Environmental Ethics, Economics & Policy Flashcards
(62 cards)
1
Q
Policy
A
Plans and principle that address problems and guide decision making
2
Q
Environmental policy
A
- Policies that regulate resource use and decrease pollution. Dual goals of 1) promoting human welfare and 2) protecting natural systems
- Input from science, ethics, and economics is required for successful environmental policy
3
Q
Why do capitalistic systems create the need for strong environmental policy?
A
- Capitalistic systems are driven by short-term economic gains – conflicts with long-term environmental and social stability
- Little incentive for businesses to decrease environmental impact
- Market prices do not consider the value of environmental contributions/cost of environmental degredation
4
Q
Tragedy of the commons
A
- The tendency of an individual to abuse commonly held resources in order to maximize his or her own personal interest
- Without oversight, people deplete commonly held resources for their own self-interest
- Thus guidelines are needed for use of resources, e.g. restriction of use or management
5
Q
Ways to prevent the tragedy of the commons
A
- Government regulations
- Subdividing the resource so each individual is responsible for conserving their personal allotment
- Resource users cooperate to prevent overexploitation
6
Q
Conditions for avoiding tragedy of the commons without government regulation or privatization of resources
A
- Commonly pooled resources are within clearly defined boundaries
- Rules are set collectively by local users with shared moral/ethical standards
- Users are have increased value from or are dependent upon the sustainability of the resource
- Graduated sanctions are in place for users who violate community rules
- Higher authorities recognize the self-determination of the local community
7
Q
Free riders
A
- When competitors agree to decrease environmental exploitation, one or more may be tempted to cheat to get ahead
- Eventually, more of the competitors begin cheating, and the whole effort will collapse
8
Q
Ways to prevent free riders
A
- Public policy is generally more effective than private voluntary efforts
- With public policy, violators are more likely to be caught and punished
- More challenging with international issues–who provides oversight?
9
Q
External costs
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- A cost associated with a product or service that is not taken into account when a price is assigned to that product or service but rather is passed on to a third party who does not benefit from the transaction
- Ex: Until the mid 20th century, many Pittsburgh factories increased profit margins by dumping waste into the nearby river rather than paying for waste disposal/recycling. The external costs on downstream users included increased pollution, decreased fish population, and decreased recreational value.
10
Q
Why are some people resistant to environmental policy?
A
- Property owners/businesses see regulations as inconvenient and stifling to the economy
- Environmental problems develop gradually over the long-term, so it may be hard to see the necessity of environmental policy
- Individuals, businesses, news media, politicians, etc. each have short-term needs and interests that may be in opposition to environmental policy
- Many citizens are ill-informed on environmental issues
11
Q
Why is it better to retain strong federal control over environmental policy (vs states/local governments)?
A
- All citizens deserve equal protection against environmental and health impacts
- Economy of scale in resources: strong national efforts are more efficient that individual state efforts
- Many environmental problems involve transboundary disputes; nationwide effort decrease disputes among states
12
Q
Keystone XL Pipeline
A
- 36” diameter pipeline carrying crude oil
- 1,700mi from tar sands in Alberta, Canada to refineries on Texas Gulf Coast, USA
13
Q
14th amendment
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- Prohibits states from denying “equal protection of its [government’s] laws”
- Used in environmental justice cases
14
Q
5th amendment
A
- Private property cannot “be taken for public use without just compensation”
- Courts interpretation: bans taking of public property and regulatory taking
- Can be used to fight environmental policy, if policy is interpreted as the government depriving landowners of some/all economic use of their property
15
Q
Homestead Act
A
- Allowed anyone to buy or settle on 160 acres of public land
- Encouraged widespread national land conversion
16
Q
General Mining Act
A
- Allowed anyone to mine on public land for $5/acre with no government oversight
- Encouraged widespread national land conversion
17
Q
National Environmental Policy Act
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- Passed in 1970
- Requires Environmental Impact Statement for any federal action that might seriously impact the environment
18
Q
Endangered Species Act
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- Passed in 1973
- Makes illegal the extinction of any species due to human activity
19
Q
Superfund Act
A
- Passed in 1980
- EPA program to clean up 1,700+ hazardous waste sites
- 1/6 of people live within 3 miles of a hazardous waste site
20
Q
3 major types of policy approaches
A
- Litigation
- Government regulations
- Market-based approach
21
Q
Litigation
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- # 1 means of environmental justice pre-1970’s
- Individuals suffering from pollution seek redress from lawsuits
