Avatar proposes that 140 years in the future humanity will still struggle with their disrespect for the natural universe. Human technology has enabled us to travel light years and control other bodies remotely, yet still all those technologies are used to rip natural resources from the ground. In Rozzi's "The Reciprocal Links between Evolutionary-Ecological Sciences and Environmental Ethics," Rozzi proposes that the ways we see the natural world effect the ways that we dwell in it. He hopes that by examining this relationships "ecologists and philosophers to explore collaborative analyses" and solve the "current economic crisis." In the Avatar universe, this conversation never happened and Earth's resources have been extinguished, leaving humanity to search for other world's to exploit.
As the plot moves forward, the main conflict erupts between the military and the scientists, including Sully and all of the Na'vi people he has befriended. As the military moves forward with their plan to dig up the "Unobtainium," the scientists object that the real treasures of the planet are the natural aspects of the world. The beauty of the wildlife and the unique neural network between all the living things on the planet are worth preserving.
Avatar can be seen as a gross exaggeration of the current problems we have today. Currently we struggle because we want to protect our world, but we are prevented by corporations and the politicians they have control over. In a future where the universe's resources are accessible, ethics will play an even more prominent role in our decision making. Should we treat life that evolved elsewhere with the same respect as our planet's species? Do we have any right to resources on other planets, even those without life? These are questions that can't be answered with science or philosophy alone. We must continue to seek answers to these questions as we move forward, to protect our own world and hopefully future ones.
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