Economics, Politics, Worldviews and the Environment

1
Economics, Politics, Worldviews and the
Environment

• Chapter 14

ltltdouble bracketsgtgt will be on chap
quiz ltltltTriple bracketsgtgtgt will be on mid-term
2
14-1 How Are Economic Systems Related to the
Biosphere?

• Concept 14-1 Ecological economists and most
  sustainability experts regard human economic
  systems as subsystems of the biosphere and
  subject to its processes and limiting factors.

ltltltEconomists Neoclassical
Ecological Biosphere is the subset Human
economy is the subsetgtgtgt
3
Economic Systems Are Supported by Three Types of
Resources

• Economic systems are supported by
• ltltNatural Resourcesgtgt
• Human capital, ltlthuman resourcesgtgt
• Manufactured capital, ltltmanufactured resourcesgtgt

4
Natural Resources
Manufactured Resources
Human Resources
Goods and Services
Fig. 23-2, p. 613
5
Economists Disagree over Natural Capital,
Sustainable Economic Growth

• High-throughput economies
• Resources flow through and end up in planetary
  sinks
• Models of ecological economists
• Strategies toward more sustainable eco-economies

ltltltBe able to identify high/low throughput
economies from following two chartsgtgtgt
6
High-Throughput Economies Rely on Ever-Increasing
Energy, Matter Flow
7
Inputs (from environment)
System throughputs
Outputs (into environment)
Low-quality energy (heat)
Energy conservation
High-quality energy
Low-waste economy
Waste and pollution prevention
Pollution control
Waste and pollution
High-quality matter
Recycle and reuse
Fig. 23-13, p. 629
8
Solar Capital
Goods and services
Economic Systems
Heat
Production
Natural Capital
Depletion of nonrenewable resources
Natural resources such as air, land, soil,
biodiversity, minerals, and energy, and natural
services such as air and water purification,
nutrient cycling, and climate control
Degradation of renewable resources (used faster
than replenished)
Consumption
Pollution and waste (overloading natures waste
disposal and recycling systems)
Recycling and reuse
Fig. 23-5, p. 615
9
14-2 Using Economic Tools to Promote
Environmental Sustainability

• Concept 14-2A Using resources more sustainably
  will require including the environmental and
  health costs of resource use in the market prices
  of goods and services (full-cost pricing).
• Concept 14-2B Governments can help to improve
  and sustain environmental quality by subsidizing
  environmentally beneficial activities and taxing
  pollution and waste instead of wages and profits.
  

10
Active Figure Two views of economics
11
Most Things Cost a Lot More Than You Think

• Market price, direct price
• Indirect, external, or hidden costs
• Direct and indirect costs of a car
• Should indirect costs be part of the price of
  goods?
• Economists differ in their opinions

12
Using Environmental Economic Indicators Can Help
Reduce Our Environmental Impact

• Measurement and comparison of the economic output
  of nations
• Gross domestic product (GDP)
• Per capita GDP
• Newer methods of comparison
• Genuine progress indicator (GPI)
• Happy Planet Index (HPI)
• General National Happiness (GNH)

13
Poor Family Members Struggling to Live in
Mumbai, India
14
We Can Include Harmful Environmental Costs in the
Prices of Goods, Services

• Environmentally honest market system
• Why isnt full-cost pricing more widely used?
• Government action to phase in such a system

15
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
1996 Dollars per person
Per capita gross domestic product (GDP)
15,000
10,000
5,000
Per capita genuine progress indicator (GPI)
0
1980
1990
2000
1950
1960
1970
Year
Fig. 23-8, p. 620
16
We Can Reward Environmentally Sustainable
Businesses

• Phase out environmentally harmful subsidies and
  tax breaks
• Phase in environmentally beneficial subsidies and
  tax breaks for pollution prevention
• Pros and cons
• Subsidy shifts

17
We Can Tax Pollution and Wastes instead of Wages
and Profits

• Green taxes, ecotaxes
• Steps for successful implementation of green
  taxes
• Success stories in Europe
• ltltltTax Shiftinggtgtgt

