Euthanasia and philosophical views

There are some things in our lives which we simply cannot decide whether it is right or wrong. The debate goes on between proponents of both sides yet nothing can be agreed upon universally. Such topics are hard to resolve and no conclusion can be extracted from them so that all would concur to a certain extent; the differences simply continue between the two extremes. Because of such disputable nature, taking an ethical decision regarding those topics is equally hard. To be more precise, the doubts about the righteousness of the decision always prevail. One of such topics, I should say a “hot topic”, about which numerous discussions and arguments have been done worldwide is Euthanasia.

The definition of Euthanasia varies according to different sources and perspectives. Some say that Euthanasia is a voluntary termination of someone’s life if the person requests one to relieve him/her from severe pain or suffering. Some other ideas suggest that it is also Euthanasia if we believe that somebody cannot tolerate the pain or suffering, if the person cannot explicitly express the desire to die, and end that person’s life. The ones to decide such could be family members, doctors and even courts of justice (BBC, 2013). So, basically these two aspects can be related with the two classifications of Euthanasia: Voluntary Euthanasia when the sufferer requests and Non-voluntary Euthanasia when some responsible people adjudge (Young, 1996).

Carbon Trading and its Ethical Concerns

"Environmental Ethics"

            As a regular listener of BBC World Service, it was intriguing for me to listen to a particular episode of their “Business Daily” program several months ago. It was quite remarkable that it was about one of the important issues related with environmental ethics. The main theme of the program was about Carbon Trading and its economic aspects, but it also had a lot of discussions about the moral obligations related with it. After listening to it and reading few more articles on the internet, it was not a surprise for me to choose this topic for expressing my views. So, this article will address the ethical issues related with Carbon Trading.

            Before proceeding with the concerned ethical questions let us examine what exactly Carbon Trading is. Carbon Trading, or alternately Emissions Trading, is a mechanism using which a country that produces more carbon emissions (Carbon Dioxide and similar Greenhouse Gases) pays some amounts to a country that produces less carbon emissions. It is like purchasing the right to release more Carbon into atmosphere (Investopedia, n.d.) if some country is releasing more carbon emissions than global average or some accepted standards. This can also be applied to individual businesses where bigger polluting businesses can buy emission rights from relatively cleaner businesses (Investopedia, n.d.). The ultimate goal of international as well as inter-business Carbon Trading is to keep the average emissions under balance or under some specific targets.