as an enticement to patronize the new moun-tain railway that now carries visitors “in total comfort (protected from the infa-mous Scottish weatherl)from carpark level to the new Ptarmigan Station andthe higher lying snowfields in around fifteen minutes."On arrival,thisPtarmigan Station“offers spectacular views combined with a mountain exhi-bition and the highest panoramic restaurant and shopping in the UK.” Ther

FAQs

What is the central proposal of the paper?

Ethics becomes a normal daily activity when barriers to practicing it are identified first, then addressed through education and inquiry processes.

How does the paper suggest environmental educators can help?

By creating conditions that integrate ethics into mainstream practices and into serious processes of educational inquiry.

Why does the author discuss examples from media and advertising?

To show how conflicting messages can align with consumer and mainstream approval, raising ethical questions about the flattening of opposing views.

Oct 15, 2026

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