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 m ine through the Mirrar’s 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 Culture: the ensemble of knowledge, beliefs, values, and learned way of life shared by a group of people o Influences people’s perception of the world (worldview) o Worldview: reflects a person’s 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 Vested interest = an individual with a strong interest in the outcome of a decision that may result in his or her o private gain or loss
Environmental Environment al Ethics
Ethics: the set of moral principles or values he ld 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 w rong Virtue: personal achievement of moral excelled in character through reasoning and moderation o Categorical imperative o Utilitarianism o
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
Society’s 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 e nvironment. Non-humans don’t have rights o
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APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and Choices Anything not providing benefit to people is of negligible value o
Biocentrism Values certain living things or to t he 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 t he welfare of a given individual
Environmental ethics has ancient roots
Can be found in religious texts (both support and ag ainst)
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 20 th century
John Muir; advocate for the preservation of wilderness. Disturbed by t he rapid deforestation and environmental degradation Preservation ethic: protect the natural environment in a pristine, unaltered state o Promoted human happiness and protected for its own value o 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 gr eatest good to the greatest amount of people
Aldo Leopold’s Leopold’s land ethic arose arose from the conservation conservation and preservation 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 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 o
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 e xposed to degradation than richer people
Environmental justice is an international issue
Poorer countries get dumped with pollution from wealthier nations
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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 r esources 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 don’t purchase or trade for life’s necessities Capitalist market economy: interactions among buyers and sellers determine which goods and services are produced, how much are produced, and how t hese 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: Unfair advantage o Social services o o “safety net” (elderly, victims) Mitigate pollution o Manage the commons o
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 t he ability of ecological systems to function
Adam smith helped found classical economies
Adam Smith = father of classical economics When people are free to pursue their own economic self-interest in a competitive marketplace, the marketplace o will behave as if guided by an invisible hand that ensures the ir actions will benefit society as a whole
Neoclassical economics incorporates human psychology
Neoclassical economics: examines the psychological factors underlying consumer choices, explains market price s 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 Benefit > cost – should be done o Cost > benefit – should not be done o Some things difficult to be quantified
Aspects of neoclassical economies have profound implications implica tions for the environment
4 fundamental assumptions of neoclassical economics:
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APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and Choices Resources are infinite ore substitutable o o Costs and benefits are internal Long-term effects should be discounted o o Growth is good
Are resources infinite or substitutable? Resources are limited
Are costs and benefits internal? internal? Costs and benefits only affect those involved in the t ransaction Externalities: costs or benefits of a transaction that involve people other than the buyer or se ller 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, everyone’s 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 e nough to afford them Runaway economic growth will likewise destroy the e conomic 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 alterna tive to growth
John Stuart Mill: as resources become harder to find, economic growth would slow and eventually stabilize Many modern economists are not too sure that this will occur naturally o Some think that end to growth g rowth 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 o f final goods and services it produces each year. o Doesn’t account nonmarket values nor does it express desirable economic activity It can rise when the activity harms society o 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 t ime 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
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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 o r service) Markets don’t 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 don’t actually have to pay it, the price can be inflated
Markets can fail
Market failure: markets don’t reflect the full costs and bene fits of actions o When markets don’t take into account the environment’s positive effects on economies They don’t reflect the negative e ffects of economic activity on the environment or on people o Government prevents market failures
Ecolabeling helps address market failure
Ecolabeling: manufacturers of certain products designate on their labels how t he 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
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