Chapter 2 Environmental Laws, Economics and Ethics

1
Chapter 2Environmental Laws, Economics and Ethics
2
Overview of Chapter 2

• Brief US Environmental History
• US Environmental Legislation
• Economics and the Environment
• Environmental Problems in Central and Eastern
  Europe
• Environmental Ethics, Values and Worldviews

3
Environmental History of the US
1600
1700
1900
1800
Dominated by Frontier Attitude
Establishment of Jamestown, VA

• 1600s - early 1800s Frontier Attitude
• Natural Resources (land, timber soil, water)
  seemed inexhaustible
• Widespread Environmental Destruction

4
(No Transcript)
5
Environmental History of US
John James Audobon (1785-1851)
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882)

• 19th century- US Naturalists voiced concerns
  about natural resources
• Audubon- painting increased interest in
  environment
• Thoreau- naturalist author on simplifying life
• Marsh- wrote Man and Nature

6
(No Transcript)
7
Environmental History of US
1875
1900
1850
1875 American Forestry Assoc. Formed
1891 General Revision Act
1890 Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks
Established

• 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

8
(No Transcript)
9
Environmental History of US

• Utilitarian Conservationist
• Roosevelt
• Value natural resources for their usefulness
• Biocentric Preservationist

• John Muir (founded Sierra Club)
• Fought for National Parks
• Protect nature because all life deserves respect

10
Environmental History of US
1925
1950
1900
1935 Creation of Soil Conservation Service
1906 Antiquities Act
1916 National Park Service Created

• Antiquities Act
• Allows president to set aside sites of scientific
  or historical importance (monuments)
• American Dust Bowl (1930s droughts)
• Basis for Soil Conservation Service
• Created by Franklin Roosevelt

11
Environmental History of US
1900
1925
1975
1950
Aldo Leopold (1886-1948)
Wallace Stegner (1909-1993)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

• 20th Century Naturalists
• Leopold- Author (A Sand Country Almanac)
• Stegner- Author (Wilderness Essay)
• Carson- Author (Silent Spring)
• Heightened awareness of DDT and pesticides

12
(No Transcript)
13
US Environmental Legislation

• Environmental Protection Agency
• Est. 1970
• 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

14
Environmental Impact Statements
15
US Environmental Legislation

• Numerous laws passed since 1970
• They address
• Clean water
• Clean air
• Energy conservation
• Hazardous waste
• Pesticides
• Federal regulation of pollution

16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
Effects of Environmental Legislation(According
to EPAs Draft Report on the Environment 2003)

• Since 1980,
• 6 air pollutants have dropped by 67
• Since 1990
• wet sulfate levels decreased 20-30
• In 2002
• 94 of US had healthy drinking water (up from 79
  in 1993)
• As of 2002
• 846 of 1498 Superfund Sites are cleaned up
• Fewer streams violate water standards

19
Economics and the Environment

• Economics- study of how people use limited
  resources to satisfy unlimited wants
• Analytical tools include models

20
Precepts to study Economics

• Economics is utilitarian
• Goods and services have value that can be
  converted to currency
• Rational Actor Model
• Assumes all individuals spend limited resources
  to maximize individual utilities
• Ideal economy
• Resources are allocated efficiently

21
Optimum Level of Pollution

• Optimum Level of Pollution
• Cost to society of having less pollution is
  offset by benefits to society of activity
  creating pollution
• Must identify
• Marginal Cost of Pollution- Cost of small
  additional amount of pollution
• Marginal Cost of Abatement- Cost of reducing
  small amount of pollution

22
Economic Optimum Level of Pollution
23
Private vs Social Cost of Pollution
24
Strategies for Pollution Control

• Command and Control Solutions
• Government agency requires limitations to
  emissions or pollutants
• Discourages development of low-cost alternatives
• Economists dislike this
• Environmental Taxes/ Tradable Permits
• If taxes are set at correct level private
  marginal cost of pollution social cost of
  pollution
• Economists like this

25
Effect of Tax on Optimum Pollution
26
Critiques of Environmental Economics

• 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
• 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?

27
National Income Accounts

• Estimates of National Economic Performance and
  used in Politics
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
• Net Domestic Product (NDP)
• Environment may be overexploited to yield a
  higher GDP in developing countries
• EPI (Environmental Performance Index)
• Assesses a countrys commitment to environmental
  and resource management

28
(No Transcript)
29
Case Study- Environmental Problems in Eastern
Europe

• 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

30
Case Study- Environmental Problems in Eastern
Europe

• Meeting industrial quotas took precedence over
  environmental concerns
• Switch from communism to market economies- need
  to improve environment
• Will take decades to clean up polluting economics
  of communism
• Success varies by country- 2012
• Romania- EPI 88th
• Czech Republic- EPI 18th

31
Environmental Ethics

• Field of ethics that considers the moral basis of
  environmental responsibility
• Western Worldview
• Human superiority and dominance over nature
• Deep Ecology Worldview
• All species have an equal worth to humans
• Most peoples ethics fall somewhere in between