Environmental History, Politics, and Economics Chapter 3

Transcription

1 Visualizing Environmental Science Environmental History, Politics, and Economics Chapter 3 Copyright

2 Renewable Energy Policy Challenges Governments struggle to develop climate change policies Biggest issue is how to shift from fossil fuels to alternative energy Alternative sources, such as large solar panels, require space May interfere with wildlife, general aesthetics, and contribute to noise pollution

3 EnviroDiscovery: NIMBY NIMBY = not in my backyard How would you feel if you lived in a town where wind turbines were places on the tops of the mountains?

4 We Must Learn from the Past On Easter Island, people annihilated their culture by destroying their environment.

5 Conservation and Preservation of Resources Resources Any part of the natural environment used to promote the welfare of people or other species Conservation Sensible and careful management of natural resources Terracing farmland to prevent erosion Can be technological or behavioral Preservation Setting aside undisturbed areas Maintaining them in a pristine state Protecting them from human activities that might alter their natural state Preservation vs. conservation controversy Resources in undisturbed places have high economic value

6 Conservation and Preservation of Resources in Conflict

7 Environmental History First 200 years of U.S. history were a time of environmental destruction (1600s 1800s) Frontier attitude: conquer and profit from nature High unsustainable resource use

8 Protecting Forests: U.S. Naturalists Spark Public Interest John James Audubon ( ) Painted portraits of birds and other animals in North America Henry David Thoreau ( ) Writer, advocate of lifestyle simplicity George Perkins Marsh ( ) Wrote Man and Nature about humans as agents of environmental change in 1864

9 Environmental History American Forestry Association (1875) Citizens against the destruction of America s forests Forest Reserve Act (1891) Presidential authority to establish forest reserves on federal land Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, T. Roosevelt preserved 43 million acres of forest Roosevelt appointed Gifford Pinchot head of the U.S. Forest Service

10 Establishing National Parks Utilitarian conservationist - Value natural resources because of their usefulness but use sustainably Yellowstone National Park, 1872 John Muir ( ) - Yosemite National Park Bill - Founded Sierra Club - Biocentric preservationist Protecting nature from human interference All forms of life have equal rights to natural resources

11 Conservation in Mid-20 th Century President Roosevelt Civilian Conservation Corps Provided conservation -based jobs during the Great Depression Leopold, Game Management, 1933 A Sand County Almanac, 1949 Stegner, Wilderness Essay, 1962 Influenced Wilderness Act, 1964

12 Rachel Carson ( ) Silent Spring, 1962 Awareness about DDT and other pesticides Systems perspective Considers both immediate effects and impacts in other places or at other times Ehrlich, The Population Bomb, 1968

13 The Environmental Movement Environmentalists are those concerned about the environment Environmental movement First Earth Day, 1970 Nelson and Hayes Think globally, act locally, 1990 Wangari Maathai Greenbelt Movement in Kenya Awarded the Noble Peace Prize

14 Environmental Legislation Environmental Protection Agency, 1970 National Environmental Policy Act, 1970 NEPA requires the federal government to consider the environmental impact of proposed actions Must develop environmental impact statements (EISs)

15 Environmental Legislation Environmental regulations Clean Air Act Clean Water Act Endangered Species Act EPA part of the executive branch Implementation and enforcement of regulations are at the state level States report back to EPA

16 Environmental Economics Economies depend on natural environment Natural capital Resources and processes that sustain living organisms Resource degradation Overuse of sources Pollution

17 Natural Resource Depletion GDP Support for replacing GDP with a measure like the GPI, accounting that includes the environmental cost of economic activities

18 An Economist s View of Pollution One cause of pollution is the failure to include external costs in the prices of goods External costs Harmful environmental cost, borne by people not directly involved in selling or buying the product If full cost were added, people might not purchase such products

19 Economic Strategies for Pollution Control Command and control regulations Pollution control laws that work by setting limits on levels of pollution Incentive-based regulation Pollution control laws that establish emission targets and provide incentives to reduce emissions Tradable permits (cap and trade)