1. Chapter 2 Environmental Laws, Economics and Ethics

2. Overview of Chapter 2 Brief US Environmental History
US Environmental Legislation
Economics and the Environment
Environmental Problems in Central and Eastern Europe
Environmental Ethics, Values and Worldviews

3. Environmental History of the US
1600
1700
1800
1900
Dominated by Frontier Attitude
Establishment of Jamestown, VA
1600s - early 1800s = Frontier Attitude
Natural Resources (land, timber soil, water) seemed inexhaustible
Widespread Environmental Destruction
During the 1700s and early 1800s, most Americans had a frontier attitude, a desire to conquer and exploit nature as quickly as possible. Concerns about the depletion and degradation of resources occasionally surfaced, but efforts to conserve were seldom made because the vastness of the continent made it seem that we would always have enough resources.
Logging Operations in This huge logjam occurred on the St. Croix River near Taylors Falls, Minnesota.

4. Environmental History of US
1750
1800
1850
1900
John James Audobon ( )
Henry David Thoreau ( )
George Perkins Marsh ( )
John James Audubon (1785–1851) painted lifelike portraits of birds and other animals in their natural surroundings. His paintings, based on detailed field observations, aroused widespread public interest in the wildlife of North America. Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), a prominent U.S. writer, lived for two years on the shore of Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. There he observed nature and contemplated how people could economize and simplify their lives to live in harmony with the natural world. George Perkins Marsh (1801–1882) was a farmer, linguist, and diplomat at various times during his life. Today he is most remembered for his book Man and Nature, which recognized the interrelatedness of human and environmental systems and provided one of the first discussions of humans as agents of global environmental change. Marsh was widely traveled, and Man and Nature was based in part on his observations of environmental damage in areas as geographically separate as the Middle East and his native Vermont.
19th century- US Naturalists voiced concerns about natural resources
Audubon- painting increased interest in environment
Thoreau- naturalist author on simplifying life
Marsh- wrote Man and Nature

5. Environmental History of US
1875
1900
1850
1875 American Forestry Assoc. Formed
1890 Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks Established
1891 General Revision Act
General Revision Act
Gave President Authority to establish forest reserves
Presidents Harrison, Cleveland, Roosevelt put 17.4 million hectares into reserve
Roosevelt reserved additional 6.5 million hectares before signing bill preventing further forest reservation
In 1907 angry Northwest congressmen pushed through a bill rescinding the president's powers to establish forest reserves. Theodore Roosevelt, an important contributor to the conservation movement, responded by designating 21 new national forests that totaled 6.5 million hectares (16 million acres). He then signed the bill into law that prevented him and future presidents from establishing additional forest reserves.

6. Environmental History of US
Utilitarian Conservationist
Roosevelt
Value natural resources for their usefulness
Biocentric Preservationist
Both Roosevelt and Pinchot were utilitarian conservationists who viewed forests in terms of their usefulness for people—such as in providing jobs. Pinchot supported expanding the nation's forest reserves and managing forests scientifically, such as by harvesting trees only at the rate at which they re-grow. Today, national forests are managed for multiple uses, from biological habitats to recreation to timber harvest to cattle grazing.
John Muir (founded Sierra Club)
Fought for National Parks
Protect nature because all life deserves respect

7. Environmental History of US
1925
1950
1900
1935 Creation of Soil Conservation Service
1906 Antiquities Act
1916 National Park Service Created
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
Antiquities Act, which authorized the president to set aside as national monuments sites, such as the Badlands in South Dakota, that had scientific, historic, or prehistoric importance. By 1916 there were 13 national parks and 20 national monuments, under the loose management of the U.S. Army. (Today there are 58 national parks and 73 national monuments under the management of the National Park Service.)
The federal government financed many conservation projects to provide jobs for the unemployed. During his administration Franklin Roosevelt (1882–1945) established the Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed more than 175,000 men to plant trees, make paths and roads in national parks and forests, build dams to control flooding, and perform other activities to protect natural resources.
During the droughts of the 1930s, windstorms carried away much of the topsoil in parts of the Great Plains, forcing many farmers to abandon their farms and search for work elsewhere (see Chapter 15 ). The so-called American Dust Bowl alerted the United States to the need for soil conservation, and in 1935 President Roosevelt formed the Soil Conservation Service.

8. Environmental History of US
1900
1925
1950
1975
Aldo Leopold ( )
Wallace Stegner ( )
Rachel Carson ( )
20th Century Naturalists
Leopold- Author (A Sand Country Almanac)
Stegner- Author (“Wilderness Essay”)
Carson- Author (Silent Spring)
Heightened awareness of DDT and pesticides

10. US Environmental Legislation
Environmental Protection Agency
Est. 1970
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Cornerstone of Environmental Law
Requires Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for any proposed federal action
Ex: highway or dam construction
EIS must answer many questions (next slide)
Revolutionized environmental protection in US

11. Environmental Impact Statements

12. US Environmental Legislation
Numerous laws passed since 1970
They address:
Clean water
Clean air
Energy conservation
Hazardous waste
Pesticides
Federal regulation of pollution

