"Animal and vegetable life is too complicated a problem for human intelligence to solve, and we can never know how wide a circle of disturbance we produce in the harmonies of nature when we throw the smallest pebble into the ocean of organic life."
Next, based on the above quote, ask students whether the ozone hole constitutes a small or large pebble.
Discuss the following ideas of world ethics and environmental responsibility (from: G. Tyler Miller, Jr. 1990. Living in the Environment: An Introduction to Environmental Science, 6th ed. Wadsworth Publishing Co., Belmont, CA.).
"We are a valuable species, but we are not superior to other species; all living beings, human or nonhuman, have the same inherent worth."
"All people must be held responsible for their own pollution and environmental degradation."
Ask students if they agree with these statements. Do they feel they are superior to, and thus more valuable than, say, a flea or a bacterium? A stream fish? A tree? What do these organisms do for nature that we also do, and what jobs do they perform that we do not? The idea here is that these organisms interact in their communities and ecosystems in a natural way, not permanently causing damage. Humans have superseded their natural interactions with other creatures and leave pollution, cause ozone holes, and endanger numerous other species.
Ask your students whether they are willing to be held accountable for each mile they drive in their car (and the resultant air pollution), for every paper they throw away rather than recycle, or for the electricity used to cool their dorm rooms. Ask how it is possible to hold people accountable for such actions.