Visualizing Environmental Science
Environmental History,
Politics, and Economics
Chapter 3
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Renewable Energy Policy Challenges
• Governments struggle to
develop climate change
policies
• Biggest issue is how to shift
from fossil fuels to
alternative energy
• Alternative sources, such as
large solar panels, require
space
• May interfere with wildlife,
general aesthetics, and
contribute to noise
pollution
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Conservation and Preservation of Resources
• Resources
– Any part of the natural
environment used to
promote the welfare of
people or other species
• Conservation
– Sensible and careful
management of natural
resources
• Ex: Terracing farmland to
prevent erosion
– Can be technological or
behavioral
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Conservation and Preservation of Resources
• What are some
examples of
conservation efforts
that you can do?
– Are these behavioral or
technological methods?
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Conservation and Preservation of Resources
• Preservation
– Setting aside undisturbed
areas
– Maintaining them in a
pristine state
– Protecting them from
human activities that might
alter their natural state
• Preservation vs.
conservation
controversy
– Resources in undisturbed
places have high economic
value
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• 19 million acres of protected wilderness
• 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil
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Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge:
Should we drill?
Potential drilling area
ANWR
ANWR
For
• Growing foreign
dependence on oil
threatens American security
and drilling in ANWR would
help reduce that
dependence
• Drilling and extraction of oil
would not meaningfully
harm the environment
• Drilling would promote the
economy and create new
jobs
Against
• U.S. dependence on foreign
oil is inevitable and that
drilling in ANWR would not
significantly reduce
dependence
• It would damage a sensitive
ecology and undermining the
principle of national
environmental protection
• Drilling is supported by many
politicians, and critics charge
that they are doing favors for
their friends in “Big Oil”
Do You Agree?
• Some places should remain untouched by
people, even if they have valuable resources
in them.
Environmental History
• First 200 years of U.S.
history were a time of
environmental destruction
(1600s–1800s)
• Frontier attitude: conquer
and profit from nature
• High unsustainable resource
use
• Preservation, such as this
reserve in Bolivia, became
early 20th century concern
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Protecting Forests:
U.S. Naturalists Spark Public Interest
• John James Audubon (1785–1851)
– Painted portraits of birds and
other animals in North America
• Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
– Writer, advocate of lifestyle
simplicity
• George Perkins Marsh (1801–1882)
– Wrote Man and Nature about
humans as agents of
environmental change in 1864
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Environmental History
• American Forestry Association (1875)
– Citizens against the destruction of America’s forests
• Forest Reserve Act (1891)
– Presidential authority to establish forest reserves on
federal land
• Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, T. Roosevelt preserved 43
million acres of forest
– Modified in 1907
• Creating national forests requires act of Congress
• Roosevelt signed bill into law
• Appointed Gifford Pinchot head of the U.S. Forest Service
• Unlike national parks and other federal lands, extraction of natural
resources (like timber) from national forests is permitted
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Establishing National Parks
• Utilitarian conservationist
- Value natural resources
because of their usefulness,
but use them (sustainably)
• Yellowstone National Park,
1872
• John Muir (1838–1914)
- Yosemite National Park Bill
- Founded Sierra Club
- Biocentric preservationist
•
•
Protecting nature from human
interference
All forms of life have equal
rights to natural resources
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
National Parks and Monuments
• Antiquities Act, 1906
– First law to establish that
archeological sites on public lands
are important public resources
– Federal agencies that manage the
public lands preserve the historic,
scientific, commemorative, and
cultural values of archaeological
and historic sites
– The President is authorized to
protect landmarks, structures, and
objects of historic or scientific
interest by designating them as
National Monuments
Video: President Carter uses the
Antiquities Act to protect millions of
acres in Alaska
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
National Parks and Monuments
• National Parks were
under the loose
management of the
U.S. Army
• Parks were to be used
“without impairment”
– Hetch Hetchy Valley
conflict
– Dinosaur National
Monument conflict
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hetch Hetchy Valley Conflict
• Between 1908 and 1913,
America witnessed its first
national debate over
environmental
preservation
• The Hetch Hetchy Valley
was within Yosemite
National Park and
protected by the federal
government
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hetch Hetchy Valley Conflict
• At the heart of the debate
was the conflict between:
– conservationists, who held
that the environment
should be used in a
conscientious manner to
benefit society
– preservationists, who
believed that nature should
be protected and saved
from human interference
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hetch Hetchy Valley Conflict
• In the end, Congress passed
legislation that enabled the
creation of a dam in the Hetch
Hetchy Valley
• Although preservationists lost
this battle, the damming of the
Hetch Hetchy Valley raised
public awareness about the
importance of preserving
nature, and helped justify the
creation of the National Park
Service in 1916
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9NWIxZa92A&list=PLyUdudULVAFA05VFe3uohXBwq8IlSlb7f (begin at 1:51:13)
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dinosaur National Monument Conflict
• The dam at Echo Park (within
Dinosaur National Monument) was
proposed in the 1940s to provide
electricity, water storage, and river
control to the growing population
out West
• The dam threatened the very idea
of National Parks
• The dam at Hetch Hetchy had set a
dangerous precedent and
demonstrated that National Parks
were vulnerable to development
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dinosaur National Monument Conflict
• Opponents of the dam believed
that federally protected lands
should be off-limits for
development
• They believed Dinosaur National
Monument was worth preserving
for its intrinsic value alone
• After much debate, in 1955 the
proposed dam was finally defeated
in Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62KKE7wTIF0&list=PLyUdudULVAFA05VFe3uohXBwq8IlSlb7f&index=6 (22:35-32:45 mins)
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Do You Agree?
