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Abstract
This dissertation consists of four independent papers on ethical issues within environmental philosophy related to how persons might be motivated to take responsibility for the natural environment. The first chapter addresses a persistent gap in the environmental literature between ethical principles and the motivation to put them into practice. I attempt to mend this rift using a model centered around an expanded conception of home. People typically take responsibility for the homes and places that contribute to their sense of belonging, thus taking ones home to include the natural environment effectively grounds a principle of value that then motivates us to preserve that value. The second chapter considers knowledge barriers to taking responsibility for our natural environments. I show that the expanded conception of home provides the needed entry point for overcoming environmental ignorance. In the third chapter, I argue that our relationships with technology limit those we can have with the natural environment. Promising suggestions advocate creating focal sitestechnological places that demand attentive entanglement with the material world. I embrace focal sites but critique existing claims that farms are the ideal sites. Rather, homes are ideal. They are technological places that are far more personal, accessible, and practicable. I contend that through the home as the primary focal site, we can have better relationships with technology and nature. The final chapter highlights structural barriers that make it difficult for individuals to avoid environmentally destructive behaviors. Here, I propose a model of personal, shared responsibility that begins with the roles one might have in relation to home. This model is grounded in our sense of home and provides a strong schema for how individuals can handle structural barriers and activate their shared environmental responsibilities together.