Theories
Victim Slot
Anthropological theories are orientations to understanding environmental concerns and locations of interest. To clarify orientations of the concerns related to the Gulf of Mexico, theories such as victim slot, right-based theories, and moral considerability are significant for providing context and understanding action.
The victim slot is occupied by the vulnerable yet innocent populations that are contained within a given area. Vegetation, micro-organisms, animals, and some groups of people living in gulf coast environments are innocent when relating to the problem of chemical pollution due to lack of involvement with instances that promote pollution events. Marine species that are subjected to the chemical pollutants do not require the same methods of food production or transportation as humans driving cars and consuming food items grown in industrial agriculture environments. The subjection to the consequences of anthropogenic pollution sources negatively impact the health of ecosystems and species in the Gulf of Mexico alter communal function by altering species rights; the victim slot affects human communities along the coast in different ways since there is a lack of acceptance of partial involvement related to consumption and transportation patterns. While the human communities suffer some of the effects of the chemical pollution they support industries that are actively causing the problem to occur.
Rights-Based Theories
​Rights-based theories consider the moral rights of entitlement to a resource or good that simply exist for a certain group, but rights to the resource can be conflicting, especially in inter-species relationships. Entitlement issues are significant when dealing with chemical pollution in the Gulf of Mexico due the dualistic arguments that can be made to support both groups. Arguments made for the agriculture and oil industries include the support of people since the industries provide food and fuel for transportation which aide people due to how American society functions. Arguments made for populations that are non-human include the idea that the species should be able to utilize their environment without being exposed to chemicals that could have negative impacts. The inter-species conflict relating to the pollution sources are significant because the needs of the populations are different; while life in and along the gulf require the ability to function within their ecosystem, humans possess the ability to manipulate environments to suit their needs and organizations established by people have created a situation in which the need for moral consideration have become significant.
Moral Considerability
​The theory of moral considerability looks at questions of rights and moral considerations of specific groups. The theory looks at what is viewed as deserving of those rights, and whether the group, species other than human, should be assigned the rights and considerations or not. In the case of chemical pollution being introduced into the Gulf of Mexico, the rights of species living in and along the gulf environments should be given the right to sustain life without facing the consequences of human action. People are responsible for inducing the problems associated with chemical pollution, however, some individuals will not see how supporting oil and agriculture industries can have negative effects when the rights of native gulf species are not considered. The species native to the gulf should be considered since the ecosystem involvement practices serve regulatory function that allow humans to benefit alongside native marine life and coastal life forms. Rights and moral considerations related to the species of plants, microbes, and animals should be given in at least the most basic form- allowing the species to exist without suffering as a response to human actions; the right to live within protected water habitats without being pushed out of territories due to growing dead zones that expand due to the continued presence of chemicals in and being added to the location.