• Dams should be allowed to be built in
National Parks, because they provide us
with renewable, non-polluting energy
and water for irrigating crops.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
national park: United States. Map/Still. Britannica Online for Kids.
Web. 19 Oct. 2015. <http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-166546>.
Conservation in
th
Mid-20
Century
• President Roosevelt
– Civilian Conservation Corps
•
•
Provided 500,000 conservationbased jobs during the Great
Depression
1935, the Soil Conservation
Service was created in response to
the Dust Bowl
• Aldo Leopold, 1886-1948
– 1933, Game Management
– 1949, A Sand County Almanac
• “Land Ethic” defined a new
relationship between people and
nature
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The “Land Ethic”
“The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to
include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.
This sounds simple: do we not already sing our love for and obligation to
the land of the free and the home of the brave? Yes, but just what and whom
do we love? Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter
downriver. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no function except
to turn turbines, float barges, and carry off sewage. Certainly not the plants,
of which we exterminate whole communities without batting an eye. Certainly
not the animals, of which we have already extirpated many of the largest and
most beautiful species. A land ethic of course cannot prevent the alteration,
management, and use of these ‘resources,’ but it does affirm their right to
continued existence, and, at least in spots, their continued existence in a
natural state.
In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of
the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his
fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.”
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Conservation in
th
Mid-20
Century
• Wallace Stegner, 1909-1993
– 1962, “Wilderness Essay”
• “We simply need that wild country
available to us, even if we never do
more than drive to its edge and
look in. For it can be a means of
reassuring ourselves of our sanity
as creatures, a part of the
geography of hope.”
– 1964, Stegner influenced the
creation of the Wilderness Act
• http://wilderness.org/article/wilde
rness-act (video)
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Wilderness Act
• “Wilderness areas" represent the nation's
highest form of land protection – no roads,
vehicles or permanent structures are allowed in
designated wilderness
• Today, the wilderness system contains nearly
110 million acres of land
• Upon signing the Wilderness Act, President
Johnson said: "If future generations are to
remember us with gratitude rather than
contempt, we must leave them something more
than the miracles of technology. We must leave
them a glimpse of the world as it was in the
beginning, not just after we got through with it."
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Rachel Carson (1907–1964)
• 1962, Silent Spring
– Awareness about DDT and other pesticides
• Systems perspective
– Changes or activities in one place can impact
environmental conditions in distant places or
in the future
• Ex: Inuit people living in the remote Arctic have
some of the highest levels of PCB, DDT, and
mercury contamination in the world
• These toxic chemicals were produced
thousands of miles away and often decades ago
• Inuit people eat a diet high in sea mammal fat,
which accumulates many of these toxins
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Paul Ehrlich (1932 – present)
• 1968, Paul Ehrlich wrote The
Population Bomb
– “Hundreds of millions of people are
going to starve to death,” and it was
too late to do anything about it. “The
cancer of population growth … must be
cut out, by compulsion if voluntary
methods fail.”
