APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and Choices

The Mirrar Clan Confronts the Jabiluka Uranium Mine

A company wanted to place a mine through the Mirrars land (aborigines), but the Mirrars were against it for economic, social, cultural, spiritual, philosophical, and scientific reasons. The company, Rio Tinto, eventually gave up on the Jabiluka Uranium mine because of declining uranium prices and Cultural concerns

Culture, Worldview, and the Environment

Economic v. ethical concerns occurs often in environmental issues

Ethics and Economics involve values

How values shape human behavior is important in environmental policy

Culture and worldview influence our perception of the environment

Our decisions about how we manipulate and exploit our environment depends on our culture and world view o Culture: the ensemble of knowledge, beliefs, values, and learned way of life shared by a group of people Influences peoples perception of the world (worldview) o Worldview: reflects a persons beliefs about the meaning, operation, and essence of the world

Many factors shape our worldviews and perception of the environment

Religion can share worldviews and perception of the environment Experiences can changes worldviews Political ideology o Vested interest = an individual with a strong interest in the outcome of a decision that may result in his or her private gain or loss

Environmental Ethics
Ethics: the set of moral principles or values held by a person or society (what is good/bad, right/wrong) Different culture/worldview causes difference in values Relativists: ethics do and should vary with social context Universalists: objective notions of rights and wrong that hold across cultures and situations exist Ethics tells us how we ought to behave Ethical standards: criteria that help differentiate right from wrong o Virtue: personal achievement of moral excelled in character through reasoning and moderation o Categorical imperative o Utilitarianism

Environmental ethics pertains to humans and the environment

Environmental ethics: the application of ethical standards to relationships between humans and nonhuman entities

We have extended ethical consideration to more entities through time

Societys domain of ethical concern expand through time outward from self Science and prosperity led to this expansion

Anthropocentrism Human-centered view of our relationship with the environment. o Non-humans dont have rights Prepared by Yiwen Wu. All Rights Reserved. The information may not be reproduced, distributed, modified or copied.

APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and Choices o Anything not providing benefit to people is of negligible value Biocentrism Values certain living things or to the biotic realm in general Nonhuman life has ethical standing, evaluates actions in terms of overall impact on living things Ecocentrism Judges action in terms of their benefit or harm to the integrity of whole ecological systems (living and nonliving elements and the relationship among them) Value species, communities, or ecosystems over the welfare of a given individual

Environmental ethics has ancient roots

Can be found in religious texts (both support and against)

The industrial revolution inspired environmental philosophers

John Ruskin: people only appreciate the material benefits from nature but not the spiritual or aesthetic benefits. Cities suck. Transcendentalism (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman) o Nature = divine

Conservation and preservation arose at the start of the 20th century

John Muir; advocate for the preservation of wilderness. Disturbed by the rapid deforestation and environmental degradation o Preservation ethic: protect the natural environment in a pristine, unaltered state o Promoted human happiness and protected for its own value Gifford Pinchot: saw the deforestation o Conservative ethic: people should put natural resources to use but also that we have a responsibility to manage them wisely Utilitarian standard in using it we should provide the greatest good to the greatest amount of people

Aldo Leopolds land ethic arose from the conservation and preservation ethics
Aldo Leopold: advocated the land ethic (treat the land, and humans as members of the same community and people are obligated to treat the land in an ethical manner)

Deep ecology extends environmental ethics

Deep ecology rests upon self-realization and biocentric equality o Self-realization; awareness that humans are inseparable from nature o Biocentric equality: all living things have equal value, we should protect everything as we protect ourselves

Ecofeminism critiques male attitudes toward nature and women

Ecofeminism: patriarchal structure of society is the root cause of both social and environmental problems o Females view world as interrelationships and cooperation is more compatible with nature than the male view of hierarchies and competition

Environmental justice seeks equal treatment for all races and classes
Environmental justice: the fair and equitable treatment of all people with respect to environmental policy and practice regardless of income, race, or ethnicity Poor people are more exposed to degradation than richer people

Environmental justice is an international issue

Poorer countries get dumped with pollution from wealthier nations Prepared by Yiwen Wu. All Rights Reserved. The information may not be reproduced, distributed, modified or copied.

APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and Choices

Economics: Approaches and Environmental Implications

Ethical v. economic motivation is common in environmental issues

Is there a trade-off between economics and the environment?

