The Ethical Case for Replacing Environmentally Unsustainable Crops with Industrial Hemp

Abstract

This thesis argues that replacing unsustainable crops with industrial hemp is a moral obligation in the context of reparative environmental justice. It highlights the need to address the consequences of the environmental damage that has already been caused and to repair the disrupted relationships between humans and ecosystems. Although it is a crop with high sustainability potential, industrial hemp has been unfairly marginalised over the last century for political and economic reasons, with significant consequences for ecosystem health. Based on Margaret Walker's theory of reparative justice, as extended by Ben Almassi into the environmental field, this paper presents industrial hemp as an exemplary tool for restoring the health of damaged ecosystems and for the moral repair of human-ecological relationships. By incorporating Steven Vogel's post-naturalistic approach, which rejects the dualistic view of man and nature as well as the strict separation between the natural and the artificial, this thesis responds to the objections of philosophers such as Robert Elliot and Eric Katz, who question the ethical dimension of ecological restoration. Through a combined approach of the theories of Ben Almassi and Steven Vogel, the reintroduction of industrial hemp cultivation is proposed as a morally imperative act of reconciliation with the environment, oriented towards a sustainable future world.