Transcript Chapter One: Our Changing Environment

Chapter 2:
Environmental Laws, Economics,
and Ethics
Resources
• Resources are a part of the
natural environment that is used
to promote the welfare of people
or other species.
• Examples: H2O, air, soil, forests, minerals, &
wildlife.
Environmentalists
• People that are concerned with
the environment
• Conservation: the careful
management of natural resources.
Conservationists feel that we can achieve a
balance between progress and sustainability.
Preservation
• Maintaining things as they are…In a
“pristine” state.
• (Preservationists-Believe in nature first,
humans second.)
Resource use has rarely been conducted in a
responsible manner-
• Frontier Attitude:
a desire to
conquer and
exploit nature as
quickly as
possible.
Frontier Attitude
Wolves Among Us
Frontier Attitude
Henry David Thoreau
• Walden Pond (Mass.)
• “To live deliberately”
Teddy Roosevelt
• Set aside millions of acres
• Created numerous national parks and
monuments
John Muir
• Founded the Sierra Club
• Inspired “TR”
• Instrumental in the
creation of Yosemite and
Sequoia National Parks.
Environmentalists
• Franklin Roosevelt (F.D.R):
established the Civilian
Conservation Corps During the
great depression. Employed
175,000 people who planted
trees, made trails & roads in
national parks, & built dams and
other natural facilities..
Environmentalists
• Aldo Leopold: Wildlife biologist
and conservationist, who
developed the concept of a “land
ethic.” Natural areas and wildlife
should be managed and
conserved.
Environmentalists
• Rachel Carson: Biologist that
published Silent Spring, a book
that heightened public awareness
about the hazards of DDT &
other pesticides to wildlife,
ecosystems, and humans.
Environmentalists
• Gaylord Nelson: Former Wisconsin senator
that organized the first official Earth day
(Spring 1970), when approx. 20 million
people celebrated environmentalism. By
1990, it is estimated that 200 million
globally celebrated environmental
awareness.
• “Think globally, act locally”
Following the Santa Barbara Oil Spill of 1969, and the 1970
Earth Day…The EPA was formed.
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): was
formed in 1970 in response to Earth day
support & the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill.
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
was signed into law. This law requires
Environmental Impact Statements (E.I.S’s) for
federally funded construction projects.
Environmental Impact Statements
E.I.S.’s require
1) The nature of the proposal and the reason for it.
2) The environmental impact of the proposal
(short and long-term) and adverse effects.
3) Alternatives to the proposed course of action
that will lessen the adverse effects. (Mitigate
the impact of the project.)
Although not all environmental laws are
successful, they do help to conserve our
resources, and protect our citizens.
Environmental legislation has been effective.
• 11 National Parks
• Soil erosion reduced 60%
• Many endangered species are better off.
• Pb levels in the air have dropped
• 43% decline in air and water pollution
from INDUSTRIAL sources.
Unfunded Mandates
• Are when the federal gov’t requires states to
do certain things but won’t pay for them.
• Unfunded Mandate Review Act of 1995.
(Requires the federal government to pay for
future programs that it requires states and
localities to uphold.
(Doesn’t cover clean air & water legislation
or other previous laws.)
Economics
• The study of how people use their limited
resources to try to satisfy their unlimited
wants.
• There are always consequences associated
with our actions.
• Law of “supply and demand”
Many products have External costs associated
with them- (When people are harmed from the
creation or purchase of a product.)
Economics
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): estimates
of environmental damage should be
subtracted from from GDP.
• Net Domestic Product (NDP): a measure of
the net production of the economy after a
deduction for used-up capital.
Economics
How much pollution is acceptable?
(Do we want wilderness or a sewer?)
• Marginal Cost: the additional cost of one more
unit of something. (i.e.- The “trade-off”
between more products vs. a better
environment.)
• Marginal Cost of Pollution: the added cost, (in
terms of damage), incurred by all present and
future members of a society, for additional units
of pollution.
Economics continued….
• Marginal Cost of Pollution Abatement: the
added cost (for all present and future
members of society) of reducing a given
type of pollution by one unit.
• Optimum Amount of Pollution: where the
marginal cost of pollution = marginal cost
of abatement.
Draw the optimum amount of
pollution.
As pollution rises, the social cost
(health & environment) increases.
As more & more pollution is eliminated from the
environment, the cost of removing each additional
unit of pollution increases.
Optimum amount of Pollution.
Economic Solutions
• Command and Control Regulation
Laws that set limits on pollution levels.
• Incentive-based Regulation
Industry is given incentives to reduce/eliminate
pollution. Involves a market-based approach to
pollution control.
Economics
Emission Charge: This is a “green tax”
imposed on pollution. This includes
environmental costs due to such things as:
1)cutting down a forest
2) driving a car
3) polluting streams
Economic Strategies for Pollution Control
Waste-discharge Permits: Allow holders to
emit a specified amount of a given
pollutant. Ex: Sulfur Dioxide SO2
Emission Reduction Credits (ERC’s): a
general category of permits that limit the
amount of pollution. The goal is to reach
the optimum amount of pollution. So far
they have been very effective with SO2.
APES Debate
Save a
Save an
logger
owl ban
kill an owl.
logging.
Case in Point: Support for
Old Growth
Environmental Battles Lost: Salvage Logging
1) 1995 Bill that allowed loggers to cut down
dead & weakened trees as well as “associated
trees” (those in danger of catching a disease
or those in the way).
Environmental Battles Lost: Salvage Logging
2) Law expired in 1996 but allowed loggers
access to “off limits” forests despite the
Northwest Forest Plan.
Environmental Battles Lost: Salvage Logging
3) Timber companies were exempt from
upholding provisions of the Endangered
Species Act & the Clean Air Act.
Case in Point: Support for Old
Cost benefit AnalysisGrowth
show that the
financial benefits
associated with
preserving forests
outweigh the cost of
preservation in terms
of jobs & the price of
wood.
Ethics, Values, &Worldviews
Ethics: the branch of philosophy that deals with
human values. (right or wrong)
Values are principles that an individual or society
considers important or worthwhile.
Environmental Ethics: is a field of applied ethics
that considers the moral basis of
environmental responsibility & how far this
responsibility extends.
Worldviews: Two Extremes
Western Worldview: human centered &
utilitarian. (Frontier attitude that
exploits nature).
Deep Ecology: Based on the work of Arne
Naess, Bill Devall, & George Sessions.
This view stresses harmony with nature,
respect for life, & equal worth among
species.
Pollution in Central & Eastern Europe
Late 1980’s Fall of Soviet Union &
Communist Eastern European Countries.
Pollution in Communist controlled Europe
went unchecked.
Production of goods was not for profit but
environmental concerns never played a
role in decision making.
Pollution in Central & Eastern Europe
The Future
1) $300 billion to clean up damage in E.
Germany alone.
2) Hungary, Poland, & Czech republic are
moving toward a market economy
($ available for clean up).
3) Bulgaria, Romania, & Russia are doing less to
clean up the environment.
Reasons for pollution in Central & Eastern Europe
1) No resource conservation
2) Repressive government had no
accountability
“How can you buy the land, or sell the sky?
This idea is strange to us.
If we do not own the freshness of the air & the sparkle of
of the water, how can you buy them?
This we know- the Earth does not belong to man, man
belongs to the earth.
All things are connected like the blood which unites one
family.
Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.
Man does not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in
it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”
-Chief Sealth (Seattle) 1854
The End!!!