Chapter 24

Politics and Environment

 

Politics and Environmental Policy

• Social Change in Democratic governments– Constitutional

democracies designed to allow change in order to ensure stability

– Special interest groups compete to put pressure on government officials to advocate laws that favor their cause or vice versa

– Bargaining in government to maintain status quo

– Government reacts to issues, not prevent them

• Environmental Policy in the U.S.– Lawmakers must first feel

that the environmental issue should be addressed

– Bills reviewed by several committees in House and Senate

– After law is passed, Congress must appropriate funds

www.shambala.org/images/ capitol.gif

Courts & Environmental Regulation

• Almost every environmental regulation is challenged in court by industry and/or environmental organization.

• Terms– Plaintiff– Defendant– Civil suit

• Plaintiff seeks to collect damages for injuries to health or for economic losses

– Class action suit• Filed by group on behalf

of a larger number of citizens

• Limitations in Lawsuits– Expense– Time– Permission– Abuse of system

– Environmental law is the fastest growing sector in American legal profession

www.adelantesi.com/

Archive/ gifs/law.gif

Influencing Environmental Policy

• Solutions: (individuals affecting environmental policy)– Change comes form

grassroots political movements

– Ways to influence policies• Vote• Contribute money to

candidates• Lobby, write, e-mail

elected officials• Educate and persuade• Expose fraud, waste,

and illegal activities

• 3 Types of Leadership– Leading by example– Working within existing

economic and political systems to bring about improvement

– Challenging system as well as proposing and working for better solutions

www.universitystar.com/ 00/10/19/voting.gif

volusia.org/elections

Environmental Groups

www.camgreen.org.uk/ • Mainstream Environmental Groups– Multi-million dollar

organizations led by chief executive officers and a staff of experts

– Active primarily on the national level

– Work within political system (major forces in persuading Congress)

– “Group of 10” – largest US agencies rely on corporate donations

www.purplepatch.com.au/

1. Green Peace

2. Sierra Club

3. Environmental Defense Fund

4. National Audubon Society

5. World watch Institute

6. Wilderness Society

www.sierraclub.ca/ bc/education www.camgreen.org.uk/

Grassroots Environmental Group

• At 6000 grassroots citizen groups exist in the US

• Grassroots movement for environmental justice – growing coalition to protect human and environmental rights

• Very active on college campuses and public schools

• Basic Rules for Effective Political Action by Grassroots Organizations:– Have a full-time

continuing organization– Limit # of targets and hit

them hard– Organize for action– From alliances– Communicate your

positions– Persuade and use

positive reinforcement– Concentrate at state and

local levels

www.sa.rochester.edu/ grassroots/

Anti- Environmental Movement• Goals

– Since 1980, there is a massive campaign to weaken and repeal existing legislation

• Lobbying in Washington, D.C. and state capitals

• mayors and government officials unable to implement without government funding

• Coalitions• Global trade agreement

(GATT)

• Tactics– Establish an enemy– Weaken and intimidate– Threaten or use violence– Influence public opinion– Falsify data– Divide and conquer– Exploit ignorance of

public

www.seattleglobaljustice.org/

Evaluating Claims

• Are environmental threats exaggerated?– Some cases of regulatory

overkill• Asbestos• Acid rain

– Must evaluate laws and regulations

– Passing laws in regards to certain chemical or species doesn’t improve the environment

– Need an integrated and holistic approach

– No confrontations

• Whom should we believe?– Tough questions need to

be posed on both sides– Citizens encouraged to

identify with majority– Many complex issues

require understanding of environmental issues

www.nmsu.edu/~safety/

images/ signs/sign_cautio... nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/isopleths/ maps1999/phfield.gif

Improving US Political System

• Government is unresponsive to citizens because…– Government officials get

money from wealthy individuals and companies

– Costs the average senator $3.9 million to get elected

• Bureaucracies:– Most agencies become

stagnant and are influenced by businesses

– Federal and state agencies overlap their policies

– A sunset law – terminates agency until reviewed

www.ci.burien.wa.us/www.opc-marketing.com/ ind-fundraising.htm

Improving the Political System

• Level the playing field for ordinary citizens– Allow them to sue

violators– Award attorney fees– Allow them to sue govt

officials– Raise fines for violators

and punish more– Call for courts to regulate

frivolous suits

• Reducing the Crime– Robbery, assault, and

shootings push people out of cities and into suburbs, clearing more land and wasting energy