- If convicted, polluters fined, BUT often remain in business and many increase profit margins by continuing to pollute and paying off fines (rather than stop polluting)
22
Q
Boomer v. Atlantic Cement (1970)
A
- Litigation case
- Dirt, smoke, and vibration created by Atlantic Cement caused nuisances for nearby landowners
- $185K awarded to plaintiff; cement company valued at $45 million stayed in business
23
Q
Government regulations
A
- Command and control approach: regulatory agencies set rules and threaten punishment for violators
- Often produces good results: of 107 EPA regulations enacted 1992-2002, cost of $40 billion/year to enforce, produced benefits of $200 billion/year to public
- Problematic because of lobbyists working against public interests, citizens viewing regulations as restrictions of freedom
24
Q
Examples of market based approach
A
- Green taxes
- Permit trading
- Cap and trade
25
Green taxes
- Taxes on activities harmful to the environment
- Businesses reimburse public for damages caused
- Amount of pollution correlated with cost of payment
- Financial incentive to companies to decrease pollution, gives freedom to devise own solution
26
Subsidies
- Often hurt environment by giving taxpayer dollars to polluting industries
- From 2002-2008, US fossil fuel companies received $72 billion in subsidies while renewable energy receiver less than half of that ($29 billion)
27
Permit trading
-Government issues permits to pollute which businesses buy, sell, and trade
28
Cap and trade
- Government "caps" pollution level and issues permits
- Polluters buy, sell, and trade permits
- Creates economic incentive to decrease pollution
- Constrained by cap, polluters will innovate
- Successfully implemented in US to decrease SO2 emissions and associated acid rain, even as output from coal-fired plants increased
- Cheaper and more efficient that command and control regulations
29
California Cap and Trade
- Goals to reduce emissions of 6 greenhouse gases set by Gov. Schwarzenagger in 2006, implemented by Gov. Brown 2012-13
- Aim 1: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020
- Aim 2: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% of 1990 levels by 2030
- Requires oil refineries, power plants and other facilities to buy permits (allowances) to release greenhouse gases
- Generates billions for CA's green energy economy
30
7 steps to make environmental policy
1. Identify problem
2. Pinpoint problem
3. Envision solution
4. Organize
5. Cultivate access/influence
6. Shepherd solution into law
7. Implement, assess, and interpret policy
31
Give examples of how religious beliefs shape people's relationship to the environment.
- some Aboriginal people view landscape as a "sacred text"
- some Christians use the Bible to justify man subjugating nature (i.e. "Let them have dominion over [...] every creeping thing that creeps on the earth"
32
Give examples of how shared community experience shape people's relationship to the environment
- Settlers in Australia viewed the environment as hostile because they perceived the weather as harsh in comparison to what they were used to
33
Give examples of how political ideology shape people's relationship to the environment
-Impacts views on the wisdom of government intervention in market economy to protect environmental quality
34
Give examples of how economic factors shape people's relationship to the environment
-Loggers see the spotted owl as a nuisance affecting their livelihood in the Pacific Northwest
35
Environmental ethics
- Application of ethical standards (good/bad/right/wrong) to relationship between human and nonhuman entities
- Address questions such as:
- Are we obligated to save resources for future generations (i.e. live sustainably)?
- Is it ok to drive other species to extinction to meet our own needs?
- Is it ok for some communities to be exposed to more pollution than others?
36
Anthropocentric perspective
Only humans have intrinsic value
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Biocentric perspective
Some or all nonhuman life has intrinsic value
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Ecocentric perspective
Whole ecosystems have value
39
How did Plato view humanity's relationship with the environment?
"The land is our ancestral home and we must cherish it more than children cherish their mother"
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Transcendentalist perspective
Nature is the direct manifestation of the divine
41
Which ethic was Muir a proponent of?
Preservation
42
Which ethic was Pinchot a proponent of?
Resource conservation ethic
43
Which ethic was Leopold a proponent of?
- Changed from anthropocentic to ecocentric over his lifetime
- Land Ethic: People and land are members of the same community, therefore we have an obligation to treat the land in an ethical manner
44
Environmental justice movement
- Movement influenced by the Civil Rights and Feminist movements of the 60's and 70's
- Poor and minorities are often exposed to more pollution, pesticides, and environmental degredation
45
Which protests acted as the starting point for the environmental justice movement?
Protests in the 1980's against a toxic waste dump in North Carolina. The dump was going to be located in the county with the highest % of African Americans.
46
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (1990)
Compensated Navajo miners, who had high rates of lung cancer from unprotected work in uranium mines during the 1940's-1960's.
