Discordance between ecological and political systems

1
Discordance between ecological and political
systems

• Defining Resources
• What is a natural resource?
• An entity having some recognized human use.
• (Rees) 2 pre-conditions
• knowledge technology must exist to allow
  extraction use
• must be a demand for materials or services
  produced
• Therefore, human ability and need create resource
  value, not mere physical presence.

2

• (Cutter Renwick) Resources are determined by
  combination of technology, economics, social
  conditions/lifestyles, environmental ethics,
  cultural background, and issues of scarcity
  ownership.
• Natural resource
• Implies that it exists independent of human
  activity. Ex (plants, seeds, wildlife, trees,
  soil, water, air, sun, rivers, etc.)

3

• Key point I
•  
• Resources are socially constructed (or socially
  defined) and dynamic entities.

4
Classifying Resources 2 schemes

• 1. Resource Ownership Characteristics
•  
• Common Pool vs. Private Property
• Traditional commons
• Public lands resources
• Global commons

5

• B. Resources Availability Characteristics
• 1. Perpetual inexhaustible supply.
• ex.) the sun
• 2. Renewable (Flow)
• ex.) fisheries, forests, soil, ground water, air
• 3. Nonrenewable (Stock)
• A finite supply, or renewal rate not significant
  in relation to our use and consumption.
• ex.) fossil fuels, mineral ores, arable land,
  wilderness
• 4. Potential exist, but not yet discovered
• Ex.) solid waste as alternative fuel

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• The dynamism of resources categories
• Categories often determine policy, yet are
  subject to change
•  
• Key Factors
• Rate of Consumption vs. Rate of Regeneration
• As rate of consumption surpasses rate of
  regeneration, a renewable becomes
  non-renewable

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The Scarcity Debate

• Malthus vs. Engels
•  
• Ricardo, the law of diminishing returns.
•  
• Ehrlich vs. Simon.

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• These debates over resource definitions
  illustrate
• Key point II
• The differences (or discordance) between
•  How ecological systems actually operate
•  vs.
• How we understand them to work, categorize them,
  make management decisions

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• Result a multitude of environmental crises
  disputes
• Z. Smith the env. policy paradox
• D. Botkin arguments in Discordant Harmonies

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Some Ecological Concepts

• Ecology
• the study of interrelationships between animals
  and plants and the living and non-living
  components and processes that make up their
  environment. (Cutter Renwick)

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• Ecosystem
• a relatively coherent system in which matter and
  energy are exchanged among living and non-living
  organisms and with the larger environment.
• often difficult to define with precision
• Ex. Watershed or even urban area
• Bounded by ecotones or transition zones
• nested hierarchy
• Communities
• Ecosystems
• Biomes or bioregions
• Biosphere

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Commoners 4 Laws of Ecology

• Interconnectivity
• Effects of actions reverberate through system as
  a whole. (ex. food chains/trophic levels)
• Everything must go somewhere
• Actions produce residual outcomes
• Nature knows best
• Human knowledge is insufficient to determine full
  effects of interactions
• Theres no such thing as a free lunch.

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Discordant Harmonies

• The current dilemma
• The potential for us to make progress with
  environmental issues is limited by the basic
  assumptions that we make about nature, the
  unspoken, often unrecognized perspective from
  which we view our environment. p. 5

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• How our perceptions must change
• Acknowledge dynamic rather than static properties
  of the earth
• Adopt a global view

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• The Problem
• Ancient views of nature
• Example of climate change
• Difficulty of dealing with dynamism
• Notions of steady state, climax stages
• Elephants in Tsavo
• Fisheries Maximum Sustainable Yield