Get documents about "ch02 ppt
Document Sample
Chapter 2
Environmental Laws, Economics and
Ethics
Overview of Chapter 2
o Brief US Environmental History
o US Environmental Legislation
o Economics and the Environment
o Environmental Problems in Central and
Eastern Europe
o Environmental Ethics, Values and
Worldviews
Environmental History of the US
1600 1700 1800 1900
Dominated by Frontier Attitude
Establishment of
Jamestown, VA
o 1600s - early 1800s =
Frontier Attitude
• Natural Resources (land,
timber soil, water) seemed
inexhaustible
• Widespread Environmental
Destruction
Environmental History of US
1750 1800 1850 1900
John James Audobon (1785-1851)
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882)
o 19th century- US Naturalists voiced concerns
about natural resources
• Audobon- painting increased interest in environment
• Thoreau- naturalist author on simplifying life
• Marsh- wrote Man and Nature
Environmental History of US
1850 1875 1900
1875 American 1890 Yosemite and 1891 General
Forestry Assoc. Sequoia National Revision Act
Formed Parks Established
o General Revision Act
• Gave President Authority to establish forest reserves
• Presidents Harrison, Cleveland, Roosevelt put 17.4 million
hectares into reserve
• Roosevelt reserved additional 6.5 million hectares
before signing bill preventing further forest reservation
Environmental History of US
o Utilitarian
Conservationist
• Roosevelt
• Value natural resources
for their usefulness
o Biocentric
Preservationist
• John Muir (founded Sierra Club)
• Fought for National Parks
• Protect nature because all life deserves respect
Environmental History of US
1900 1925 1950
1906 Antiquities 1916 National Park 1935 Creation of
Act Service Created Soil Conservation
Service
o Antiquities Act
• Allows president to set aside sites of scientific or
historical importance (monuments)
o American Dust Bowl (1930s droughts)
• Basis for Soil Conservation Service
• Created by Franklin Roosevelt
Environmental History of US
1900 1925 1950 1975
Aldo Leopold (1886-1948)
Wallace Stegner (1909-1993)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
o 20th Century Naturalists
• Leopold- Author (A Sand Country Almanac)
• Stegner- Author (“Wilderness Essay”)
• Carson- Author (Silent Spring)
• Heightened awareness of DDT and pesticides
US Environmental Legislation
o Environmental Protection Agency
• Est. 1970
o National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• Cornerstone of Environmental Law
• Requires Environmental Impact Statements
(EIS) for any proposed federal action
• Ex: highway or dam construction
• EIS must answer many questions (next slide)
• Revolutionized environmental protection in US
Environmental Impact Statements
US Environmental Legislation
o Numerous laws passed since 1970
o They address:
• Clean water
• Clean air
• Energy conservation
• Hazardous waste
• Pesticides
• Federal regulation of pollution
Effects of Environmental Legislation
(According to EPA’s Draft Report on the Environment 2003)
o Since 1970,
• 6 air pollutants have dropped by 25%
o Since 1990
• wet sulfate levels decreased 20-30%
o In 2002
• 94% of US had healthy drinking water
(up from 79% in 1993)
o As of 2002
• 846 of 1498 Superfund Sites are
cleaned up
o Fewer streams violate water
standards
Economics and the Environment
o Economics- study of how people use limited
resources to satisfy unlimited wants
• Analytical tools include models
Precepts to study Economics
o Economics is utilitarian
• Goods and services have value that can be
converted to currency
o Rational Actor Model
• Assumes all individuals spend limited resources
to maximize individual utilities
o Ideal economy
• Resources are allocated efficiently
Optimum Level of Pollution
o Optimum Level of Pollution
• Cost to society of having less pollution is
offset by benefits to society of activity
creating pollution
o Must identify
• Marginal Cost of Pollution- Cost of small
additional amount of pollution
• Marginal Cost of Abatement- Cost of reducing
small amount of pollution
Economic Optimum Level of Pollution
Private vs Social Cost of Pollution
Strategies for Pollution Control
o Command and Control Solutions
• Government agency requires limitations to
emissions or pollutants
• Discourages development of low-cost
alternatives
• Economists dislike this
o Environmental Taxes/ Tradable Permits
• If taxes are set at correct level private
marginal cost of pollution = social cost of
pollution
• Economists like this
Effect of Tax on Optimum Pollution
Critiques of Environmental Economics
o Difficult to assess true costs of
environmental pollution and abatement
• Impacts of pollution on people and nature is
uncertain
• Ecosystem services have no known value
o Utilitarian economics may not be
appropriate
• Dynamic changes and time are not considered
• Based only on monetary value – what is
monetary value of clean earth?
National Income Accounts
o Estimates of National Economic
Performance and used in Politics
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
• Net Domestic Product (NDP)
o Environment may be overexploited to yield
a higher GDP in developing countries
o EPI (Environmental Performance Index)
• Assesses a country’s commitment to
environmental and resource management
Case Study- Environmental Problems in
Eastern Europe
o Fall of Communist governments revealed
large environmental destruction
• Soil and water poisoned
• Unidentified leaks in dumping sites
• Industry with air
pollutants causing
acid rain
• Children with chronic
asthma, bronchitis,
and heart problems
Case Study- Environmental Problems in
Eastern Europe
o Meeting industrial quotas took precedence
over environmental concerns
o Switch from communism to market
economies- need to improve environment
• Will take decades to clean up polluting
economics of communism
o Success varies by country
• Romania- EPI = 90th
• Czech Republic- EPI = 4th
Environmental Ethics
o Field of ethics that considers the moral
basis of environmental responsibility
o Western Worldview
• Human superiority and dominance over nature
o Deep Ecology Worldview
• All species have an equal worth to humans
o Most people’s ethics fall somewhere in
between
