Holes in the Cornucopia Ernest Partridge

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Holes in the CornucopiaErnest Partridge

• SIMON IS WRONG
• Natural Resources Are Not Infinite
• Simon confuses math concepts of infinite with the
  real world
• You Cannot Use Human History to Predict Future
  Performance
• Nature is Complex Not Mechanistic Inert Stuff
• He Does Not Understand Thermodynamics
• You Cannot Mine Waste Dumps for Future Resource
• Nature Cannot Be Successfully Managed
• He Used Bad Scholarship
• He uses an American Economic Model to Predict
• He dismisses those who do not agree

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SCARCITY OR ABUNDANCE?Julian L. Simon

• All the gloom and doom predictions serve as a
  scare tactic are not based on long term trends.
• People around the world are living longer
• Agricultural labor is declining
• Raw materials are cheaper
• Food is more available
• Pollution is declining

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ENVIRONMENTAL MYTHS

• There is no populations crisis
• Species extinction rate is low
• History shows the world is getting better
• Environment is improving not worsening

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Integrating the Environment into Business
PlanningThomas Hellman

• Some companies are moving from end of the
  pipeline technology to a waste minimization
  policy (Bristol Meyers)
• These companies look at product life cycles to
  eliminate needless packaging and environmentally
  unfriendly manufacturing systems

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Cost Benefit Analysis An Ethical CritiqueSteven
Kelman

• COST BENEFIT IS BASED ON THREE CONCEPTS
• No act should be undertaken where cost exceeds
  benefits.
• Cost and benefits should be expressed on the same
  scale.
• Cost benefit analysis is important and worth the
  expense of gathering the data.

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CRITIQUE OF COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS

• In cases of safety, environment and health
  benefits outweigh costs
• There are good reasons not place a dollar value
  on everything
• Measure some things is not possible (Clean Air)
• Method only measures cost paying for benefit not
  how much is paid to give up benefit
• Uses a private not public good standard
• Place a dollar on some things cheapens that thing
  (love, health, sex)
• It is not justifiable to spend scare resources on
  collecting information related to the
  environment, health, safety and welfare