Many economists think that environmental protection is good for the economy

Economics studies the allocation of scarce resources

Economics: the study of how people decide t use scarce resources to provide goods and services in the face of demand for them o Many environmental problems are also economic problems

Several types of economies exist today

Economy: a social system that converts resources into goods (material commodities manufactured for and bought by individuals and businesses) and services (work done for others as a form of business) Subsistence economy: meet their daily needs directly from nature and dont purchase or trade for lifes necessities Capitalist market economy: interactions among buyers and sellers determine which goods and services are produced, how much are produced, and how these are procured and distributed Centrally planned economies: government determines in a top-down manner how to allocate resources Mixed economies: hybrid economic systems Governments intervene when: o Unfair advantage o Social services o safety net (elderly, victims) o Mitigate pollution o Manage the commons

Economies are intricately linked to their environment

Economies receive input from environment, process them, then discharge back into environment Ecosystem services: essential services provided by the environment (i.e. purifying air and water) Depleting natural resources can degrade the ability of ecological systems to function

Adam smith helped found classical economies

Adam Smith = father of classical economics o When people are free to pursue their own economic self-interest in a competitive marketplace, the marketplace will behave as if guided by an invisible hand that ensures their actions will benefit society as a whole

Neoclassical economics incorporates human psychology

Neoclassical economics: examines the psychological factors underlying consumer choices, explains market prices in terms of consumer preferences for units of particular commodities o Supply & demand

Cost-benefit analysis is a widespread tool

Cost-benefit analysis: estimated costs for a proposed action are totaled up and compared to the sum of benefits estimated to result from the action o Benefit > cost should be done o Cost > benefit should not be done Some things difficult to be quantified

Aspects of neoclassical economies have profound implications for the environment

4 fundamental assumptions of neoclassical economics: Prepared by Yiwen Wu. All Rights Reserved. The information may not be reproduced, distributed, modified or copied.

APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and Choices o Resources are infinite ore substitutable o Costs and benefits are internal o Long-term effects should be discounted o Growth is good Are resources infinite or substitutable? Resources are limited Are costs and benefits internal? Costs and benefits only affect those involved in the transaction Externalities: costs or benefits of a transaction that involve people other than the buyer or seller External cost = a cost borne by someone not involved in a transaction Should long-term effects be discounted? Short term is more important than long term Effect of discounted rates on estimating the costs of global climate change to our society Is growth good? By increasing the economy, everyones lives improve Economic growth has become how progress is measured

Is the growth paradigm good for us?

Affluenza: material goods fail to bring contentment to people affluent enough to afford them Runaway economic growth will likewise destroy the economic system on which we all depend

Economists disagree on whether economic growth is sustainable

Ecological economists: applies principles of ecology and systems science to the analysis of economic systems Steady-state economies: economies that do not grow and do not shrink Environmental economists agree with ecological economists that economies are unsustainable if population growth is not reduced, but think we can accomplish these changes and attain sustainability within our current economic systems

A steady-state economy is a revolutionary alternative to growth

John Stuart Mill: as resources become harder to find, economic growth would slow and eventually stabilize o Many modern economists are not too sure that this will occur naturally Some think that end to growth would mean end to a rising quality of life, but ecological economists believe that it will continue to rise

We can measure economic progress differently

Gross Domestic Product: the total monetary value of final goods and services it produces each year. o Doesnt account nonmarket values nor does it express desirable economic activity o It can rise when the activity harms society Genuine Progress Indicator: conventional economic activity then add to it positive contributions that are not paid for with money and subtract negative impacts Net Economic welfare: adds value of leisure time and personal transaction and deduces costs of environmental degradation Index of sustainable economic welfare: income, wealth distribution, natural resource depletion, benefits associated with volunteerism, and environmental degradation. UN Human Development Index: standard of living, life expectancy, education

Prepared by Yiwen Wu. All Rights Reserved. The information may not be reproduced, distributed, modified or copied.

APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and Choices

We can give ecosystem goods and services monetary values

Ecosystems have nonmarket values (values not usually included in the price of a good or service) Markets dont assign value to ecosystem services Contingent valuation: surveys to determine how much people are willing to pay to protect or restore a resource o But because they dont actually have to pay it, the price can be inflated

Markets can fail

Market failure: markets dont reflect the full costs and benefits of actions o When markets dont take into account the environments positive effects on economies o They dont reflect the negative effects of economic activity on the environment or on people Government prevents market failures

Ecolabeling helps address market failure

Ecolabeling: manufacturers of certain products designate on their labels how the product was grown, harvested or manufactured

Corporations are responding to sustainability concerns

Many companies have cultivated an eco-conscious image from the start and others rode the green wave of consumer preference for sustainable products and business practices

Prepared by Yiwen Wu. All Rights Reserved. The information may not be reproduced, distributed, modified or copied.