18
Environmental Laws and Regulations Can Discourage
or Encourage Innovation

• Regulation
• Command and control approach
• ltltltEnforcement fines/Law-suitsgtgtgt
• Incentive-based regulations
• Innovation-friendly regulations

19
We Can Use the Marketplace to Reduce Pollution
and Resource Waste

• Incentive-based regulation example
• ltltCap-and-tradegtgt approach used to reduce SO2
  emissions
• Advantages
• Disadvantages

20
Reduce Pollution and Resource Waste by Selling
Services instead of Things

• 1980s Braungart and Stahl
• New economic model
• Service-flow economy, eco-lease (rent) services
• Xerox
• Carrier
• Ray Anderson lease carpets in the future ?
• ltltShifting from Material-flow to Service-flow
  economy means _____________gtgt

21
Individual Matters Ray Anderson

• CEO of Interface, largest commercial manufacturer
  of carpet tiles
• Goals
• Zero waste
• Greatly reduce energy use
• Reduce fossil fuel use
• Rely on solar energy
• Copying nature
• Hows it working?

22
14-3 How Can Reducing Poverty Help Us to Deal
with Environmental Problems?

• Concept 14-3 Reducing poverty can help us to
  reduce population growth, resource use, and
  environmental degradation.

23
The Gap between the Rich and the Poor Is Getting
Wider

• Poverty
• Trickle-down effect
• Flooding up
• Wealth gap

24
We Can Reduce Poverty

• South Korea and Singapore reduced poverty by
• Education
• Hard work
• Discipline
• Attracted investment capital
• Developed countries can help
• Cancel debt of the poorest nations
• What else can they do?

25
Case Study Making Microloans to the Poor (1)

• ltltMicro-lending or microfinancegtgt
• 1983 Muhammad Yunus
• Grameen (Village) Bank in Bangladesh
• Provides microloans mostly to women
• Solidarity groups
• How does it work?
• ltltltAwarded 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for
  Economicsgtgtgt
• Good research paper topic

26
Case Study Making Microloans to the Poor (2)

• 2006 Citibank and TIAA-Cref
• Microloans
• Dambisa Moyo
• Dead Aid Good research topic
• http//www.dambisamoyo.com/deadaid.html

27
We Can Achieve the Worlds Millennium Development
Goals

• 2000 Millennium Development Goals
• Sharply reduce hunger and poverty
• Improve health care
• Empower women
• ltltEnvironmental sustainability by 2015gtgt
• Developed countries spend 0.7 of national
  budget toward these goals
• ltltltHow is it working? Its not spending on it
  is consistently less than 0.7 goalgtgtgt

28
What Should Our Priorities Be?
29
14-4 Making the Transition to More
Environmentally Sustainable Economics

• Concept 14-4 We can use the four scientific
  principles of sustainability and various economic
  and environmental strategies to develop more
  environmentally sustainable economies.

30
We Can Use Lessons from Nature to Shift to More
Sustainable Economies

• Matter recycling and reuse economies
• Mimic nature
• Best long-term solution is a shift to
• Low-throughput, low-waste, economy

31
Inputs (from environment)
System throughputs
Outputs (into environment)
Low-quality energy (heat)
Energy conservation
High-quality energy
Low-waste economy
Waste and pollution prevention
Pollution control
Waste and pollution
High-quality matter
Recycle and reuse
ltltKnow the circled boxes are the most critical
events of a low throughput economy.gtgt
Fig. 23-13, p. 629
32
We Can Make Money and Create Jobs by Shifting to
an Eco-Economy (1)

• Hawken, Brown, and other environmental business
  leaders
• Transition to environmentally sustainable
  economies
• Some companies will disappear
• New jobs will be created

