Introducing Environmental Science and Sustainability 2

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Overview of Chapter 2  Brief Environmental History of the United States  US Environmental Legislation  Economics and the Environment  Environmental Justice  Environmental Ethics, Values and Worldviews

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental History of the US  17 th and 18 th Centuries- Frontier Attitude  Natural Resources seemed inexhaustible  Widespread Environmental Destruction Dominated by Frontier Attitude Establishment of Jamestown, VA

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental History of US John James Audobon ( ) Henry David Thoreau ( ) George Perkins Marsh ( )  19th century- US Naturalists voiced concerns about natural resources  Audobon- painted nature, which increased interest in environment  Thoreau- naturalist author on simplifying life  Marsh- wrote Man and Nature

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental History of US  General Revision Act  Gave President authority to establish forest reserves  Presidents Harrison, Cleveland, Roosevelt Put 17.4 million hectares into reserve  President Roosevelt Reserved additional 6.5 million hectares before signing bill preventing further forest reservation 1875 American Forestry Assoc. Formed General Revision Act 1890 Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks Established

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental History of US  Utilitarian Conservationist  Value natural resources for their usefulness  Roosevelt  Biocentric Preservationist  Protect nature because all life deserves respect  John Muir (founded Sierra Club) Fought for National Parks

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental History of US  Antiquities Act  Allows president to set aside sites of scientific or historical importance (monuments)  American Dust Bowl (1930s droughts)  Basis for Soil Conservation Service  Created by Franklin Roosevelt 1906 Antiquities Act 1935 Creation of Soil Conservation Service 1916 National Park Service Created

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Ken Burns National Parks Documentary- Watch select pieces   #tr #tr

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

US Environmental Legislation  Environmental Protection Agency  Est  National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)  Cornerstone of Environmental Law  Requires Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for any proposed federal action Ex: highway or dam construction  Revolutionized environmental protection in US  Table 2.1 in textbook provides a list

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Impact Statement

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. US Environmental Legislation  Numerous laws passed since 1970  They address:  Clean water  Clean air  Energy conservation  Hazardous waste  Pesticides  Federal regulation of pollution

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of Environmental Legislation  Since 1970  Six air pollutants have dropped by 25% (not CO 2 )  Since 1990  wet sulfate levels decreased by 33%  As of 2008  92% of US had healthy drinking water (up from 75% in 1993)  As of 2006  45% of municipal waste is burned as waste-to-energy or recovered for recycling  As of 2007  Human exposure to hazardous waste sites identified in 1969 is below 93%

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Economics and the Environment  Economics- study of how people use limited resources to satisfy unlimited wants  Economics is utilitarian  Goods and services have value that can be converted to currency  Rational Actor Model  Assumes all individuals spend limited resources to maximize individual utilities  Ideal economy  Resources are allocated efficiently

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Optimum Amount of Pollution  Optimum Amount of Pollution  Cost to society of having less pollution is offset by benefits to society of activity creating pollution  Must identify  Marginal Cost of Pollution - Cost of small additional amount of pollution  Marginal Cost of Abatement - Cost of reducing small amount of pollution

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Economic Optimality and Pollution

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Inefficiencies Arising from Different Marginal Costs

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Strategies for Pollution Control  Command and Control Solutions  Government agency requires limitations to emissions or pollutants  Discourages development of low-cost alternatives  Incentive based Regulations  Environmental Taxes (green taxes) Identify and replicate societal cost of pollution If taxes are set at correct level private marginal cost of pollution = social cost of pollution  Tradable Permits Rely on identifying optimal level of pollution

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. The Corrective Effect of Green Taxes

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Critiques of Environmental Economics  Ecosystem services have no known value  Utilitarian economics may not be appropriate  Dynamic changes and time are not considered  Difficult to assess true costs of environmental pollution and abatement  Impacts of pollution on people and nature is uncertain

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. National Income Accounts  Estimates of National Economic Performance and used in Politics  Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  Net Domestic Product (NDP)  Environment may be overexploited to yield a higher GDP in developing countries  EPI (Environmental Performance Index)  Assesses a country’s commitment to environmental and resource management

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Environmental Justice  The right of every citizen regardless of age, race and gender, social class or other factor, to adequate protection from environmental hazards  Generally, members of low income and minority communities:  Face more environmental threats and have fewer environmental amenities  Have less voice in planning

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Justice  Challenge of environmental justice  To find equitable solutions that respect all groups of people  National level  Clinton required all federal agencies to ensure their policies do not discriminate against poor or minority communities when locating future hazardous facilities  International level  Basal Convention (on exporting waste)

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Activity: Who is the environmentalist?  Consider the character descriptions on the next slides. Which of these individuals, if any, is an environmentalist? Why?  What does this imply about environmentalism?

Maria- Is an environmental studies major at PSU. She is active in the campus student environmental group and is trying to set up a recycling center on campus. She has been saving her income from working at a local nature center for a trip to Costa Rica after graduation. Kurt- is a stock analyst who commutes 40 minutes to his job in the city. He carpools with one other person in his Suburban. Every year, he send donations to Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, Willistown Conservation Trust and Great Valley Nature Center. At home, his family recycles and they eat meat very infrequently. They buy locally as much as possible. Sasha- is an engineer at a pulp and paper mill. She can be heard grumbling about the environmental regulations her plant faces and the gov’t agents who come to inspect. She recently won an award for figuring out a way to divert waste heat from her plant and recycle the heat to dry out the paper. This saves the company $$ and reduces energy costs. Several years ago she won an award for figuring out a way to use pulp waste as fertilizer.

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Ethics  Field of ethics that considers the moral basis of environmental responsibility  Western Worldview  Human superiority and dominance over nature  Deep Ecology Worldview  All species have an equal worth to humans  Most people’s ethics fall somewhere in between

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 2 assignments

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Historical/ Current Figures in Environmental Science Discussion:

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Case study  Spotted Owl controversy  Law, politics and the environment

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Spotted Owl Controversy- For HW please read textbook intro, online article and article handout and be prepared to discuss in class Article: “The spotted owl’s new nemesis”  nature/The-Spotted-Owls-New-Nemesis.html

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Spotted Owl Timeline:  In small groups, use the easel paper to make a timeline of what has happened to the NSO in the 1980’s/1990’s, 2009 and  And also answer and discuss the questions on the following slide.

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Spotted Owl Controversy  What were the first impacts to NSO populations?  How did environmentalist use the law?  What were the economic consequences of the “solution”?  What are the new impacts to the NSO populations?  Are these new impacts a result of human actions?  Is this decline just “a part of natural selection”? Argue why or why not?

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Laws  You will need access to a shared Google docs that I will share from my account:  Please edit only your law and have all edits completed by Monday Sept. 15 th. Make sure to utilize your time in class wisely.

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Law Assignment  Please type your answers in the shared Google doc.  By Monday 7:45 A.M. all Environmental Law Summaries must be complete in the shared Google doc. I will then preview and everyone will have access to this document for reference and studying throughout the year..

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Format for Google Doc  Your name  Name of the law, year enacted, years updated if applicable  Questions to answer, in complete sentences:  Summarize the purpose of the law (the what)  How does it help? What environmental issue does it address?  Who is in charge of regulating the act?  Any other interesting facts about the law that you want to share  Two citations are required.