“Are we Owners, Stewards, or Children of the Earth?”

How should we relate to our planet? Ethical Culture, and humanism in general, has been criticized for being too humano-centric. Some say that we too readily subordinate the earth to human projects, seeing ourselves as owners or stewards, when we are more like children utterly dependent on mother earth. How can we balance humanist emphasis on responsibility for our planet with the reality of our utter dependence? Is there room in Ethical Humanism for a transcendent environmentalism of awe and reverence? What kind of an environmental ethic should we embrace?

Hugh Taft-Morales joined the Baltimore Ethical Society as its professional leader in 2010, the same year he was certified by the American Ethical Union as an Ethical Culture Leader. He also serves as Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. His presence in Ethical Culture has been termed “invigorating.” Taft-Morales lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife Maureen, a Latin American Analyst with the Congressional Research Service, with whom he has three beloved children, Sean, Maya, and Justin.