Environmental ethics as a form of integration of natural sciences with humanities

Environmental ethics is the innovational discipline focused on the study of moral principles and values which regulate the relationship between humankind and nature. In contrast to classical ethics, it includes the re - sponsibilities of human towards nature and future generations. Concentrating on the issues of environmental protection, environmental ethics is not limited to the concepts of moral philosophy and environmental data. It considers the whole complex of interacting factors related to nature conservation, including economic, politi-cal, social, and cultural issues. Conducting its research on a wide interdisciplinary field, environmental ethics emerges as a special way of integrating the sciences and humanities. The article describes the problem field of contemporary environmental ethics: issues of fair risk distribution, poverty, famine, economic instability, climate justice, ecological discrimination and citizenship, globalization, bioregionalism, the role of indigenous peoples in the protection of nature, etc. It also discusses the main stages of formation and development of the discipline, from the preparatory ideas of the late XIX century to the present time conceptions. On basis of the analysis of UN documents the authors identifie normative foundation of environmental ethics. They suppose that today it is possible to reach the international consensus on the principles of respect for all forms of life, biodiversity, sustainability, precaution, ecological justice, and environmental responsibility. The authors conclude that the introduction of special courses and ethical-ecological modules within the social, natural and technical disciplines into the educational process is an important precondition for the integration of different types of knowledge, as well as an important way of promoting the principles of the moral attitude towards nature.