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Alyssa Bauer
Thus, the community might feel a moral obligation to future members to maintain and protect the mountains. Although they are not necessary for a future livable world, the Green Mountains are integral to the community’s identity. Environmental goods can thus be seen as essential to continuing the moral similarity ofthe transgenerational community. The preservation ofenvironmental goods is more than preserving mere aesthetics or antique though; it is a moral obligation or at least it is morally good to do for future generations (Thompson 2000, 246). In addition, the preservation ofenvironmental goods goes beyond simply following one’s transgenerational interests, as suggested by the Self-Interested Principle ofObligation. Instead, the preservation of environmental goods is a moral obligation founded on the Shared Good We Seek Principle ofObligation. As shared goods ofa transgenerational community, environmental goods are important to the continuance ofmoral similarity within the community. Under the communitarian view, people outside ofour community seem to be disregarded as thus outside the moral framework ofour community. However, Michael Walzer (1984) provides an interesting solution to this problem, which also corresponds with the distinction I have made between necessary environmental resources and environmental goods. Walzer distinguishes between the general and particular provision ofwelfare resources. Although his theory applies to temporal modes ofwelfare distribution, the general/particular distinction can be applied to issues ofenvironmental resource protection. General provision is reconcilable with necessary environmental resources, because it establishes general moral obligations to all future generations. On the other hand, the particular provision corresponds with the protection ofa community’s environmental goods. The particular provision is defined by a community’s shared environmental goods and provides a method in which to maintain these goods. An example ofthe general/particular distinction ofenvironmental resources is the provision of water. Water is a bare requirement for human life. Thus, stopping pollution ofclean water resources and enhancing technology to produce clean water are both forms ofgeneral provision, because they provide future generations with clean, drinking water. Cleaning up a town’s lakes is a form ofparticular provision, however, since those affected are future members ofthe town’s community. Both types of provision are important for a collective response to the environmental crisis. Environmental sustainability is a primary concern for intergenerational justice today. The communitarian perspective ofintergenerational justice provides the best framework in which to engage in the ethical consideration offuture generations. Furthermore, the Shared Good We Seek Principle ofObligation satisfies the need for environmental ethical discourse, because it requires that our obligations to future generations be projected from a cooperative aim ofpromoting the good ofour transgenerational communities. Both types ofenvironmental resources—those necessary to maintain a livable world and those considered to be goods important to a community—are accounted for under the communitarian perspective, according to Walzer’s theory ofgeneral and particular provisions.