33
ltltltName 2gtgtgt
Environmentally Sustainable Businesses and Careers
Aquaculture
Environmental law
Biodiversity protection
Environmental nanotechnology
Fuel cell technology
Biofuels
Geographic information systems (GIS)
Climate change research
Conservation biology
Geothermal geologist
Hydrogen energy
Eco-industrial design
Marine science
Ecotourism management
Pollution prevention
Reconciliation ecology
Energy efficient product design
Selling services in place of products
Environmental chemistry
Solar cell technology
Environmental (green) design
Sustainable agriculture
Environmental economics
Sustainable forestry
Waste reduction
Environmental education
Watershed hydrologist
Environmental engineering
Water conservation
Environmental health
Wind energy
Fig. 23-15, p. 630
34
We Can Make Money and Create Jobs by Shifting to
an Eco-Economy (2)

• General Electric ecoimagination plan
• Bainbridge Graduate Institute and Presidio
  graduates
• Triple bottom line people, planet, and profit

35
14-5 The Role of Government in the Transition to
More Sustainable Societies

• Concept 14-5 A government can seek to protect
  environmental and public interests and encourage
  environmentally sustainable economic growth
  through its policies, which can be influenced by
  groups and individuals working together.

36
Democracy Does Not Always Allow for Quick
Solutions (1)

• Democracy
• United States
• Constitutional democracy
• Three branches of government
• Legislative
• Executive
• Judicial (CA Prop 8)

37
Democracy Does Not Always Allow for Quick
Solutions (2)

• Special-interest groups pressure the government
• Profit-making organizations (Immigration?)
• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
• Ideological (Gay, etc.)
• Politicians focus on problems with short-term
  effects, not long-term

38
Certain Principles Can Guide Us in Making
Environmental Policy (1)
ltltltDescribe 1gtgtgt

• The humility principle
• The reversibility principle
• The precautionary principle (Global Warming)
• The net energy principle
• The preventive principle

39
Certain Principles Can Guide Us in Making
Environmental Policy (2)

• The polluter-pays principle
• The public access and participation principle
• Internet/feedback
• The human rights principle
• Next generation
• The environmental justice principle
• How will these principles be implemented?

40
Developing Environmental Policy Is a
Controversial Process

• Funding needed
• Regulations and rules needed to implement the law
• Policy important role in environmental
  regulatory agencies

41
Laws
Courts
Legislative branch
Executive branch
ltltLabel 3 circlesgtgt
Regulators
Lobbyists
Lobbyists
Public hearing
Civil suits
Environmental organizations
Corporations and small businesses
Patronize or boycott
Membership support
Individuals
Purchase recyclable, recycled, and
environmentally safe products
Use mass transit, walk, ride a bike, or carpool
Recycle cans, bottles, paper, and plastic
Plant a garden
Donate clothes and used goods to charities
Use water, energy, and other resources efficiently
Fig. 24-3, p. 639
42
Major Environmental Laws and Amended Versions
Enacted in the U.S. Since 1969
ltltName 2gtgt
(Water flouride)
43
Case Study Managing Public Lands in the United
StatesPolitics in Action (1)

• ltltlt35 of the U.S. is public landgtgtgt, ¾ in Alaska
• Federal public land
• National Forest System
• National Resource Land
• National Wildlife Refuges (biodiversity)
• National Park System
• National Wilderness Preservation System

44
National parks and preserves
National forests
(and Xs) National wildlife refuges
Fig. 24-5, p. 641
45
Case Study Managing Public Lands in the United
StatesPolitics in Action (2)

• Public land use
• Views of conservation biologists and
  environmental economists
• Views of developers, resource extractors, and
  many economists (Short-term temptation)
• Since 2002 greater extraction of mineral,
  timber, and fossil fuel resources on public lands

46
Science Focus Logging in U.S. National Forests
Is Controversial

• U.S. national forests managed by
• Principle of sustainable yield
• Principles of multiple use
• Timber cutting loses money
• Recreation, hunting, and fishing in the forests
  makes money and jobs (valid argument?)

47
Case Study U.S. Environmental Laws and
Regulations under Attack (1)

• Who is opposing the U.S. environmental laws?
• Some corporate leaders and other powerful people
• Some citizens
• Some state and local officials
• Why are the opposition?

