1. Economics, Population, and the Environment

2. What is economics?
The study of the manner in which people use their limited resources to satisfy their needs and wants.
Natural Capital – all of the earth’s resources and processes that sustain living organisms (including humans): minerals, forests, soils, groundwater, clean air, wildlife, fisheries, etc.
Natural Capital includes both sources and sinks.

3. Natural Capital
Source – a part of the natural environment from which materials move.
Resource Degradation occurs when sources are overused
Sink – a part of the environment that receives an input of materials
Pollution is the overuse of sinks

4. Population
Developed countries: 20% of the world’s population with 80 % of the world’s wealth
Developing countries: 80 % of the world’s population and 20 % of the world’s wealth
Different populations present different problems.

5. Sustainability Remember :
Increasing population AND increasing consumption place demands on the environment.
Sustainability can be achieved by:
Stabilizing population
Decreasing consumption
Increasing stewardship of the environment

6. The Effects of Population Growth on The Environment
Prior to the industrial revolution, societies were mainly based on subsistence agriculture. Cultures have sustained themselves in this manner for thousands of years.
Decreasing mortality rates have caused the populations in developing countries to skyrocket.

7. The Effects of Population Growth on The Environment
What alternatives are available for a rapidly growing population based on subsistence agriculture?
Subdividing farms and intensifying cultivation
Opening up new lands for agriculture
Migration to cities
Illicit activities
Emigration and immigration
All have negative environmental and social consequences

8. Effects of Increasing Affluence on the Environment
Positive Effects
Safe drinking water
Sewer treatment
Disposal of refuse
Conservation and management
Better agricultural practices
Pollution control
Negative Effects
Large consumption of fossil fuels
Production and release of toxic chemicals
Nuclear waste
Sources and sinks are in distant locations, so affluent societies often do not see the immediate effects of their activities to the environment

9. Economics & the Environment
Economics & environmental issues are always inter-related. With any environmental issue, there is always cost involved that affects any potential solution
Examples of Environmental costs include:
Air pollution
Water pollution
Plant and animal extinctions
Depletion of resources
Loss of scenic quality

10. Types of Environmental Costs
Many environmental costs are not recognized immediately.
These costs are referred to as deferred costs.
Example:
Dams built on the Colorado River for irrigation and to provide electric power

11. Types of Environmental Costs
External Costs are costs incurred by someone other than the person or organization that used a resource.
Logging operations
Hazardous waste sites
Mining

12. Types of Environmental Costs

13. Types of Environmental Costs
Many environmental costs have both deferred costs and external costs

14. Types of Environmental Costs
Environmental costs may include lost opportunities or values.

15. Types of Environmental Costs
Pollution Costs
Costs to correct pollution damage
Health costs
Loss of the use of public resources
Pollution Prevention Costs
Sewage treatment
Air emission controls in industry
Water emission controls in industry

16. Tragedy of the Commons
“The tragedy of the commons” - essay written by Garrett Hardin in 1969
Uses example of pastureland in England
Provided free by the king to anyone who wished to graze cattle
As long as the number of animals is small in relation to the size of the pasture, there is no probem
Each herder, tries to increase his herd.
Eventually, everyone loses as the commons becomes overgrazed
This principle can be applied to much of the earth’s resources which have shared public ownership.