Transcript Evironmental Values File

Environmental History and
Value Systems
Topic 7
• 7.1.4 – Outline key historical influences on the development
of the modern environmental movement
• 7.1.5 - Compare and contrast environmental value systems
of two named societies
• 7.1.6 - Justify your personal viewpoint on environmental
issues
Environmental History
• In the US – frontier ethic dominates during 1700’s and
1800’s
• A frontier ethic assumes that the earth has an
unlimited supply of resources. If resources run out in
one area, more can be found elsewhere or
alternatively human ingenuity will find substitutes.
This attitude sees humans as masters who manage
the planet.
Environmental History
• In 1800’s naturalists begin to voice concern
• George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882) – wrote Man and Nature
• One of the first works to document the effects of human
action on the environment and it helped to launch the
modern conservation movement.
• Marsh argued that ancient Mediterranean civilizations
collapsed through environmental degradation.
• Deforestation led to eroded soils that led to decreased soil
productivity.
• Resulted in establishing national parks and conservation
reserves in the US
Henry Thoreau (1817-1862)
• A book titled Walden, published in 1854. This account of
Thoreau's two years at Walden Pond
• Foresaw the rapid exhaustion of natural resources.
• He advocated setting aside land to remain forever wild for
the benefit of future generations.
• He urged federal ownership of outstanding mountain ranges,
waterfalls and wilderness, saying, "In wilderness is the
preservation of the world."
• Largely ignored in his own day
• Resulted in establishing national parks and conservation
reserves in the US
Green Revolution – 1940s – 1970s
• Norman Borlaug the "Father of the Green Revolution
• Technology in agriculture
• Development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of
irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques,
distribution of hybridized seeds, inorganic fertilizers and pesticides
• Increased amount of food production has led to overpopulation
worldwide
• Pollution, eutrophication, bioaccumulation, desrtification
1949 - Leopold - A Sandy County Almanac
• Informal pieces written by him over 40 yr as he traveled through the
woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and
other places
• Writes about the rural Wisconsin landscape, watching a woodcock dance
skyward in golden afternoon light, or spying a rough-legged hawk
dropping like a feathered bomb on its prey.
• Final section - addresses the issues involved in wildlife conservation.
• Stresses on the abuse of the land and on what we must do to preserve it
• Inspired people to protect the natural resources for their own sake (not
just economic benefits)
• Environmental stewardship - responsible use and protection of
the environment through conservation and sustainable practices.
• Leopold championed environmental stewardship based on a land
ethic "We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us.
When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to
use it with love and respect.”
NGOS – Public Awareness Grows
• WWF - 1961 / largest conservation organization
• Greenpeace - 1971 / direct action, lobbying,
research
• Friends of the Earth – 1969 / initially formed as
an anti-nuclear organization
1968 Garret Hardin - Tragedy of the
Commons
• Situation where individuals acting independently and rationally
according to each other's self-interest behave contrary to the best
interests of the whole by depleting some common resource.
• "Commons- resources as atmosphere, freshwater, fish stocks or any
other shared resource which is not formally regulated
• Tragedy of the commons
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYA1y405JW0
• Who should own nature?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT99LqJaTeI
1972 – Club of Rome
• Group of academics, civil servants, diplomats, industrialists
• Published The Limits to Growth
• Examined the consequences of rapidly growing world population on
finite natural resources
1979 - James Lovelock’s - Gaia
• Earth is a living organism, with self-regulatory mechanisms that
maintain the climatic and biological condn
• Saw human actions upsetting this balance with potentially
catastrophic outcomes
Summits, UN, IGOs
1972
First Earth Summit – UN
Conference on the Human
Environment in Stockholm,
Sweden
Declaration of UN Conference.
Action Plan for Human
Environment.
Environment Fund established.
Formation of UN Environmental
Programme (UNEP).
Earth Summit planned for 10-year
intervals
1975
CITES formed by the IUCN
(International Union for Conservation of
Nature)
Endangered species protected
from international trade
1987
Our Common Future
Linked environmental concerns to
published by UN World
development
Commission on Environment
and Development
Promote sustainable dev through international
collaboration
1987
Montreal Protocol
1988
IPCC (intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change) formed by UNEP (UN
environmental programme)
Rio Earth Summit and Kyoto
Protocol
1992
AKA Brundtland Report
Nations agree to reduce CFC use
Advises governments of risk of climate
change
Agenda 21 – achieve sustainable dev
Relationships between human rights,
population, social dev, women rights, env
issues, change in attitudes
Agreement to reduce carbon emissions to
counter enhanced greenhouse effect
1990’s Green awareness strengthens Environmentally friendly products, recycling
and eco-tourism become popular
2002
Johannesburg Earth Summit
Plans to globally improve: water and
sanitation, energy supply issues, health,
agricultural abuse, and biodiversity reduction
2005
Kyoto Protocol becomes a
legal requirement
174 countries signed and are expected to
reduce C emissions to some 15% below
expected 2008 emissions. Expires 2012
2006
Documentary An Inconvenient
Truth
Al Gore on global warming
2008
EU Climate Summit, Brussels
Reaffirmed 20-20-20 commitment (cut
emissions by 20%, make 20% energy
savings and generate 20% of energy
from renewable resources by 2020
Reaffirm need to reduce C emissions.
