Environmental Laws, Economics, and Ethics

1. Chapter 2 Environmental Laws, Economics, and Ethics

2. Spotted Owl • 10% • Automation • Sustainability • Continued Battles • Jobs • ESA

3. Legends of the Frontier

4. Manifest Destiny Dominated by the frontier attitude 1800 1700 1900 1600 What is a frontier attitude? What is manifest destiny?

5. Columbia Painted By John Gast - 1872

6. Gifford Pinchot • Appointed by Theodore Roosevelt • Forest service motto "greatest good for the greatest number.” • Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture • Conservation Vs Preservation

7. Gifford Pinchot

8. Historical Figures • James Audubon 1785-1851 • Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862 • Theodore Roosevelt 1858-1919 • Gifford Pinchot 1905 • John Muir 1838-1914 • Franklin Roosevelt 1930’s • Aldo Leopold 1949 • Bob Marshal 1930 • Rachel Carson 1962 • Paul Ehrlich 1968 • Gaylord Nelson 1970

9. Aldo Leopold 1887-1948 Land Ethic “When the private landowner is asked to perform some unprofitable act for the good of the community, he today assents only with outstretched palm. If the act costs him cash this is fair and proper, but when it costs only forethought, open-mindedness, or time, the issue is at least debatable.” The Shack - In 1935, he and his family initiated their own ecological restoration experiment on a worn-out farm along the Wisconsin River outside of Baraboo, Wisconsin.

10. Aldo Leopold Continued Land Ethic Continued “To sum up: a system of conservation based solely on economic self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. It tends to ignore, and thus eventually to eliminate, many elements in the land community that lack commercial value, but that are (as far as we know) essential to its healthy functioning. It assumes, falsely, I think, that the economic parts of the biotic clock will function without the uneconomic parts. It tends to relegate to government many functions eventually too large, too complex, or too widely dispersed to be performed by government.”

11. Aldo Leopold Continued Land Ethic Continued Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac The land Ethic The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations. All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him to compete for his place in the community, but his ethics prompt him also to co-operate. The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, love, or otherwise have faith in. The case for a land ethic would appear hopeless but for the minority which is in obvious revolt against these “modern” trends. Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.

12. Environmental Justice • Site Selection: • Low Income • Minority Based • Little Voice • Lacking: • Few Natural Areas or recreational areas • Availability of Healthcare • Availability of Fresh Foods • Availability of Education • Applies to countries as well as regions – hazardous waste

13. World Views Western (anthropocentric) Vs. Deep Ecology (spiritual life centered connection) Pg. 38 – which most appeals to you? “Could support only a fraction of world population” “Would need to give up many comforts and modern benefits”

14. Environmental History of U.S.

15. General Revisions Act The General Revision Act of 1891 authorizes the President, to create forest preserves “wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not....” on federal lands

16. Environmental History of U.S. General Revision Act 1st National Park: Yellowstone (Est.1872) Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks 1900 1950 1850 Several presidents, particularly Theodore Roosevelt, used this Act to establish 43 million acres of forest reserves. Republican

17. Antiquities Act 1906 The Antiquities Act of 1906 resulted from concerns about protecting mostly prehistoric Indian ruins and artifacts-collectively termed "antiquities ”Authorized presidents to proclaim historic landmarks as national monuments

18. Wilderness What makes wilderness - wilderness?

19. Wilderness Act 1964 The Wilderness Act describes a wilderness as - "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Requires act of congress List of wilderness Areas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Wilderness_Areas#Georgia

20. Cohutta Wilderness

21. 1970 EPA & NEPA • Proposed federal action or federal funding • EIS’s • Other laws Page 27 of book

22. Clean Air Act Loophole 1970 (1977) Smokestack Vs. Scrubbers Clean Water Act 1972 Endangered Species Act 1973

23. Optimal Amount of Pollution • Cost-Benefit Analysis Red = Cost of Damage Green = $ for pollution control Intersection – optimal benefits at reasonable cost Marginal = ?

24. Economics and the Environment First graph - harm caused by pollution exceeds cost of reducing it - so it makes sense to control the pollution Second Graph - Cost of reducing pollution exceeds the harm of the pollution - so it makes sense to pollute • Cost-Benefit Analysis

25. Economics and the Environment Economy Products Source Sinks Raw Materials Waste Production Consumption Money 1. Economic systems Vs. natural systems ? 2. Why compare them?

26. Full Cost Accounting Internal cost Vs. external costs?

27. National Accounting External Costs? • Gross Domestic Product (GDP) • Net Domestic Product (NDP) • NDP = GDP - depreciation / capital expenses • Environmental degradation not considered loss of capital • Environmental Performance Index • Black Triangle = cost of ignorance GDP’s of Countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29

28. Regulation & Market Corrections 1) Command and control regulations A set of standards that all must meet - auto emissions - catalytic converters Cap & Trade system (tradable Permits) In effect, the buyer is being fined for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions. Over time the cap can be lowered. Uses market forces & ideally value increases with time like a stock . 2) Incentive-based regulation Pollution tax - uses economic forces