Announcements – Dec. 6, 2006

1. Announcements – Dec. 6, 2006 Today - final review Friday (Dec 8) - No class!! Final - Monday, Dec. 11th, 8am Honors Projects - due this friday

2. Final exam Mon, Dec 11th, 8am • Bring: #2 pencil Photo ID Student ID# NetID (usually 1st part of e-mail) • Arrive early • Sit every other seat. • Neighbors should have different exams (colored booklets)

3. Test Format • 50 questions, multiple choice & T/F • 3 extra credit questions • 50 minutes

4. Test Material • Any thing from lecture or readings is fair game • Roughly half (40%) of questions from lectures since exam 3, other half from entire semester. • “Points to know” • Mostly fact-based questions, some concept application

5. Assigned Reading Chapters from Book: 14, 15

6. Sustainability and Human Development Chapter 14

7. Outline • Sustainability and Resources • Classical Economics • Neo-Classical Economics • Ecological Economics • Resource Accounting • Trade and Development • Urban Development • Urban Problems in Developing Countries • Smart Growth

8. SUSTAINABILITY AND RESOURCES • Sustainability is a critical theme of environmental science. • Resources should be used in ways that do not diminish them. • Sustainable Development • Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. • Must be available to all to be enduring. • Goal to decrease uneven distribution of resources.

9. Ecological Economics • Developed in recent decades, and applies ecological ideas of system functions and recycling to the definition of resources. • Acknowledges dependence on essential life-support services provided by nature. • Regards some aspects of nature as irreplaceable and essential. • Principle concern is fair and even distribution of resources and rights.

10. Sustainable Development Resource Types Garret Hardin - Tragedy of the Commons Cost-Benefit Analysis Market-Based Environmental Protection

11. Sustainable Development Resource Types Garret Hardin - Tragedy of the Commons Cost-Benefit Analysis Market-Based Environmental Protection

12. Economics and the Environment Economic good or service – anything that is scarce Resources – anything that contributes to making desired goods and services available for consumption Supply – the amount of goods and services Demand – the amount of a product that consumers are willing and able to buy at various prices

13. Cost Benefit Analysis

14. Cost-Benefit analysis – is used to determine whether a policy generates more social costs than social benefits and if the benefits outweigh the cost. * Identify the project to be evaluated *Determine all impacts, favorable and unfavorable, present and future, on all of society *Determine the value of those impacts, directly through market value or indirectly through price estimates *Calculation of the net benefit which is the total value of positive impacts less the total value of negative impacts

15. Market - based instruments for environmental protection Historically, authorities have relied mainly on non-economic instruments for environmental protection. These include direct public provision of environmental benefits (eg. national parks), regulation of technology, or uniform product and/or emissions standards. While such approaches can be effective, conventional environmental policies have been widely criticized on the grounds of their relative inefficiency, and the absence of explicit incentives for innovation.

16. Market - based instruments for environmental protection - attempt to harness market incentives in support of environmental objectives, by making environmental protection a more profitable or lower-cost option for producers and/or consumers. Two main advantages are claimed for such approaches: MBIs are more cost-effective than conventional policies. If they are well-designed, MBIs can stimulate innovation of environmentally-preferred technologies.

17. Market-Based Instruments (MBI) – Use economic forces and business savvy to achieve high environmental protection at low cost. 2. Do not legislate pollution control, but instead provide business incentives to reduce pollution. 3. Increase price of “cheap” environmental resources by removing subsidies or including cost of fixing environmental damage. * Can be difficult to implement MBI’s

18. Types of Market-based Instruments 1. Information programs – inform consumers about the risk of certain products or the actions of companies, and therefore reduce demand of harmful products and/or increase demand of “green” products. 2. Tradable emissions permits – give companies the right to emit specified quantities of pollutants; if pollute less, can sell their permits to other companies. 3. Emission fees, taxes, charges – fees for environmentally damaging activities or products; provide incentive to reduce pollution. ex) “Gas-guzzler” tax on SUVS

19. Types of Market-based Instruments 4. Performance bond / Deposit-refund – place surcharges on the price of a product, which is refunded when the used product is returned (example bottles) 5. Subsidies – consumer rebates for environmentally friendly products, loans, and other monetary incentives for improving the environment. *subsidy: gift from government to private enterprise that is considered important to public

20. Agricultural Subsidies in Illinois *Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) - converts marginal row crops to grasslands http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/crp/ * Protects the ability to produce food * Reduces erosion * Reduces sedimentation in streams and lakes * Improves water quality * Established habitat for wildlife * Enhances forests and wetlands *Reduces supply therefore increases demand

21. URBAN DEVELOPMENT • Vast majority of humanity has always lived in rural areas where natural resource-based occupations provided support. • Since beginning of Industrial Revolution cites have grown rapidly in size and power.

22. URBAN DEVELOPMENT • Urbanization - Increasing concentration of population in cites and transformation of land use and society to metropolitan patterns of organization. • Nearly half world population now lives in urban areas. • A megacity is an urban area with more than 10 million inhabitants.

23. Megacities

24. World Urbanization • In 1850, only 2% of world population lived in cities. • By 2002, 47% of world population lived in urban areas. • Only Africa and South Asia remain predominantly rural. • Expected that 90% of population growth over the next 25 years will occur in less-developed countries.

25. Causes of Urban Growth • Immigration to cities can be caused by both pushfactors that force people out of the country, and by pull factors that draw them into the city.

26. Immigration Push Factors • Overpopulation • Economics • Politics • Racial or Religious Conflicts • Land Tenure • Changes in Agriculture • Large Monoculture Farms

27. Immigration Pull Factors • Excitement and Vitality • Jobs • Housing • Entertainment • Social Mobility and Power • Specialization of Professions

28. Urban Sprawl • Because many Americans live far from work, they consider a private automobile essential. • Average US driver spends 443 hours per year behind a steering wheel. • In some metropolitan areas, it is estimated one-third of all land is devoted to automobile infrastructure. • Traffic congestion costs US $78 billion annually in wasted fuel and time.

29. Smart Growth • Smart Growth makes effective use of land resources and existing infrastructure by encouraging in-fill development. • Attempts to provide transportation options. • Goal is not to block growth, but to channel it to areas where it can be sustained over the long term. • Protects environmental quality.

30. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY Chapter 15 • Environmental Policy - Official rules and regulations concerning the environment that are adopted, implemented, and enforced by a governmental agency. • Also encompasses public opinion.

31. Environmental Policy

32. NEPA • National Environmental Policy Act (1970) • Authorizes Council on Environmental Quality as the oversight board. • Directs federal agencies to take environmental consequences into account during decision making. • Requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for every federal project having significant environmental impact.

33. Regulatory Agencies • EPA - Primary agency with responsibility for protecting environmental quality. • Cabinet-level department. • Department of Interior (Natural Resources) • National Park Service • Bureau of Land Management • US Fish and Wildlife Service

34. Regulatory Agencies • Department of Agriculture • US Forest Service • Department of Labor • Occupational Health and Safety Agency (OSHA)

35. INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS • Over past 25 years, more than 170 environmental treaties and conventions have been negotiated. • Unfortunately many of these are vague. • Most nations unwilling to give up sovereignty. • International court has no enforcement powers. • Accords and sanctions • World opinion

36. Individual Choice • Individuals matter • Be an informed consumer and voter • Reduce, reuse, recycle • Limit use of household hazardous waste • Proper disposal Hybrid Electric Vehicles 45-70 mpg SUV < 20 mpg

37. Good luck!