Coral Reefs

One of the first lessons that nearly every one of us learns is that it is important to share. We are told to share our snacks with our fellow kindergarteners and to share our toys with visiting cousins. We are told to share the dinner table conversation and our good wishes. And these admonitions are generally cross-cultural: Different cultures and different religious traditions all ask that their members act generously in the world or that they cannot consider themselves to be good people.

But what is it that we are ethically obligated to share? Certainly anything that we can live without that does not harm another living creature. We must share food unless we or those under our care are starving. We must donate blood in times of crisis unless to do so would harm us. We must offer water to those who are laboring in the sun,...
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