• Julian Simon, 1932–1998
– Criticized Ehrlich as a doomsayer
– Argued that mankind would rise to any
challenges and problems by devising
new technologies to not only cope, but
thrive
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Environmental Movement
• Environmentalists are people
who are concerned about the
environment
• Environmental movement
– 1970, First Earth Day
• Nelson and Hayes organized it
– 1990, “Think globally, act locally”
– 2000, Clean Energy Now
• Wangari Maathai
– Greenbelt Movement in Kenya
– Awarded the Noble Peace Prize
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
EnviroDiscovery: Environmental Literacy
• Environmental education
– Critical to appropriate decision
making
– Required in most states during
elementary education
– American College and
University President’s Climate
Commitment
– Climate Adaptation and
Mitigation e-Learning portal
– Roots and Shoots program
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Environmental Legislation
• 1970, Environmental Protection Agency
• 1970, National Environmental Policy Act
– NEPA requires the federal government to consider
the environmental impact of proposed actions
– Must develop environmental impact statements
(EISs)
– Established the Council on Environmental Quality
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Environmental Legislation
• An EIS must answer a number of critical questions
• Major projects go through extensive review
processes
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Environmental Legislation
• Environmental regulations
– Clean Air Act
– Clean Water Act
– Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA)
• EPA part of the executive
branch
• Office of Management and
Budget assesses anticipated
environmental impact of new
regulations
• Implementation and
enforcement of regulations
are at the state level
– States report back to EPA
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Environmental Legislation Accomplishments Since 1970
• 40 major environmental laws
– Endangered species, clean water,
energy conservation, pesticides
• 15 national parks (109 million
acres)
• Soil erosion reduced by 60%
• Many endangered species are
recovering
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
EPA’s Report on the Environment
• Pollution control
efforts through
legislation have been
particularly successful
• Between 1980-2014,
total emissions of the
six principle air
pollutants (CO, NOx,
Pb, VOC, PM, SO2)
dropped by 63%
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Environmental Economics
• Economics
– Study of how people use limited
resources to satisfy unlimited wants
– Supply and demand determine
prices
• Hibernia oil platform on the Grand Banks
• Economies depend on natural
environment
– Sources for raw materials
– Sinks for waste products
• Natural capital
– Resources and processes that
sustain living organisms
• Resource degradation
– Overuse of sources
• Pollution
– Overuse of sinks
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Environmental InSight:
Economics and the Environment
• National income accounts
– Total income of goods and services for a given year
• Genuine progress indicator
– Human development and natural capital depletion
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Natural Resource Depletion
• GDP = NDP + depreciation
-
NDP is a measure of net
production of an economy, after a
deduction for used-up capital
• Costs and benefits of
pollution control
-
Incorporate resource depletion
and pollution into national income
accounting
• Support for replacing GDP
and NDP with accounting
that includes environmental
cost of economic activities
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
An Economist’s View of Pollution
• One cause of pollution is the
failure to include external
costs in the prices of goods
- Resources removed from the
Great Smoky Mountain National
Park, for example, would not be
reflected in final cost
- Encourages pollution
- A common external cost is air
pollution released from burning
fossil fuels
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Environmental Economics
• An economist’s view of pollution
– External costs
• Harmful environmental cost, borne by people not
directly involved in selling or buying the product
• For example, the pollution released when fossil fuels
are burned and pollution released to transport a
product
• Encourages pollution
– If full cost were added, people might not purchase such
products
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Much Pollution is Acceptable?
• Trade-off between
protecting environmental
quality and producing
more goods
– Involves balancing marginal
cost (added cost per unit) of
pollution and the marginal
cost of pollution abatement
• As pollution levels rise, the
cost of damage increases
sharply
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Marginal Cost of Pollution Abatement
• The added cost of reducing
one unit of a given type of
pollution
– Cost rises as the level of
pollution declines
– Why is there a downward
slope associated with
marginal cost abatement?
• When does marginal cost of
pollution equal marginal
cost of abatement?
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cost-Benefit Diagram
• Marginal cost of
pollution and
abatement plotted
together on one graph
• Point of intersection
represents optimum
amount of pollution
• Used to determine
costs of implementing
beneficial actions
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Economic Strategies for Pollution Control
• Command and control
regulations
– Pollution control laws that
work by setting limits on
levels of pollution
• Require a specific method of
pollution control
• Or, setting a quantitative goal
• Incentive-based regulation
– Pollution control laws that
establish emission targets
and provide incentives to
reduce emissions
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Incentive-Based Regulations
• Environmental taxes
– Polluter gets taxed for polluting but amount
difficult to set
• Tradable permits (cap and trade)
– Sets limit for allowable amount of pollution
– Companies who pollute less can sell their
pollution rights to others
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Case Study: Tradable Permits and Acid Rain
• EPA regulated sulfur emissions in
the 1970s and 1980s
• Clean Air Act Amendments of
1990
• Cap and trade system
– Tradable sulfur emissions permits
to reduce acid rain
– Not as successful with water
pollution
• Encourages adopting a variety of
technologies to reduce sulfur
emissions
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.