Economics, Politics, Worldviews and the Environment

Chapter 14<<double brackets>> will be on chap quiz<<<Triple brackets>>> will be on mid-term

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.

<<<EconomistsNeoclassical EcologicalBiosphere is the subset Human economy is the subset>>>

Economic Systems Are Supported by Three Types of Resources

Economic systems are supported by• <<Natural Resources>>• Human capital, <<human resources>>• Manufactured capital, <<manufactured

resources>>

Fig. 23-2, p. 613

Natural Resources

Manufactured Resources

Human Resources

Goods and Services

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

<<<Be able to identify high/low throughput economies from following two charts>>>

High-Throughput Economies Rely on Ever-Increasing Energy, Matter Flow

Fig. 23-13, p. 629

Inputs (from environment)

System throughputs

Outputs (into environment)

High-quality energy

Energy conservation

Low-quality energy (heat)

Low-waste economyWaste and

pollution prevention

Pollution control

Waste and pollution

High-quality matter

Recycle and reuse

Fig. 23-5, p. 615

Solar Capital

Goods and services

Economic Systems Heat

ProductionNatural Capital Depletion of nonrenewable

resourcesNatural resources such as air, land, soil, biodiversity, minerals, and energy, and natural services such as air and water purification, nutrient cycling, and climate control

Consumption

Degradation of renewable resources (used faster than replenished)

Pollution and waste (overloading nature’s waste disposal and recycling systems)

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.

Active Figure: Two views of economics

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

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)

Poor Family Members Struggling to Live in Mumbai, India

We Can Include Harmful Environmental Costs in the Prices of Goods, Services

Environmentally honest market system

Why isn’t full-cost pricing more widely used?

Government action to phase in such a system

Fig. 23-8, p. 620

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000Per capita gross domestic product (GDP)

15,000

10,0001996

Do

llar

s p

er p

erso

n

5,000

Per capita genuine progress indicator (GPI)0

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Year

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

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

<<<Tax Shifting>>>

Environmental Laws and Regulations Can Discourage or Encourage Innovation

Regulation

Command and control approach• <<<Enforcement = fines/Law-suits>>>

Incentive-based regulations

Innovation-friendly regulations

We Can Use the Marketplace to Reduce Pollution and Resource Waste

Incentive-based regulation example

<<Cap-and-trade>> approach used to reduce SO2 emissions

Advantages

Disadvantages

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 • <<Shifting from Material-flow to Service-flow

economy means: _____________>>

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

How’s it working?

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.

The Gap between the Rich and the Poor Is Getting Wider

Poverty

Trickle-down effect

Flooding up

Wealth gap

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?

Case Study: Making Microloans to the Poor (1)

<<Micro-lending or microfinance>>

1983: Muhammad Yunus• Grameen (Village) Bank in Bangladesh• Provides microloans; mostly to women• “Solidarity” groups• How does it work? • <<<Awarded 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for

Economics>>>• [Good research paper topic]

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

We Can Achieve the World’s Millennium Development Goals

2000: Millennium Development Goals• Sharply reduce hunger and poverty• Improve health care• Empower women• <<Environmental sustainability by 2015>>• Developed countries: spend 0.7% of national

budget toward these goals

<<<How is it working? It’s not – spending on it is consistently less than 0.7% goal>>>

What Should Our Priorities Be?

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.

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

Fig. 23-13, p. 629

Inputs (from environment)

System throughputs

Outputs (into environment)

High-quality energy

Energy conservation

Low-quality energy (heat)

Low-waste economyWaste and

pollution prevention

Pollution control

Waste and pollution

High-quality matter

Recycle and reuse

<<Know the circled boxes are the most critical events of a low throughput economy.>>

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

Fig. 23-15, p. 630

Environmentally Sustainable Businesses and Careers

Aquaculture Environmental lawBiodiversity protection Environmental nanotechnology

Biofuels Fuel cell technology

Climate change researchGeographic information systems (GIS)

Conservation biology Geothermal geologist

Eco-industrial design Hydrogen energy

Marine scienceEcotourism management Pollution prevention

Energy efficient product design

Reconciliation ecology

Selling services in place of productsEnvironmental chemistrySolar cell technology

Environmental (green) design

Sustainable agriculture

Environmental economics Sustainable forestry

Environmental education Waste reduction

Environmental engineeringWatershed hydrologist

Water conservationEnvironmental health Wind energy

<<<Name 2>>>

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

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.

Democracy Does Not Always Allow for Quick Solutions (1)

Democracy

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

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

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

The humility principle

The reversibility principle

The precautionary principle (Global Warming)

The net energy principle

The preventive principle

<<<Describe 1>>>

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?

