Chapter 2 Environmental Ethics

1
Chapter 2 Environmental Ethics Economics
Values Choices

2
This chapter will help students understand

• Influences of culture and worldview
• Major schools of environmental ethics
• Economic theory implications for environment
• Environmental ecological economics
• Economic growth, health, and sustainability
• Relationships among ethics, economics, and
  environmental science

3
Lecture Launcher Video

• Henry David Thoreau the Origins of Preservation
  Conservation
• The Industrial age and its influence on world
  conservation preservation

4
Mirrar Clan Confronts Uranium Mine
1

• Kukadu region of Australia has uranium which is
  key to economy
• Mirrar people faced difficult choices
• Conflicts - Mirrar clan fighting mine development
  since may effect health environment
• In 1998 nearly 3000 people traveled to region to
  protest
• In 2002 corporation announces cancellation

5
Ranger Mine
Figure 2.2 page 30
Proposed Second mine
6
Big Picture
Values, beliefs, and traditions interact with
economic interests to influence the choices all
of us must make about how to live within our
environment.
Figure 2.1 page 28
7
Values Influence Perception of Environment
2

• _____________________________________
• ______________________________________
• _____________________________________
• _______________________________________
• _____________________________________
• __________________________________________________
  __________________________

8
Perspectives of Ethical Standards

• ________________________________
• __________________________________
• ________________________________
• _________________________________
• _________________________________
• __________________________________

9
Some Questions in Environmental Ethics
Should the present generation conserve resources
for future generations?
Are humans justified in driving other species to
extinction?
Is is OK to destroy a forest to create jobs for
people?
Is it OK for some communities to be exposed to
more pollution than others?
10
Three Ethical Perspectives
3
Figure 2.4 page 33
11
Early environmental philosophers

• The industrial revolution inspired reaction.
• John Ruskin Criticized polluted 19th-century
  cities, and desacralizing nature.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
  Transcendentalists viewed nature as divine, and
  opposed materialism.

12
The preservation ethic
4
Figure 2.5

• John Muir _______________________________
• ________________________________________
• ________________________________________

13
The conservation ethic
4
Figure 2.6

• Gifford Pinchot _________________________
• ________________________________________
• ________________________________________

14
The land ethic

• Aldo Leopold _________
• _____________________
• _____________________
• _____________________
• _____________________
• _____________________
• _____________________
• _____________________

Figure 2.7
15
Environmental Justice
5, 6

• ___________________________________
• ___________________________________
• (page 37 EPA definition)
• Environmental hazards often unequally distributed

Protest in the early 1980s in North Caroline
against toxic waste dump was beginning of
environmental justice movement.
16
Weighing the Issues

• Read Weighing the Issues Environmental Justice
  page 38
• What should be done and how?

17
Internet Research AssignmentHartsville
Uranium Enrichment Facility

• Find two web sites to answer questions
• 1. Where was the facility to be placed?
• 2. Why that specific location?
• 3. What is the present status of the project?
• 4. Why would people want the facility?
• 5. Why would people NOT want the facility?

18
Research Assignment Turn in

• Answer each question in complete sentences that
  paraphrases the question.
• Print first page of each web site to show web
  address.

19
Economy Economics
7,8

• Economy ________________________
• ___________________________________
• Economics _______________________
• ___________________________________
• ___________________________________
• Is there a trade off between economy and
  environment ?

20
Economies

9

• ___________________________
• ___________________________
• ___________________________

21
Ecosystem services essential services provided
by ecosystem
10

Table 2.2 page 42
22
Neoclassical Economics Supply Demand

11

• Contribute to Environmental Problems
• 1)__________________________________
• 2)__________________________________
• 3)__________________________________
• 4) _________________________________

23
External cost or Externalities

12

• __________________________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  _____

Indonesian boy wading in polluted river suffers
external costs.
24
Weighing the Issues

• Read Weighing the Issues A Natural Gas Pipeline
  Across Peru, page 46
• Economy vs. Environment ??

25
Is Growth Good ?

• World economy 7x bigger than 50 years ago
• Most economics still expanding -limited resources
  predicted
• Technological innovations enables us to push back
  limits on growth but can it solve everything?

26
Is Economic Growth Sustainable?

• ?? Can technology can solve everything ??
• Ecological Economists theory
• Environmental Economists theory

27
GDP vs. GPI

• Gross Domestic Product sums all economic
  activity, good and bad.
• Genuine Progress Indicator tries to
  differentiate, e.g., deducting environmental
  costs.

Page 48
28
Valuation of Ecosystem Services

• Presently little quantitative monetary value
  given to ecosystem services
• Nonmarket values ___________________
• ______________________________________
• Contingent valuation ________________
• _____________________________________
• _____________________________________

29
Nonmarket Values
13

• __________________________
• __________________________
• __________________________
• __________________________
• __________________________
• __________________________
• __________________________

30
Market Failure

• When does not reflect full cost of
• ______________________________
• ______________________________
• ______________________________
• ______________________________

31
Supporting Good Business
14

• Green taxes_________________________
• Subsidies ___________________________
• _______________________________________
• Ecolabeling _________________________
• _______________________________________
• Permit trading _______________________
• _______________________________________

32
Conclusions Challenges

• Many feel that we have not yet developed the
  ethical basis for sustainability.
• Prevailing economic precepts can be damaging to
  the environment.
• Growth-oriented economies may not be sustainable.
• Markets can fail.
• Environmental justice remains a challenge.

33
Conclusions Solutions

• Ethics evolve, and we may yet develop an ethical
  basis for sustainability.
• Advances in technology and efficiency can
  mitigate our environmental impacts.
• A steady-state economy may offer an attractive
  alternative to a growth-oriented economy.
• Various solutions can lessen the impact of market
  failure.
• Advances have been made toward environmental
  justice.

34
QUESTION Weighing the Issues

• Should economists try to assign monetary amounts
  to nonmarket values such as aesthetic,
  cultural, and existence values?
• a. Yes, because this draws attention to the
  importance of these values.
• b. No, because the amounts can never be made
  objective and exact.

35
QUESTION Interpreting

• Why is GPI less than GDP (green arrow) in this
  example?

a. Environmental, social, and economic costs are
greater than benefits ignored by GDP. b.
Environmental costs are greater than social
costs. c. GPI is always lower than GDP.
From The Science behind the Stories
36
QUESTION Viewpoints

• From what you have seen in your lifetime, do you
  feel that poor or minority communities receive
  protection from pollution and other environmental
  threats equal to that received by wealthy
  communities?
• a. Yes, in law and in practice.
• b. In law but not in practice.
• c. No, not in law or in practice.