Bugeja goes on to state that "…the new technologies that now keep us constantly connected also keep us constantly distracted" (Bugeja, 2008). He also makes the important point that, "Digital distractions now keep us from addressing the real issues of the day. Each of us daily consumes an average of nine hours of media through myriad technological platforms…" (Bugeja, 2008). In other words, we have become distracted from the holistic view of reality by modern communications technology to the extent that we are out of contact with the environmental issues that surround us.

Bugeja is also of the opinion that this situation has deprived us of the important aspect of critical thought. Critical thinking is defined as "… the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking, and being able to think clearly and rationally" (Lau, 2009). The importance of critical thinking is that it forces us to think outside the confines of certain norms or parameters that may blind us to the reality of life. This has important implications for ethics and particularly environmental ethics in that, without...

As Bugela states, we have become blinded by data and technology to the environmental hazards and the ethical obligation that we have towards the environment.
In the final analysis it is clear that in order to develop a realistic ethical stance towards the question of the environment it is essential that we adopt a more deontological ethical attitude. This would mean that an ethics that is mainly human-centric or anthropocentric is not adequate and falls short of the ethics responsibly that human beings have towards their environment.

References

Bugeja M. ( 2008) The Age of Distraction: The Professor or the Processor? The

Futurist, 42 (1).

Consequentialism: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/c/conseque.htm.

Environmental Ethics. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-environmental/

Lau J. ( 2009) A Mini Guide to Critical Thinking . Retrieved from http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/misc/miniguide.pdf

Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard

Scheffler S. ( review) (1994) The Rejection of Consequentialism:A Philosophical

Investigation of the Considerations Underlying Rival Moral Conceptions. Retrieved from http://*****/rec/SCHTRO-21