15. Effects of Environmental Legislation (According to EPA’s Draft Report on the Environment 2003)
Since 1970,
6 air pollutants have dropped by 25%
Since 1990
wet sulfate levels decreased 20-30%
In 2002
94% of US had healthy drinking water (up from 79% in 1993)
As of 2002
846 of 1498 Superfund Sites are cleaned up
Fewer streams violate water standards
Tall smokestacks. Such smokestacks, which emit sulfur dioxide from coal-burning power plants, were exempt from the requirement of pollution-control devices under the Clean Air Act of 1977.
Despite imperfections, U.S. environmental legislation has had overall positive effects. Since 1970
(a) Twenty-three national parks have been established, and the National Wilderness Preservation System now totals more than 43 million hectares (106 million acres).
(b)  Millions of hectares of farmland particularly vulnerable to erosion have been withdrawn from production, reducing soil erosion in the United States by more than 60%.
(c)  Many previously endangered species are better off than they were in 1970, and the American alligator, California gray whale, and bald eagle have recovered enough to be removed from the endangered species list. (Dozens of other species, such as the manatee, ivory-billed woodpecker, and Kemp's sea turtle, have suffered further declines or extinction since 1970.)

16. Economics and the Environment
Economics- study of how people use limited resources to satisfy unlimited wants
Analytical tools include models

17. Precepts to study Economics
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
This leads to a second precept, that of the rational actor. Economists assume that all individuals know what goods and services are worth to them, and spend their limited resources (money and time) in such a way that provides them the most utility.
Efficiency is an economics term used to describe getting the greatest amount of goods or services from a limited set of resources. For example, if business plan A will build 9 cars with a given amount of material and number of workers, while business plan B will build 10 equivalent cars with the same resources, business plan B is more efficient and will succeed.
Externalities occur when the producer of a good or service does not have to pay the full costs of production.

18. Optimum Level 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

19. Economic Optimum Level of Pollution
Economic optimality and pollution. This figure represents the economically optimal level of pollution in an efficient market. The upward-sloping curve (red line) represents the cost of damage associated with pollution at various levels. As pollution rises, the social cost (in terms of human health and a damaged environment) increases sharply. The downward-sloping curve (green line) represents the cost of reducing pollution to a lower, less-damaging level. The intersection of these two curves is the economically optimal point, where a shift in either direction (more or less pollution) will lead to lower total societal benefits.

20. Private vs Social Cost of Pollution
Inefficiency arising from different marginal costs. This figure represents the marginal costs of pollution faced by society (red line), the private marginal cost of pollution faced by the polluter (blue line), and the marginal cost of abatement (green line). The polluter will generate pollution at the point where private marginal cost of pollution intersects with the marginal cost of abatement. At this point, substantially more pollution is generated than is optimal from a societal perspective.

21. Strategies for Pollution Control
Command and Control Solutions
Government agency requires limitations to emissions or pollutants
Discourages development of low-cost alternatives
Economists dislike this
Environmental Taxes/ Tradable Permits
If taxes are set at correct level private marginal cost of pollution = social cost of pollution
Economists like this
While environmental taxes are designed to identify and replicate the social cost of pollution, tradable permits rely on identifying the optimal level of pollution. Government sets a cap on pollution and then issues a fixed number of marketable waste-discharge permits, allowing holders to emit a specified amount of a given pollutant, such as sulfur dioxide. A permit owner can decide whether to generate the pollution or sell the permit, and ideally will choose the option that earns the most money. Once the market for permits has been established, industries that can easily reduce emissions will do so, and then sell their extra permits to industries that cannot.

22. Effect of Tax on Optimum Pollution
The corrective effect of “green taxes.” This figure represents the marginal costs of pollution faced by society (red line), the private marginal cost of pollution faced by the polluter (blue line), and the marginal cost of abatement (green line). A tax is assessed on the polluter equal to the difference between the private marginal cost of pollution and the social marginal cost of pollution. As a result the entire private marginal cost curve is shifted upward. If the tax is designed well, the cost faced by the polluter will be identical to the marginal social cost of pollution.

23. Critiques of Environmental Economics
Difficult to assess true costs of environmental pollution and abatement
Impacts of pollution on people and nature is uncertain
Ecosystem services have no known value
Utilitarian economics may not be appropriate
Dynamic changes and time are not considered
Based only on monetary value – what is monetary value of clean earth?

24. 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

26. Case Study- Environmental Problems in Eastern Europe
Fall of Communist governments revealed large environmental destruction
Soil and water poisoned
Unidentified leaks in dumping sites
Industry with air pollutants causing acid rain
Children with chronic asthma, bronchitis, and heart problems
Pollution problems in former communist countries. This coal mine on the Mius River in Ukraine produces pollutants that seep through piles of waste into soil, surface water, and groundwater. Note the scummy layer of chemical wastes covering the river water. Thousands of these sites exist in former communist countries, the result of rapid expansion of industrialization without regard for the environment. It will take decades for these sites to be cleaned up. Photographed in the late 1990s.

27. Case Study- Environmental Problems in Eastern Europe
Meeting industrial quotas took precedence over environmental concerns
Switch from communism to market economies- need to improve environment
Will take decades to clean up polluting economics of communism
Success varies by country
Romania- EPI = 90th
Czech Republic- EPI = 4th

28. 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