48
Case Study U.S. Environmental Laws and
Regulations under Attack (2)

• Since 2000, environmental laws weakened by
  executive orders and congressional actions
• Prevent further weakening by
• Science-based education
• Education about the current state of the
  environmental laws
• Organized bottom-up political pressure from
  concerned citizens

49
Individuals Can Influence Environmental Policy

• Individuals matter
• 2007 Chinese citizens opposed construction of a
  chemical plant
• Mobile phone text messaging spread the word
• Think globally act locally

50
Individuals Matter Diane Wilson

• 1989 Lavaca, Bay, TX, U.S.
• Hg superfund site
• Sued Formosa Plastics
• Author and activist for environmental and social
  justice

51
Citizen Environmental Groups Play Important Roles

• Nonprofit nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
  working at all levels
• International
• National
• State
• Local
• Grassroots groups to organizations
• Examples of NGOs and their global policy networks

52
Individuals Matter Butterfly in a Redwood Tree
(Up a Creek)

• Julia Hill Nonviolent civil disobedience
• 2 Years in a redwood tree, named Luna
• Protested cutting down these ancient trees
• Did not save the surrounding forest
• Her message protect biodiversity

53
Students Can Play Important Environmental Roles

• Student pressure on campuses to carry out
  environmental audits
• Since June 2007, 458 university presidents add no
  additional CO2 emissions to their campuses
• Arizona State University Global Institute for
  Sustainability
• Berea College, KY Ecovillage apartments

54
14-6 How Can We Improve Global Environmental
Security?

• Concept 14-6 Environmental security is necessary
  for economic security and at least as important
  as military security governments, international
  organizations, and corporations are recognizing
  this fact in their planning and policy making.

55
Environmental Security Is as Important as
Military and Economic Security

• Military security
• Economic security
• All economies supported by the earths natural
  capital
• Failing states rooted in ecological crisis
• Darfur, Sudan, Africa

56
We Can Develop Stronger International
Environmental Policies (1)

• United Nations most influential
• Family of global policy-making organizations
• Other influential groups
• E.g., the World Bank
• NRDC and China
• U.N. Conference of Environment and Development
  Agenda 21

57
We Can Develop Stronger International
Environmental Policies (2)

• Montreal and Copenhagen Protocols
• Yale and Columbia Universities, U.S.
• Developed the Environmental Performance Index
  (EPI)

58
TRADE-OFFS
Global Efforts to Solve Environmental Problems
Good News
Bad News
Environmental protection agencies in 115 nations
Most international environmental treaties lack
criteria for evaluating their effectiveness
Over 500 international environmental treaties and
agreements
1992 Rio Earth Summit led to nonbinding
agreements with inadequate funding
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) created in 1972
to negotiate and monitor international
environmental treaties
By 2008 there was little improvement in the major
environmental problems discussed at the 1992 Rio
summit
1992 Rio Earth Summit adopted key principles for
dealing with global environmental problems
2002 Johannesburg Earth Summit failed to deal
with global environmental problems such as
climate change, biodiversity loss, and poverty
2002 Johannesburg Earth Summit attempted to
implement 1992 Rio summit policies and goals and
reduce poverty
Fig. 24-9, p. 654
59
SOLUTIONS
International Environmental Treaties
Problems
Solutions
Take a long time to develop and are weakened by
requiring full consensus
Do not require full consensus among regulating
parties
Establish procedures for monitoring and
enforcement
Poorly monitored and enforced
Lack of funding for monitoring and enforcement
Increase funding for monitoring and enforcement
Treaties are not integrated with one another
Harmonize or integrate existing agreements
Fig. 24-10, p. 655
60
14-7 What Are Some Major Environmental
Worldviews?

• Concept 14-7 Major environmental worldviews
  differ over which is more importanthuman needs
  and wants, or the overall health of ecosystems
  and the biosphere different worldviews include
  varying mixes of both priorities.

