Chapter 2: Environmental Ethics and Economics

1. Chapter 2: Environmental Ethics and Economics values and choices www.aw-bc.com/Withgott

2. Culture, Worldview and the Environment • Culture is the ensemble of knowledge, beliefs, values and learned ways of life shared by a group of people.

3. Worldview is a personal culture and experiences that influence his/her behavior towards meaning, operation and essence (point of view). • Guns, Germs & Steel→"why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it back to New Guinea but we had little cargo of our own"

4. Tropic of Cancer Arctic circle • World Map Equator Tropic of Cancer Tropic of Capricorn Equator Tropic of Capricorn Antarctic circle www.mhhe.com/Cunningham

5. Factors shaping the worldview and perception of the environment • Religion • some sites may be sacred in some religions but not others; for some people, as they migrated, they consider the new place hostile • Political idiology • should government intervene to protect the environment? • Economic factors • interest in using proper technology vs own gains

6. Environmental Ethics • Ethics: set of moral values/principles • relativists: ethics change with each society, values may change • universalist: different societies do agree in many moral standards, values are not that different. • Ethical Standard: criteria that helps differentiate right from wrong

7. Ethical Consideration • Anthropocentrism: humans are the center of the universe, the rest does not matter • Biocentrism: evaluates actions in terms of the impact on the local environment and other species. All living things have equal value. • Ecocentrism: evaluates actions in terms of the integrity of the ecological system • Ecofeminism: argues that the female point of view is more in tune to the environment than that of men.

8. Conservation & Preservation • conservation: natural resources are there to be used, but with it comes the responsability of managing it wisely. • preservation: we should protect all natural environment in a pristine, unaltered state.

9. Environmental Justice • Involves the fair and equitable treatment of all people with respect to environmental policy and practice, regardless of their income, race or ethnicity Consider de place where you grew up. Where were the factories, waste dumps and polluting facilities located? Who lives near by?

10. Economics: Aproaches and Environmental Implications • Environmental protection is generally good for the economy. • Types of economies • capitalist: relation between buyers and sellers determines the market • centrally planned: government determines the allocation of resources. • mixed economies: capitalism-socialism mixed economies.

11. Economy & Environment linkage • Ecosystem services: support the life that makes our economic activity possible. Some examples are: • air cycle • water cycle • nutrient cycles • recycling systems • pollination by animals

12. Economic Activity www.aw-bc.com/Withgott

13. Economic Philosophy • Classical: when free to pursue their own economic self-interest in a competitive marketplace, marketplace will behave as if guided by an "invisible hand" that ensures their actions will benefit society as a whole. • Neoclassical: supply and demand are the rules for the pricing of the goods.

14. Neoclassical Economics and its Implications • The four fundamental assumptions of neoclassical capitalism are: • resourses are infinite or sustainable • Easter island • costs and benefits are only between buyer and seller • ocean pollution today • long-term effects should be discounted • forestry decision • growth is good • used as measurement of development

15. Ecological vs Environmental economists • Ecological economists argue that the natural systems operate in a self-renewing cylce, it is not a linear progressive manner; and because of it growth can not be sustained as it is today; they advocate steady-state economies. • Environmental Economists on the other hand argue that it can be obtained if following the neoclassical principles and improving it with newer and better technologies.

16. Measurement of Economic Progress • Gross Domestic Product (GDP) • Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) • conventional economy in which: • positive contributions which are not paid with money are added (volunteer work, parenting) • negative impacts are then substracted (crime, pollution, social gaps, etc) • It is controversial

17. Giving Monetary Value to Ecosystem Goods and Services • can you give monetary value to rain? clean air? • can you value natural meadows or lakes or rivers? • ecosystems are said to have nonmarket values (intangible cultural, ecological, spiritual) • These are said to be not compatible with the system of monetary valuation used today. • Contingent valuation uses surveys to determine how much people are willing to pay to protect or restore a resource.

18. Other Means of Evaluating Ecosystem Goods • comparison of prices between homes near parks and similar ones in size and types, but away from parks. Gives dollar value to landscape, views, peace, quiet. • measuring the cost required to restore natural systems that have been damaged or to mitigate harm from pollution

19. Responce of Corporations • green wave • consumer preference is now more towards sustainable products and businesses • improve labor conditions (responce to media coverage and consumer concern) • energy efficiency • less toxic materials • minimize greenhouse gas emissions • THE END