INTRODUCTION Chapter 2 Environmental History, Laws, Economics, and Ethics 10/26/2015O'Connell1.

INTRODUCTIONChapter 2

Environmental History, Laws, Economics, and Ethics

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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)

HISTORY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

• 3 periods in the history of humankind:–Hunter-gatherer–Agricultural Revolution– Industrial Revolution

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Hunter-Gatherer

• Little impact on the environment

• Doesn’t stay in one place very long

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Agricultural Revolution Approximately 10,000 years agoAltered the landscapeUses renewable resourcesSustains more people

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Industrial RevolutionMore pollutantsMore people living

in crowded citiesUrbanization

Uses nonrenewable resources

Even more crops grown

Better medicine and clean water

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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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Tribal Era:

• No one owns the land or water.

• Mostly, a sustainable use.

• “Waste not, want not.”

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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 away04/20/23 O'Connell 9

Manifest Destiny

ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF U.S.

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1600

1700

1800

1900

Dominated by the frontier attitude

Conservation and Preservation (late 1800s – mid-20th Century):

• 2nd period of US environmental policy

• Save resources from wasteful consumption.

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Conservation and Preservation

John James AudubonBirds

Henry David ThoreauWalden Pond

George Perkins MarshMan and Nature

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Environmental History of U.S.

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1750

1800

1900

Some conservationists were influential in raising environmental concerns later in this period.

John James Audubon

Henry David Thoreau

George Perkins Marsh

Conservation and Preservation

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Yellowstone National Park (elk)

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Sequoia National Park (Giant Sequoia

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Yosemite National Park (Half Dome)

Environmental History of U.S.

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1850

1900

1950

Several presidents, particularly Theodore Roosevelt, used this Act to establish 43 million acres of forest reserves.

General Revision Act

1st National Park: Yellowstone

Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks

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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Environmental History of U.S.

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1850

1900

1950Different worldviews

•Theodore Roosevelt - utilitarian

John Muir - preservationist

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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Environmental History of U.S.

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1900

1950

2000

Franklin Roosevelt establishes CCC and

SCS

Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac published

posthumously

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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Environmental History of U.S.

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1900

1950

2000

Rachel Carson published Silent Spring

Environmentalism• Concerned the entire

environment

• First Earth Day in 1970.

• NEPA

• The Population Bomb

• Shallow ecology and deep ecology.

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Environmental History of U.S.

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1900

1950

2000

Paul Ehrlich published The

Population Bomb

Wilderness Act of 1964, spurred on by Wallace

Stegner

First Earth Day

Global Citizenship (currentl):• Whole planet.

• Sustainable development

• 1992 Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Kyoto Protocol

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It's Your Future

In the Past2 approaches:

EnvironmentalistsAnti-environmentalists

TodayUnity: the environment is everyone’s concern.A sustainable environment and a sustainable

economy

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U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION• National Environmental Policy Act –– EIS required for all federally funded projects

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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 ActFood Quality Protection Act (1996)Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (2002)

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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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ECONOMICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

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Source

Raw Material

s

Economy

Production Consumption

Products

Money

Sinks

Waste

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Problems with natural capital

Resource degradationClear cutting forestsWater useSoil erosion

Pollution AirWaterLandfills

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National Income Accounts

• 2 Measures are used:• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)• Net Domestic Product (NDP)

• NDP = GDP - depreciation / capital expenses

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BUT, consuming nonrenewable natural resources typically NOT accounted

National Income Accounts

• 2 Measures are used:• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)• Net Domestic Product (NDP)

• NDP = GDP - depreciation / capital expenses

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In addition, degradation of natural resources by pollution also typically NOT accounted

External costs rarely considered

Common problems with economic analyses:Reduction in quality of life and natural beauty

difficult to assessIntrinsic vs. extrinsic Fails to consider unexpected catastrophic

environmental damage

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• Economic strategies for pollution control:– Command and control regulations

– Incentive-based regulation

–Marketable emissions (waste-discharge) permits

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• Case-in-Point: Environmental Problems in Central and Eastern Europe

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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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• Environmental Ethics:– List your moral values concerning the

stewardship of natural resources.–Where would you place yourself along this

spectrum of worldviews?

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Deep Ecology

Western

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

• What we can do.• Values and knowledge.• The direction of environmental

science.

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WHAT CAN WE DO?

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