1. Environmental History, Laws, Economics, and Ethics
INTRODUCTION Chapter 2
Environmental History, Laws, Economics, and Ethics
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2. There is no such thing as a “national’ environment
There is no such thing as a “national’ environment. Our growing economic interdependence provides the context for global cooperation in dealing with the global ecosystem.
-John Naisbitt
(1989)
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3. HISTORY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
3 periods in the history of humankind:
Hunter-gatherer
Agricultural Revolution
Industrial Revolution
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4. Hunter-Gatherer Little impact on the environment
Doesn’t stay in one place very long
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5. Agricultural Revolution
Approximately 10,000 years ago
Altered the landscape
Uses renewable resources
Sustains more people
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6. Industrial Revolution
More pollutants
More people living in crowded cities
Urbanization
Uses nonrenewable resources
Even more crops grown
Better medicine and clean water
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7. HISTORY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
Attitudes about the environment
Trial era
US environmental policies were created in three periods
Frontier era
Conservation or preservation
Environmentalism
Global citizenship
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8. Tribal Era: No one owns the land or water. Mostly, a sustainable use.
“Waste not, want not.”
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9. Frontier Era (1780s – late 1800s):
The First US Environmental policy addressed public land management
Land, water, and some people were to be subdued for use.
The U.S. government give away
Manifest Destiny
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10. ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF U.S.
1600
1700
1800
1900
Dominated by the frontier attitude
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11. Conservation and Preservation (late 1800s – mid-20th Century):
2nd period of US environmental policy
Save resources from wasteful consumption.
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12. Conservation and Preservation
John James Audubon
Birds
Henry David Thoreau
Walden Pond
George Perkins Marsh
Man and Nature
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13. Environmental History of U.S.
1750
1800
1900
John James Audubon
Henry David Thoreau
George Perkins Marsh
Some conservationists were influential in raising environmental concerns later in this period.
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14. Conservation and Preservation
National Parks
Yosemite and Sequoia (1890)
Yellowstone (1872)
General Revision Act of 1891
Yellowstone National Park
(elk)
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15. Sequoia National Park (Giant Sequoia
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16. Yosemite National Park (Half Dome)
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17. Environmental History of U.S.
1850
1st National Park: Yellowstone
Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks
1900
1950
General Revision Act
Several presidents, particularly Theodore Roosevelt, used this Act to establish 43 million acres of forest reserves.
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18. Conservation and Preservation:
President Theodore Roosevelt
Conservationist and hunter
John Muir
Leave the wilderness alone
1st president of the Sierra Club
Yosemite
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19. Environmental History of U.S.
1850
1900
1950
Different worldviews
Theodore Roosevelt - utilitarian
John Muir - preservationist
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20. Conservation and Preservation:
Gifford Pinchot
1st chief of the U.S. Forest Service
Sustainable yield
Multiple use
Aldo Leopold
Wildlife biologist
Sand Canyon Almanac
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21. Environmental History of U.S.
Franklin Roosevelt establishes CCC and SCS
Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac published posthumously
1900
1950
2000
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22. Environmentalism (mid-late 20th Century):
3rd period of US environmental policy
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962
Cuyahoga River fire
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23. Environmental History of U.S.
1900
1950
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring
2000
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24. Environmentalism Concerned the entire environment
First Earth Day in 1970.
NEPA
The Population Bomb
Shallow ecology and deep ecology.
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25. Environmental History of U.S.
1900
Wilderness Act of 1964, spurred on by Wallace Stegner
Paul Ehrlich published The Population Bomb
1950
First Earth Day
2000
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26. Global Citizenship (currentl):
Whole planet.
Sustainable development
1992 Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Kyoto Protocol
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27. It's Your Future In the Past Today 2 approaches:
Environmentalists
Anti-environmentalists
Today
Unity: the environment is everyone’s concern.
A sustainable environment and a sustainable economy
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28. U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
National Environmental Policy Act –
EIS required for all federally funded projects
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29. Many environmental laws have been passed:
Clean Air Act (1970) (Amended in 1990)
Clean Water Act (1972)
Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)
Endangered Species Act (1973)
Energy Policy and Conservation Act (1975)
Federal Land Policy and Management Act (1976)
National Forest Management Act (1976)
Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)
Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act (1977)
Medical Waste Tracking Act
Food Quality Protection Act (1996)
Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (2002)
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30. What has been the effect of environmental legislation since 1970?
More National Parks
National Wilderness Preservation System
Substantial soil erosion reduction
Emissions of many pollutants reduced
Many endangered species fairing better
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31. ECONOMICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Economy
Production
Consumption
Products
Money
Source
Raw Materials
Sinks
Waste
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33. Problems with natural capital
Resource degradation
Clear cutting forests
Water use
Soil erosion
Pollution
Air
Water
Landfills
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34. National Income Accounts
2 Measures are used:
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Net Domestic Product (NDP)
NDP = GDP - depreciation / capital expenses
BUT, consuming nonrenewable natural resources typically NOT accounted
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35. National Income Accounts
2 Measures are used:
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Net Domestic Product (NDP)
NDP = GDP - depreciation / capital expenses
In addition, degradation of natural resources by pollution also typically NOT accounted
External costs rarely considered
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36. Common problems with economic analyses:
Reduction in quality of life and natural beauty difficult to assess
Intrinsic vs. extrinsic
Fails to consider unexpected catastrophic environmental damage
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37. Economic strategies for pollution control:
Command and control regulations
Incentive-based regulation
Marketable emissions (waste-discharge) permits
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38. Case-in-Point: Environmental Problems in Central and Eastern Europe
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39. ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES, AND WORLDVIEW ETHICS
Environmental justice
Poor people and minorities bear the brunt of environmental degradation
Deep ecology
Self-realization
Biocentric equality
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40. Environmental Ethics:
List your moral values concerning the stewardship of natural resources.
Where would you place yourself along this spectrum of worldviews?
Deep Ecology
Western
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41. WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS What we can do. Values and knowledge.
The direction of environmental science.
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42. WHAT CAN WE DO?
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