– Less willing to ride bikes, walk or use public transit

– Use of lights, TVs, alarms to deter burglars

www.aperfectworld.org/.../ government/police.gif

Global Environmental Policy

• Progress in international cooperation and policy

• 1972 UN Conference in Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden

• 115 nations have agencies and over 215 international treaties have been signed

• 1992 Rio Earth Summit

• Met again in 1995 and found little improvement because 1992 agreements not binding

• Global Forum – brought together 18, 000 people from 1400 NGOs from 178 countries

www.philexport.ph/.../jun20/ newsfeatures.html

Chapter 25

Environmental Worldviews, Ethics, and Sustainability

Environmental Worldviews in Industrial Societies

• Environmental Worldviews– Ways people think the

world works, what they think their role in the world should be

• Environmental Ethics– What people believe is

right and wrong environmental behavior

• Individual centered– atomistic

• Earth centered– holistic

• Human centered– anthropocentric

• Life centered– Biocentric

• Ecosystem centered– ecocentric

General Types of Environmental Worldview

www.cms.k12.nc.us/allschools/providence…

Major Human- Centered Worldviews

• Planetary Management Worldview– Humans are the most

important and dominant species

– Should manage the planet for own benefit

– Others species have instrumental value

• Basic beliefs

– We are the most important and in charge of nature

– There is always more

– All economic growth is good

– Success depends on how well we understand, control, and manage earth’s life-support systems for our benefit

www.flagline.com/images/ novelty-earth.gif

Human Centered Worldview

• Schools of Thought– No problem school

• Technology will solve all problems

– Free-market school• Minimal government

interference and regulation

– Responsible Planetary Management

• Want to mix economy, technology, and government intervention for self-interest

– Space-ship-earth view

• Earth is a spaceship, a machine that we can understand and manage

– Stewardship

• Humans have responsibility and must treat earth as our guardian

www.campfireusaia.com/ qool.html

Life/Environmental – Centered Worldviews

• Managing the planet– Some feel that we may not

be able to learn technology fast enough to save the earth

– A free market would rely too much on resources

– We don’t understand the earth

• Biocentric &Ecocentric Worldviews– Inherent value of nature– Everything has a right to exist– Animal rights movement

(species-centered worldview)– Earth-wisdom worldview

• Nature exists for all species

• There is not always more• Not all economic growth

is beneficial• Success depends on

willingness to cooperate with earth.

mofep.conservation.state.mo.us/ overview/mofep4.gi

More Worldviews• Are biocentrists

antihuman/antireligious?– They feel that they are pro-

human

– They feel that they are helping the earth, which indirectly helps humans

• Social Ecology Worldview– As long as we have an

industrial society, we will be damaging the environment

– This will cause decentralization for political and economic systems

• Ecofeminist Worldview– Idea that being human-

centered and androcentric (male-centered) is the problem with the environment)

– By being male-dominant, we are destroying nature

– Emphasize gentleness, caring, compassion, non-violence, cooperation, and love

www.sopers.co.nz/ signs/signs.htm

Ethical Guidelines for Earth

• Ecosphere and Ecosystems– We should try to

understand nature– When we must alter

nature, we must avoid environmental harm

• Species and Cultures– We should preserve

genetic diversity– Avoid premature extinction

of other species– Protect ecosystems

• Individual Responsibility– Should not cause any

suffering to our food sources

– Leave the earth better than we found it

– Use only what we have– Heals the wounds we have

already caused

newfarm.osu.edu/images/ crops.gif

Earth Education

• We should teach our children about our earth– Respect life– Understand earth– Seek wisdom– Evaluate consequences of

lifestyles

• We should learn to work with the earth– Learn to make our own

area sustainable

• Learning to Live Simple– Gandhi’s Philosophies

• Voluntary simplicity

• Earth provides enough, use minimal amounts

• Transfer energy from material to non-material

www.crawfordinternational.com/ cai_values_ethi..

