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 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

o Culture: the ensemble of knowledge, beliefs, values, and learned way of life shared by a group of people 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

o Vested interest = an individual with a strong interest in the outcome of a decision that may result in his or her private gain or loss

Environmental Ethics Ethics: the set of moral principles or values held 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 wrong

o Virtue: personal achievement of moral excelled in character through reasoning and moderationo Categorical imperativeo Utilitarianism

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 environment.

o Non-humans don’t have rightso Anything not providing benefit to people is of negligible value

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APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and ChoicesBiocentrism Values certain living things or to the 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 the welfare of a given individual

Environmental ethics has ancient roots Can be found in religious texts (both support and against)

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 20th century John Muir; advocate for the preservation of wilderness. Disturbed by the rapid deforestation and environmental

degradationo Preservation ethic: protect the natural environment in a pristine, unaltered stateo Promoted human happiness and protected for its own value

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 greatest good to the greatest amount of people

Aldo Leopold’s land ethic arose from the conservation and 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

o Self-realization; awareness that humans are inseparable from natureo Biocentric equality: all living things have equal value, we should protect everything as we protect ourselves

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 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 ChoicesEconomics: 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 themo Many environmental problems are also economic problems

Several types of economies exist today Economy: a social system that converts resources 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 these 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:

o Unfair advantageo Social serviceso “safety net” (elderly, victims)o Mitigate pollutiono Manage the commons

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 the ability of ecological systems to function

Adam smith helped found classical economies Adam Smith = father of classical economics

o When people are free to pursue their own economic self-interest in a competitive marketplace, the marketplace will behave as if guided by an invisible hand that ensures their actions will benefit society as a whole

Neoclassical economics incorporates human psychology Neoclassical economics: examines the psychological factors underlying consumer choices, explains market prices in

terms of consumer preferences for units of particular commoditieso 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 actiono Benefit > cost – should be doneo Cost > benefit – should not be done

Some things difficult to be quantified

Aspects of neoclassical economies have profound implications for the environment 4 fundamental assumptions of neoclassical economics:

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APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and Choiceso Resources are infinite ore substitutableo Costs and benefits are internalo Long-term effects should be discountedo Growth is good

Are resources infinite or substitutable? Resources are limited

Are costs and benefits internal? Costs and benefits only affect those involved in the transaction Externalities: costs or benefits of a transaction that involve people other than the buyer or seller 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 enough to afford them Runaway economic growth will likewise destroy the economic 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 to growth John Stuart Mill: as resources become harder to find, economic growth would slow and eventually stabilize

o Many modern economists are not too sure that this will occur naturally Some think that end to growth 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 of final goods and services it produces each year.

o Doesn’t account nonmarket values nor does it express desirable economic activityo It can rise when the activity harms society

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 time 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

We can give ecosystem goods and services monetary values Ecosystems have nonmarket values (values not usually included in the price of a good or service)Prepared by Yiwen Wu. All Rights Reserved. The information may not be reproduced, distributed, modified or copied.

APES Ch 2 Environmental Ethics and Economics: Values and Choices 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 benefits of actions

o When markets don’t take into account the environment’s positive effects on economieso They don’t reflect the negative effects of economic activity on the environment or on people

Government prevents market failures

Ecolabeling helps address market failure Ecolabeling: manufacturers of certain products designate on their labels how the 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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