61
What Is an Environmental Worldview?

• Environmental worldviews
• Human-centered anthropocentric
• Life-centered biocentric
• Environmental ethics

62
Most People Have Human-Centered Environmental
Worldviews

• Two human-centered worldviews
• Planetary management worldview
• No-problem school
• Free-market school
• Spaceship-earth school
• Stewardship worldview

63
Some People Have Life-Centered and Earth-Centered
Environmental Worldviews

• Inherent or intrinsic value of all forms of life
• Instrumental value of each species potential
  economic value
• Two earth-centered worldviews
• Environmental wisdom worldview
• Deep ecology worldview

64
Biosphere 2Designed to Be a Self-Sustaining
Life-Support System
65
ltltltDescribe one in a few sentencesgtgtgt
Stepped Art
Fig. 25-2, p. 662
66
Biosphere- or Earth-centered
Ecosystem-centered
Biocentric (life-centered)
Anthropocentric (human-centered)
Planetary management
Instrumental values play bigger role
Intrinsic values play bigger role
Self-centered
Stewardship
Environmental wisdom
Fig. 25-3, p. 662
67
The Earth Flag Symbol of Commitment to Promoting
Environmental Sustainability
68
14-8 How Can We Live More Sustainably?

• Concept 14-8 We can live more sustainably by
  living more simply and lightly on the earth and
  by using certain guidelines to convert
  environmental literacy and concerns into action.

ltltTwo main things in section 14-8 Education
Incentivegtgt
69
We Can Become More Environmentally Literate (1)

• Natural capital matters
• Our threats to natural capital are immense and
  growing
• Ecological and climate tipping points
  irreversible and should never be crossed

70
We Can Become More Environmentally Literate (2)

• Key goals for environmental literacy
• Mitchell Thomashow determine your ecological
  identity
• Where do the things I consume come from?
• What do I know about the place where I live?
• Am I connected to the earth and other living
  things?
• What is my purpose and responsibility as a human?

71
We Can Learn from the Earth

• Formal environmental education
• Ecological, aesthetic, and spiritual values of
  nature
• Environmental words of wisdom
• Stephen Jay Gould
• Mahatma Gandhi

72
Major Components of Environmental Literacy
73
We Can Live More Simply and Lightly on the Earth

• Voluntary simplicity (Ghandi enough for
  everyones need, not everyones greed)
• ltltltPrinciple of simple living Satisfied mindgtgtgt
• Downshifters
• Principle of enoughness, Mahatma Gandhi
• Many religions teach simpler lifestyles

74
We Can Become Better Environmental Citizens (1)

• Be environmentally informed
• Evaluate and reduce environmentally harmful
  aspects of our lifestyle
• Become politically involved

75
SOLUTIONS
Some Guidelines for Living More Sustainably
Learn about, respect, and mimic how nature
sustains itself
Do not degrade or deplete the earth's natural
capital
Take no more from nature than what nature can
replenish
Do not waste matter and energy resources
Protect biodiversity
Avoid climate-changing activities
Help maintain the earth's capacity for self-repair
Repair ecological damage that we have caused
Leave the world in as good a condition as we
found or better
Cultivate a passion for sustaining all life and
let this passion energize your actions
Fig. 25-7, p. 667
76
We Can Become Better Environmental Citizens (2)

• Avoid these mental traps
• Gloom-and-doom pessimism
• Blind technological optimism
• Paralysis by analysis
• Faith in simple, easy answers
• Good earthkeeping

77
Insulate your house and plug air leaks
Use renewable energy, especially wind and direct
solar
Reduce meat consumption
Use energy-efficient heating and cooling systems,
lights, and appliances
Buy locally grown food
Buy or grow organic food
Reduce, reuse, and recycle
Don't use pesticides on your garden or lawn
Use water-saving appliances and irrigation methods
EARTH
Walk, bike, carpool, or take mass transit
whenever possible
Reduce car use
Drive an energy-efficient vehicle
Fig. 25-8, p. 669
78
We Can Bring About a Sustainability Revolution
during Your Lifetime (Valid?)

• Environmental or sustainability revolution
• Biodiversity protection
• Commitment to eco-efficiency
• Energy transformation
• Pollution prevention
• Emphasis on sufficiency
• Demographic equilibrium
• Economic and political transformation