192 nations represented
2009
UN Climate Change Conference,
Poland
Copenhagen, UN Climate Change
Conference
2015
2015 Paris Climate Conference
Achieved a legally binding and universal
agreement on climate with the aim of
keeping global warming below 2°C.
2015
1st and 2nd Red alert for smog in
China
Half the city’s cars will be forced off the
road on any given day, while barbecue
grills and other outdoor smoke sources
will be banned and factory production
restricted. Schools will close and
residents advised to avoid outdoor
activities.
Sometimes we get a wake up call
Describe the event, when they occurred, and how they are
significant to the modern environmental movement.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Bhopal: the Union Carbide gas leak
Chernobyl: Nuclear power plant explosion
Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”
Minamata Bay Disaster
The Love Canal chemical waste dump
Save the Whale Campaign and Greenpeace
Bhopal disaster (1984, India)
• Union Carbide pesticide plant released 42 tonnes of
toxic methyl isocyanate gas  500,000 exposed, 8,000
dead within a week, >16,000 dead since
Chernobyl Meltdown
(1986 Ukraine)
Reactor tests conducted
Required shutdown of
safety systems
Cooling system failure
Leading to meltdown
Explosion releasing
radioactive cloud
Permanent evacuation in 30
km radius
Eventual deaths 8,000400,000
Now?
Contained not
Cleaned
Mercury and Minamata
• 1950’s Japan
• Suddenly people develop
acute mercury poisoning –
numbness, muscle weakness,
coma death
• Minamata disease – 2,300
officially recognized victims
• Chisso corporation dumping
methyl mercury into local bay
• Biomagnification of Hg
through food chain into
people
Whaling
• Historically hunted for
blubber, whale oil
• Now hunted for meat
• International Whaling
commission forms in
1946 – moratorium in
1986
• Now whaling by Inuits &
Norway & Iceland
(legitimate?) & Japan
(Scientific?)
Extinct
Critically
Endangered
None*
•Blue Whale
[4
(ANTARCTIC)
8]
•Gray Whale
Northwest
Pacific
population
(cf. Northeast
Pacific
[49]
population)
Endangered
[50]
•Blue Whale
[51]
•Fin Whale
•North Pacific
[52]
Right Whale
•North Atlantic
[53]
Right Whale
[54]
•Sei Whale
Vulnerable
[55]
•Beluga
•Blue Whale
musculus subspecies [56]
Atlantic population
[57]
•Sperm Whale
Lower Risk
(Conservation
Dependent)
•Antarctic Minke
Whale
•Arnoux's
Beaked Whale
•Baird's Beaked
Whale
•Blue
Whale(North
[58]
Pacific)
•Bowhead
[59]
Whale
•Gray Whale
Northeast Pacific
[60]
population
•Northern
Bottlenose
Whale
•Southern
Bottlenose
Whale
•Short-finned
Pilot Whale
•Southern Right
[61]
Whale
Lower risk
(Near
Threatene
d)
Lower Risk
(Least
Concern)
•Minke
[62]
Whale
•Dwarf
Sperm
[63]
Whale
•Pygmy
Right Whale
•Long-finned
Pilot Whale
•Humpback
[64]
Whale
•Pygmy
Sperm
[65]
Whale
•Melonheaded
Whale
•Gray Whale
[62]
(species)
•Atlantic population of Gray Whale went extinct in late 17th Century. It is not listed as a part of IUCN's red list. [41]
Once we’re awake (aware)
• Growth of environmental pressure groups – Greenpeace,
Sea Sheppard
• Function locally and globally
• Development of Environmental Stewardship
• Increased media coverage  increased awareness of issues
These events
• Help us to establish our environmental value systems
• This is a world view or set of paradigms that shapes the way an
individual or group perceives and evaluates environmental issues
• Influenced by cultural, religious, economic and socio-political factors
Environmental Values as a system
• Input – education, cultural dogma, religious doctrines, media
• Transfers and Transformations – Processing of information, thinking,
discussion, regurgitation
• Outputs – decisions, perspectives, courses of action
Value Systems can be
Grouped into a spectrum
Of Philosophies
Know / Understand figure 6
Be able to outline the range
The continuum
Ecocentrism
Deep Ecologists
Soft Ecologists
Anthropocentrism
Environmental Managers
Technocentrism
Cornucopians
Historical Clashes of Worldviews
• Native Americans (first nation americans) vs. European Pioneers
• Buddhist vs. Judeo-christian Societies
• Communist vs. capitalist societies
Native Americans
• Deep respect for the natural world
• Thought of themselves as part of it not lords over it
• Much of their religion was tied to nature so spiritual
connection as well
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river been poisoned and the last fish
been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
~ Cree Indian Proverb ~
European Pioneers
• Frontier economics
• Exploitation of seemingly unlimited resources
• Becomes Manifest destiny – expansion not only good but
obvious and certain
Justify your personal viewpoint on
environmental issues
• -Where do you stand on the continuum of philosophies?
• Does it change with the specific issue
• For example does your stance on population control put you in the
same area as your stance on resource exploitation or sustainable
development
• We will answer this question again at the end of the course as well
Sites of interest
• http://www.foxriverwatch.com/nrda/bush_record.html - Bush 2’s
environmental record