Central to Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist ethics, ahimsa is the principle of non-violence toward all living beings, requiring the minimisation of harm to animals, plants, and the natural world through compassionate action and restraint.

Anthropocentrism is the view that human beings are the central or most important entities in the world, and that the natural environment has value only insofar as it serves human needs and interests. Deep ecology and ecocentrism challenge this position.

Civil disobedience is the deliberate, public, and non-violent refusal to obey a law or policy that one considers unjust, undertaken to bring about a change in government policy. Theorised by Thoreau and practised by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., it was defended by Rawls as a legitimate act within a nearly just society.

Deep ecology is a philosophical movement founded by Arne Naess that rejects human-centred approaches to the environment and holds that all living beings have intrinsic value regardless of their usefulness to humans. It contrasts with shallow ecology, which treats environmental problems as technical issues solvable within existing frameworks.

Moral status is the property of being an entity whose interests or wellbeing deserve moral consideration. Debated criteria include sentience, rationality, being the subject of a life, or membership in a biotic community.