Earth-Wisdom Revolution• Efficiency revolution to make the

most of the earth• Pollution prevention• Sufficiency revolution – being sure

that everyone has his or her basic needs

• Demographic revolution – balance population growth

• Seeing the world as a flow of matter and energy

www.tij.co.jp/jcorp/ docs/program/

Chapter 27

Economics and Environment

Economic Goods, Resources and Systems

• Economy: a system of production, distribution, and consumption of economic goods (material items/ services that satisfy people’s wants)

• Economic Resources: The kinds of capital that produce economic goods and services1. Earth Capital/ Natural Resources 2. Manufactured Resources: items made from earth capital with help of human capital3. Human Capital: people’s physical and mental talents

Economic SystemsPure Command Economic System/ Pure Capitalism:• All economic decisions made by markets, in which buyers and

sellers of economic goods freely interact without government or other interference

• Depicted as a circular flow of economic goods and money between households and businesses operating essentially independently of the ecosphere.

• Market equilibrium occurs when the quantity supplied equals the quantity demanded, and the price is no higher than the buyers are willing to pay and no lower than the sellers are willing accept.

Centrally Planned Economy:• All economic systems made by the government• Government control and ownership of the means of production

are most efficient and equitable way to produce, use, and distribute goods.

All countries have mixed economic systems that fall somewhere in between pure market and pure command systems.

Circular Flow of Money in Pure Market System

Economic Growth and External Costs• Ecologically Sustainable

Development: occurs when the total human population size and resource use in the world are limited to a level that does not exceed the carrying capacity of the existing natural capital

• GDP and GNP hide the negative effects on the ecosphere of producing many goods and services. They don’t include the depletion and degridation of natural resources or earth capital on which all economies depend.

• Solution: Environmental and social indicators should be subtracted from the GDP/GNP to give a more realistic picture.

• Economic growth: an increase in the capacity of the economy to provides goods and services to people for final use

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): the market value of all goods and services produced by the economy within its borders for final use

• Gross National Product: GDP plus net income from abroad

• Real Per Capita GDP: the real GDP divided by the population

Environmental Solutions Using Economics

Pricing products using full cost:• Would close the gap between real

and false prices by having prices tell the environmental truth

• Cause business to pay the full cost of the environmental harm created

Cost-Benefit Analyses:• Comparing estimated short term

and long term costs with estimated benefits for a course of action.

Government Regulations:• Phase in government subsides

that that encourage earth-sustaining behavior and phase out current perverse subsides that encourage earth-degrading behavior

Poverty• Poverty: the inability to

meet one’s basic economic needs

• Trickle-down hypothesis: a growing economy is the best way to help the poor. It enables more wealth to reach workers and provides greater tax revenues that can be used to help the poor.

• Most of the time, however, this wealth does not trickle down, instead it flows up.

Solutions to Reducing Poverty

• Forgive the money that developing countries owe to developed nations

• Increase nonmilitary aid to developing countries from developed countries

• Shifted most international aid from large-scale to small-scale projects intended to benefit local communities of the poor

• Encourage banks to make small loans to poor people wanting to increase their income

• International lending agencies should be required to use a standard environmental and social impact analyses to evaluate any proposed development project

Converting to Earth Sustaining Economies

• Establish public utilities to manage and protect public lands and fisheries

• Revoke the government-granted charters of the environmentally and socially irresponsible businesses

• Make environmental concerns a key part of all trade agreements and of loans made by international lending agencies

• Reduce waste of energy, water, and mineral resources

• Preserve biodiversity• Reduce future ecological

damage and repair past ecological damage

• Reduce poverty• Slow population growth

• Reward earth-sustaining o earth-degrading behavior

• Use full-cost accounting to include the ecological value of natural resources in the market place

• Use environmental and social indicators to measure progress toward sustainability

• Use full-cost pricing to include external costs of goods and services

• Replace taxes on income and profits with taxes on throughput of matter and energy

• Use low discount rates for evaluating future worth of irreplaceable or vulnerable resources