Developing Environmental Policy Is a Controversial Process

Funding needed

Regulations and rules needed to implement the law

Policy: important role in environmental regulatory agencies

Fig. 24-3, p. 639

Laws

Legislative branch Executive branch Courts

Lobbyists Lobbyists RegulatorsPublic hearing

Civil suits

Environmental organizations

Corporations and small businesses

Membership support

Patronize or boycott

Individuals

Purchase recyclable, recycled, and environmentally safe products

Recycle cans, bottles, paper, and plastic

Plant a garden

Donate clothes and used goods to charities

Use water, energy, and other resources efficiently

Use mass transit, walk, ride a bike, or carpool

<<Label 3 circles>>

Major Environmental Laws and Amended Versions Enacted in the U.S. Since 1969

<<Name 2>>

(Water – flouride)

Case Study: Managing Public Lands in the United States—Politics in Action (1)

<<<35% of the U.S. is public land>>>, ¾ in Alaska

Federal public land • National Forest System• National Resource Land• National Wildlife Refuges (biodiversity)• National Park System• National Wilderness Preservation System

Fig. 24-5, p. 641

National parks and preservesNational forests(and Xs) National wildlife refuges

Case Study: Managing Public Lands in the United States—Politics 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

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?)

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?

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

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”

Individuals Matter: Diane Wilson

1989: Lavaca, Bay, TX, U.S.• Hg superfund site

Sued Formosa Plastics

Author and activist for environmental and social justice

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

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

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

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.

Environmental Security Is as Important as Military and Economic Security

Military security

Economic security

All economies supported by the earth’s natural capital

Failing states: rooted in ecological crisis• Darfur, Sudan, Africa

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

We Can Develop Stronger International Environmental Policies (2)

Montreal and Copenhagen Protocols

Yale and Columbia Universities, U.S. • Developed the Environmental Performance Index

(EPI)

Fig. 24-9, p. 654

TRADE-OFFS

Global Efforts to Solve Environmental Problems

Good News Bad NewsEnvironmental 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 fundingUN 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. 24-10, p. 655

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

Poorly monitored and enforced

Establish procedures for monitoring and enforcement

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

14-7 What Are Some Major Environmental Worldviews?

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

What Is an Environmental Worldview?

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

Environmental ethics

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

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

Biosphere 2—Designed to Be a Self-Sustaining Life-Support System

Environmental Worldviews

Fig. 25-2, p. 662

■ Resources are limited and should not be wasted.

Environmental Wisdom

■ We are a part of and totally dependent on nature, and nature exists for all species.

■ We should encourage earth- sustaining forms of economic growth and discourage earth-degrading forms.

■ Our success depends on learning how nature sustains itself and integrating such lessons from nature into the ways we think and act.

Stewardship■ We have an ethical responsibility to be caring managers, or stewards, of the earth.■ We will probably not run out of resources, but they should not be wasted.

■ We should encourage environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth and discourage environmentally harmful forms.

■ Our success depends on how well we manage the earth's life- support systems for our benefit and for the rest of nature.

Stepped Art

Planetary Management

■ We are apart from the rest of nature and can manage nature to meet our increasing needs and wants.

■ Because of our ingenuity and technology, we will not run out of resources.

■ The potential for economic growth is essentially unlimited.■ Our success depends on how well we manage the earth's life- support systems mostly for our benefit.

<<<Describe one in a few sentences>>>

Fig. 25-3, p. 662

Biosphere- or Earth-centered

Ecosystem-centered

Biocentric (life-centered)

Anthropocentric (human-centered)

Planetary management

Instrumental values play bigger role

Intrinsic values play bigger roleSelf-centered

Stewardship

Environmental wisdom

The Earth Flag: Symbol of Commitment to Promoting Environmental Sustainability

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.

<<Two main things in section 14-8: Education & Incentive>>

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

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?

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

Major Components of Environmental Literacy

We Can Live More Simply and Lightly on the Earth

Voluntary simplicity (Ghandi – enough for everyone’s need, not everyone’s greed)• <<<Principle of simple living: Satisfied

mind>>>

Downshifters

Principle of enoughness, Mahatma Gandhi

Many religions teach simpler lifestyles

We Can Become Better Environmental Citizens (1)

Be environmentally informed

Evaluate and reduce environmentally harmful aspects of our lifestyle

Become politically involved

Fig. 25-7, p. 667

SOLUTIONSSome Guidelines for Living More Sustainably

Learn about, respect, and mimic how nature sustains itselfDo 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

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

Fig. 25-8, p. 669

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

Reduce, reuse, and recycle

Buy or grow organic food

Use water-saving appliances and irrigation methods

Don't use pesticides on your garden or lawn

Reduce car useWalk, bike, carpool, or take mass transit whenever possibleDrive an

energy-efficient vehicle

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