47
Mountaintop removal mining
- Method of surface coal mining that destroys mountaintops and ridgelines
- Mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia to provide 3% of US energy needs
- High correlation with poverty
- Coal waste leads to poisoned/clogged waterways
- White House recently ordered NHS to halt a $1 million review of links between mountaintop mining and human health impacts (birth defects, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease)
- Weak regulations and officials afraid to stand up to coal companies means there is no end in sight to mountaintop removal
48
Give examples of international environmental justice issues.
- Developed nations impose pollution on developing nations:
- Most carbon dioxide emissions are from developed nations
- Developed nations buy hazardous waste disposal sites in developing nations
49
Describe how the proposed development of West Coyote Hills in Fullerton for housing represents an example of the inherent conflict between the ecological and economic realms.
- Chevron owns West Coyote Hills in Fullerton
- Coyote Hills is a 510 acre biodiversity hotspot, watershed, and recreation area
- North OC has 40% of OC's total population, but only 1% of its parks
- Converting Coyote Hills to a housing development benefits few (economic profit to Chevron) while converting to a park benefits many (continued ecosystem services)
50
Mainstream economics vs Ecological economics
- Mainstream economics assumes:
(1) environmental resources (inputs) are free and limitless
(2) wastes (outputs) can be endlessly exported/absorbed by environment at no cost
- Ecological economics recognizes:
(1) human economy exists within natural environment
(2) Economic health depends to some degree on environmental health
51
Name some assumptions of mainstream economics and refute them.
- A1: Resources are infinite/substitutable
- R1: Many exceptions (ex. fossil fuels)
- A2: Costs and benefits are internal (experienced only by the buyer and seller)
- R2: externalities are common, ex. the devastation of Coyote Hills harms many
- A3: Growth is good and can continue forever
- R3: This posits that material wealth is equivalent to happiness; studies show that emotional well-being increases with wealth only up until $75K
52
Ecological economics
- Applies principles of ecology to analysis of economic systems
- Civilizations, like natural populations, cannot permanently overcome environmental limitations therefore we cannot expect infinite economic growth
- Economy should neither grow nor shrink rapidly, like natural populations
53
GDP
- Gross Domestic Product
- Total monetary value of goods and services per year
- Increases even when economic actions harm society (ex. oil spills, natural disasters, radiation leaks, pollution, crime, etc.)
54
GPI
- Genuine Progress Indicator
- GDP+(positive societal actions)-(negative societal actions)
- Positive societal actions: volunteer work, parenting, etc.
- Negative societal actions: oil spills, crime, etc.
55
Describe attempts to assign ecosystems/biodiversity economic value.
- R. Costanza et al. 1997: quantified 17 services provided by Earth's major ecosystems. Nutrient cycling considered most valuable at $17 trillion. Value of ecosystem services on earth $33 trillion/yr, or GDP of all nations combined in 2011.
- R. Costanza et al. 2002 compared benefits of preserving ecosystems intact vs conversion to agriculture, logging, or fish farming. Examined 15% of land, 30% of oceans. Left intact worth $5 trillion, converted worth $50 billion (100x less)
56
Bioprospecting
- Discovery of organisms used to fight diseases, control pests, etc.
- 25% of medicine comes from rainforest plants/animals, generates $150 billion in sales and many lives saved annually
57
Biopiracy
- Bioprospectors refusing to share profits with the country of origin
- More common in the past than today
- Difficult to enforce regulations against biopiracy
58
What did Thomas Brock discover, and what advance(s) did it lead to?
- Brock discovered Thermus aquaticus, a microorganism that lives in Yellowstone's hotsprings
- Kary Mullis, an inventor for a biotech company, uses enzymes from T. aquaticus to develop PCR
- PCR w/ Taq polymerase highly effective, allowed scientists a convenient way to study DNA
59
Social traps
- Decisions that seem good at the time, but hurt society in the long run
- Includes tragedy of the commons, time delay, and sliding reinforcer
60
Time delay
- Actions that produce a benefit today and set into motion events that cause problems later on
- Ex. catching as many fish as possible increases short term profits. Over the long term, overfishing depletes the fish population so much fishers can't catch enough to meet needs.
61
Sliding reinforcer
- Actions that are beneficial at first but that change conditions such that the benefit decreases over time.
- Ex. use of pesticides leads to pesticide resistance; over time, more pesticide may be necessary to produce the same effect, or the pesticide may be rendered completely ineffective.
62
According to Stern et al., how much will it cost society if we do nothing about climate change?
- in 2006: climate change will cause a 5-20% reduction in annual GDP in the future, but paying 1% of GDP yearly to fight climate change will offset it
- in 2008: would need to pay 2% of GDP yearly to offset climate change
- The quicker we start, the better off we'll be
